This Selected Issues paper describes labor market trends in Belarus and the role of labor market institutions in the outcome. The paper examines the current status of the tax system in Belarus and assesses recent efforts to reform it. It argues that the current tax system in Belarus is...

This paper examines how immigration affects native wages by exploiting an unexpected episode of immigrant influx. The episode happened in Hong Kong, when its government unexpectedly relaxed the restriction on immigration from mainland China in 1993, resulting in a seven-fold increase in the net...

Italy’s 2008 Article IV Consultation describes the country's economic developments and policies. Output has been projected to contract by about ½ percent in 2008 and 1 percent in 2009, with risks tilted to the downside, linked to a further slowing of global growth and falling consumer...