The IMF Working Papers series is designed to make IMF staff research available to a wide audience. Almost 300 Working Papers are released each year, covering a wide range of theoretical and analytical topics, including balance of payments, monetary and fiscal issues, global liquidity, and...

This paper examines the impact of the economic transition of the 1990s on living standards in Kazakhstan and suggests ways in which the social safety net can be made more effective. There are three principal conclusions. First, over a third of the population of Kazakhstan was living below a...

How does a large unconditional increase in salary affect the performance of incumbent employees in the public sector? This paper presents experimental evidence on this question in the context of a policy change in Indonesia that led to a permanent doubling of teachers' base salaries. The...

According to basic models of sequential private value autions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found to decline. Several explanations have been put forward for this declining price anomaly. In this paper we analyze...

According to basic models of sequential private value autions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found to decline. Several explanations have been put forward for this declining price anomaly. In this paper we analyze...

According to basic models of sequential private value auctions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found to decline. Several explanations have been put forward for this declining price anomaly. In this paper we...

According to basic models of sequential private value auctions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found to decline. Several explanations have been put forward for this declining price anomaly. In this paper we...

This discussion paper resulted in an article in the <I>American Economic Review</I> (2001). Volume 91, pages 1055-1062.<P> According to basic models of sequential private value auctions of identical objects, consecutive prices are on average constant or rising. In empirical studies, prices are often found...</p></i>