We revisit the issue of fiscal procyclicality in commodity-rich nations -commodity republics in the nomenclature of this paper. Since commodity prices are plausibly a main driver of fiscal policy outcomes in these countries, we focus on the behavior of fiscal variables across the commodity...

In this chapter, we use a benchmark limited-commitment model to explore key issues in the economics of sovereign debt. After highlighting conceptual issues that distinguish sovereign debt as well as reviewing a number of empirical facts, we use the model to discuss debt overhang, risk-sharing,...

Intertemporal models of the current account suggest that temporary income shocks are fully reflected in a country's net foreign asset position, so that agents invest abroad any savings generated by a positive income shock. On the other hand, a stylised fact in international economics is that...

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has faced persistent current account deficits despite a period of economic growth fueled by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This paper uses an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the Balance of Payments (BOP) framework to explore the dynamics...

This paper shows the relevance of physical infrastructure and financial development for developing countries attractiveness to private capital (Foreign Direct Investments -FDI- and portfolio investments). Contrary to other studies, this analysis is based on “push-pull factors” and the...

This article uses the push-pull factors approach to analyze the determinants of private capital flows (foreign direct investments, portfolio investments, and debt) in West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) over the period 1970-2003. The results show that (i) infrastructure, trade...

Combining the classical “push-pull factors” and the “Lucas paradox” theoretical approaches, and taking into account the relationship between components of capital flows -through Three Stage Least Square (3SLS) estimations-, this paper shows that physical infrastructure and financial...

This paper argues that the 40-year-old Feldstein-Horioka "puzzle" (i.e., that in a regression of the domestic investment rate on the domestic saving rate, the estimated coefficient is significantly larger than what would be expected in a world characterized by high capital mobility) should have...

This paper investigates how much of the current account adjustment after the global financial crisis in Spain can be explained by cyclical factors. For this purpose, we extend the IMF's external balance assessment methodology to allow for country-specific slopes and intercepts. The good fit of...