A distinction can be made between two approaches to exchange rate policy in developing countries. The"real targets"and the"nominal anchor"approach. Part I of this report gives an overview of the two approaches and the assumptions they imply. Part II expounds the"real targets"approach and its...

The author uses new data from 50 developing countries and 101 intervals to examine the impact of economic growth on poverty and inequality. He finds that growth represents an important means for reducing poverty in the developing world. When economic growth is measured by survey mean income...

The author analyzes 61 trade policy reviews prepared for the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, GATT - reviews that document the progress developing countries have made in integration with the world trading system over the past decade. Based on an analysis of post-Uruguay Round...

The transition to markets dominates the development agenda of the 1990s. Financial sector reforms are central to a successful transition to a market economy. The author focuses on one dimension of these reforms: the development of housing finance institutions and services. He presents a progress...

This paper provides a review of the design and experience of risk-based pension fund supervision in several countries that have been leaders in the development of these methods. The utilization of risk-based methods originates primarily in the supervision of banks. In recent years it has...

In the early 1980s, the Polish chemical industry got caught up in a battle waged by the European Community's chemical industry to preserve the EC market for itself. The Polish share of that market was very small, and the performance of the Polish companies did not depend on it, so they emerged...

Previous approaches to credit policy in the stabilization and adjustment of developing countries have emphasized either the role of the availability of credit or the role of its price - that is, the interest rate. The authors argue that effective credit policy in developing countries must take...

This paper introduces four versions of an international bilateral migration stock database for 226 by 226 countries and territories. The first three versions each consist of two matrices, the first containing migrants defined by country of birth, that is, the foreign-born population; the second,...

The authors assess the extent to which Vietnam's rapid economic growth in the 1990s was accompanied by reductions in poverty. They also investigate factors that contribute to certain households benefiting more than others. Using information from two household surveys, the Vietnam Living...

Empirical explorations of the growth and productivity impacts of infrastructure have been characterized by ambiguous (countervailing signs) results with little robustness. A number of explanations of the contradictory findings have been proposed. These range from the crowd-out of private by...