We review evidence regarding the size and evolution of the "land rush" in the wake of the 2007-2008 boom in agricultural commodity prices and study determinants of foreign land acquisition for large-scale agricultural investment. Using data on bilateral investment relationships to estimate...

This analysis is a follow-up to Transforming Tonga: A Private Sector Assessment. It assesses until early 2012 in reducing transaction costs and other barriers to growth identified in the 2008 private sector assessment. It concludes that Tonga has been one of the leading reformers in the Pacific...

Foreign investment in the Russian economy in 2013 increased 10.1% year-o-year. The increase was triggered by the results achieved in Q1 2013. Foreign investment was concentrated in the industrial sector, trade, and financial sector. Manufacturing industry was leading in the industrial sector....

International politics affects oil trade. But does it affect the oil-exporting developing countries more? We construct a firm-level dataset for all U.S. oil-importing companies over 1986-2008 to examine how these firms respond to changes in "political distance" between the U.S. and her trading...

International politics affects oil trade. But why? We construct a firm-level dataset for all U.S. oil-importing companies over 1986-2008 to examine what kinds of firms are more responsive to change in "political distance" between the U.S. and her trading partners, measured by divergence in their...

Staff Discussion Notes showcase the latest policy-related analysis and research being developed by individual IMF staff and are published to elicit comment and to further debate. These papers are generally brief and written in nontechnical language, and so are aimed at a broad audience...

Sovereign wealth funds, investment vehicles created, funded and controlled by nation states, do not adhere to any clear legal status. Their public ownership and ultimate objectives, together with the private nature of their activities, most of which are confidential and international, have...

The audit market is divided between two main categories of auditors: Big Four auditors and Non Big Four auditors. The general accepted opinion is that the former cover most audit services. The objective of the study is to quantify the share covered by Big Four auditors at the level of Romanian...