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Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of the various channels through which public infrastructure may affect growth. In addition to the conventional productivity, complementarity, and crowding-out effects typically emphasized in the literature, the impact of infrastructure on investment adjustment costs, the durability of private capital, and the production of health and education services are also highlighted. Effects on health and education are well documented in a number of microeconomic studies, but macroeconomists have only recently begun to study their implications for growth. Links between health, infrastructure, and growth are illustrated in an endogenous growth model with transitional dynamics, and the optimal allocation of public expenditure is discussed. The concluding section draws implications of the analysis for the design of strategies aimed at promoting growth and reducing poverty.

Transport Economics Policy & Planning, Health Monitoring & Evaluation, Economic Theory & Research, Public Sector Economics & Finance, Private Participation in Infrastructure

Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of public infrastructure on private capital formation in three countries of the Middle East and North Africa: Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. The first part highlights various channels through which public infrastructure may affect private investment. The second part describes our empirical framework, which is based on a VAR model that accounts for flows and (quality-adjusted) stocks of public infrastructure, private investment, as well as changes in output, private sector credit, and the real exchange rate. We propose two aggregate measures of the quality of public infrastructure and use principal components to derive a composite indicator. The impulse response analysis suggests that public infrastructure has both flow and stock effects on private investment in Egypt, but only a stock effect in Jordan and Tunisia. But these effects are small and short-lived, reflecting the unfavorable environment for private investment in our sample of countries. Reducing unproductive public capital expenditure and improving quality must be accompanied by reforms aimed at limiting the investment to infrastructure capital that crowds in the private sector. At the same time, other improvements to the environment in which domestic investment operates are crucial to stimulate growth and job creation in the region.

Abstract:
This literature review joins with recent studies in arguing that financial integration must be carefully prepared and managed to ensure that the benefits outweigh the short-run risks. But in contrast with some other studies, it adopts a more skeptical view of the benefits of capital flows other than foreign direct investment.

Agénor provides a selective review of the recent analytical and empirical literature on the benefits and costs of international financial integration. He discusses the impact of financial openness on consumption, investment, and growth, and the impact of foreign bank entry on the domestic financial system.

Consistent with some recent studies, the author argues that financial integration must be carefully prepared and managed to ensure that the benefits outweigh the short-run risks. Prudent macroeconomic management, adequate supervision and prudential regulation of the financial system, greater transparency, and improved capacity to manage risk in the private sector are important requirements for coping with potentially abrupt reversals in pro-cyclical, short-term capital flows.

The author adopts a more skeptical view than some assessments in two areas, however. First, only foreign direct investment appears to provide dynamic gains and improved prospects for growth; the evidence on the benefits of other types of capital flows remains weak. Second, empirical research on the net benefits associated with foreign bank penetration is far from conclusive; in particular, the possibility that such penetration may lead to adverse changes in the allocation of credit among domestic firms cannot be dismissed on the basis of the existing evidence.

This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to analyze the impact of macroeconomic adjustment on poverty. The author may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org.

Abstract:
This paper provides a selective review of the recent analytical and empirical literature on the benefits and costs of international financial integration. It discusses the impact of financial openness and capital flows on consumption, investment and growth, as well as the impact of foreign bank entry on the domestic financial system. It argues that, for small open developing countries, the benefits of financial integration are mostly long term in nature, whereas risks can be significant in the short-run. Careful preparation and management are therefore essential to ensure that short-run costs do not lead to policy reversals. It also stresses that the empirical evidence on the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic capital formation and growth, as well as on the effects of foreign bank entry, should be viewed with caution. In particular, the possibility that foreign bank penetration may lead to adverse changes in the allocation of credit cannot be dismissed on the basis of the existing evidence.

Abstract:
Agenor, Bayraktar, and El Aynaoui develop a macroeconomic framework that captures links between aid, public investment, growth, and poverty. Public investment is disaggregated into education, infrastructure, and health, and affects both aggregate supply and demand. Dutch disease effects are captured by accounting for changes in the relative price of domestic goods. The authors assess the impact of policy shocks on poverty by linking the model to a household survey. They calibrate the model for Ethiopia and simulate the changes in the allocation of aid and public investment. The authors also calculate the amount by which foreign aid should increase to reach the poverty targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

This paper - a product of Poverty Reduction and Economic Management 2, Africa Technical Families - is part of a larger effort in the region to formulate country-specific growth strategies.

Abstract:
Agenor attempts to examine analytically and empirically the extent to which globalization affects the poor in low- and middle-income countries. He begins with a description of various channels through which trade openness and financial integration may have an adverse effect on poverty. However, the author also stresses the possible nonlinearities involved - possibilities that have seldom been recognized in the ongoing debate. Agenor then presents cross-country regressions that relate measures of real and financial integration to poverty. The regressions control for changes in income per capita and output growth rates, as well as various other macroeconomic and structural variables, such as the inflation tax, changes in the real exchange rate and the terms of trade, health and schooling indicators, and macroeconomic volatility. The author uses not only individual indicators of trade and financial openness but also a "globalization index" based on principal components analysis, and tests for both linear and nonlinear effects.

The results suggest the existence of a nonmonotonic, Laffer-type relationship between globalization and poverty. At low levels, globalization appears to hurt the poor; but beyond a certain threshold, it seems to reduce poverty - possibly because it brings with it renewed impetus for reform. So, globalization may hurt the poor not because it went too far, but rather because it did not go far enough.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to study the impact of globalization on the poor in developing countries.

Abstract:
Agenor, Chen, and Grimm compare three approaches to linking macroeconomic models with representative households in terms of their implications for measuring the poverty and distributional effects of poverty reduction strategies. These approaches are a simple micro-accounting method, an extension of that method to account for changes in employment structure, and the Beta distribution approach. Even though in their simulation exercises the three methods do not lead to fundamentally different results in absolute terms, the authors show that potential differences in the measurement of distributional and poverty effects of policy shocks can be very large.

This paper - a product of the Global Knowledge and Learning Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to evaluate poverty and the distributional effects of poverty reduction strategies.

Applied general equilibrium models, poverty, income distribution, policy evaluation

Abstract:
Agenor, Nabli, Yousef, and Jensen study the impact of labor market policies on growth and unemployment in labor-exporting countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Their analysis is based on a framework that captures many of the main features of the labor market in these countries. The authors conduct a variety of policy experiments, including a reduction in payroll taxation, cuts in public sector wages and employment, an increase in employment subsidies, a reduction in trade unions' bargaining power, and a composite reform program. Their key message is that to foster broad-based growth and job creation in the region, labor market reforms must not be viewed in isolation but rather as a component of a comprehensive program of structural reforms.

This paper - a product of the Social and Economic Development Group, Middle East and North Africa Region - is part of a larger effort in the region to understand the impact of labor market reforms on growth and unemployment.

Abstract:
This paper presents a macroeconomic approach to monitoring progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the heart of our framework is a macro model which captures key linkages between foreign aid, public investment (disaggregated into education, infrastructure and health), the supply side and poverty. The model is then linked through cross-country regressions to indicators of malnutrition, infant mortality, life expectancy and access to safe water. A composite MDG Indicator is also calculated. The functioning of our framework is illustrated by simulating the impact of an increase in foreign aid to Niger at the MDG horizon of 2015, under alternative assumptions about the degree of efficiency of public investment. Our approach can serve as the building block for Strategy Papers for Human Development (SPAHD), a more encompassing concept than the current Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers.

Abstract:
This paper presents an integrated macroeconomic approach to monitoring progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the heart of our approach is a macro model that captures key linkages between foreign aid, public investment (disaggregated into education, infrastructure, and health), the supply side, and poverty. The model is linked through cross-section regressions to indicators of malnutrition, infant mortality, life expectancy, and access to safe water. A composite MDG Indicator is also calculated. The functioning of our framework is illustrated by simulating the impact of an increase in aid and a debt write-off for Niger at the MDG horizon of 2015, under alternative assumptions about the degree of efficiency of public investment. Our approach can serve as the building block of Strategy Papers for Human Development (SPAHD), a more encompassing concept than the current "Poverty Reduction" Strategy Papers.

Abstract:
This paper examines credibility and reputational factors in explaining the December 1994 crisis of the Mexican peso. After reviewing events leading to the crisis, a model emphasizing the inflation-competitiveness trade-off is presented to explain the formation of devaluation expectations. Estimation results indicate that investors appear to have seriously underestimated the risk of devaluation, despite early warning signals. The collapse of confidence that followed the December 20 devaluation may have been the result of a shift in the perceived commitment of the authorities to exchange rate stability.

Abstract:
Inflation targeting is a flexible policy framework that allows a country's central bank to exercise some degree of discretion without putting in jeopardy its main objective of maintaining stable prices.

In the past few years a number of central banks have adopted inflation targeting for monetary policy. Agénor provides an introduction to inflation targeting, with an emphasis on analytical issues and the recent experience of middle- and high-income developing countries (which have relatively low inflation to begin with and reasonably well-functioning financial markets).

After presenting a formal analytical framework, Agénor discusses the basic requirements for inflation targeting and how such a regime differs from money and exchange rate targeting regimes.

After discussing the operational framework for inflation targeting (including the price index to monitor, the time horizon, the forecasting procedures, and the role of asset prices), he examines recent experiences with inflation targets, providing new evidence on the convexity of the Phillips curve for six developing countries.

His conclusions: Inflation targeting is a flexible policy framework that allows a country's central bank to exercise some degree of discretion without putting in jeopardy its main objective of maintaining stable prices. In middle- and high-income developing economies that can refrain from implicit exchange rate targeting, it can improve the design and performance of monetary policy compared with other policy approaches that central banks may follow.

Not all countries may be able to satisfy the technical requirements (such as adequate price data, adequate understanding of the links between instruments and targets of monetary policy, and adequate forecasting capabilities), but such requirements should not be overstated. Forecasting capability can never be perfect, and sensible projections always involve qualitative judgment.

More important, and often more difficult, is the task of designing or improving an institutional framework that would allow the central bank to pursue the goal of low, stable inflation while maintaining the ability to stabilize fluctuations in output.

This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the dynamics of monetary policy in developing countries. The author may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org.

Abstract:
A two-step approach is used to assess the extent to which the credit crunch in East Asia was supply- or demand-driven. The results for Thailand suggest that the contraction in bank lending that accompanied the crisis was the result of supply factors.

Agenor, Aizenman, and Hoffmaister propose a two-step approach for assessing the extent to which the fall in credit in crisis-stricken East Asian countries was a supply- or demand-induced phenomenon.

The first step involves estimating a demand function for excess liquid assets held by commercial banks.

The second step involves establishing dynamic projections for the periods after the crisis and assessing whether or not residuals are large enough to be viewed as indicators of an "involuntary" accumulation of excess reserves.

The results for Thailand suggest that the contraction in bank lending that accompanied the crisis was the result of supply factors. Thai firms (presumably small and medium-size ones) faced binding constraints in getting access to credit markets after the crisis.

This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the macroeconomic effects of credit market imperfections. Pierre-Richard Agenor may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org.

Abstract:
The paper proposes a two-step approach to assessing the extent to which the fall in credit in crisis-stricken East Asian countries was a supply- or demand-induced phenomenon. The first step is based on the estimation of a demand function for excess liquid assets by commercial banks. Such a function is derived analytically in the first part of the paper. The second step consists in establishing dynamic projections for the periods following the crisis and assessing whether or not residuals are large enough to be viewed as indicators of involuntary' accumulation of excess reserves. Results for Thailand indicate that the contraction in bank lending that accompanied the crisis was the result of supply factors.

Abstract:
This paper reviews recent developments in the theoretical and empirical analysis of balance-of-payments crises. A simple analytical model highlighting the process leading to such crises is first developed. The basic framework is then extended to deal with a variety of issues, such as: alternative post-collapse regimes, uncertainty, real sector effects, external borrowing and capital controls, imperfect asset substitutability, sticky prices, and endogenous policy switches. Empirical evidence on the collapse of exchange rate regimes is also examined, and the major implications of the analysis for macroeconomic policy discussed.

Abstract:
This paper reviews recent developments in the theoretical and empirical analysis of balance-of-payments crises. A simple analytical model highlighting the process leading to such crises is first developed. The basic framework is then extended to deal with a variety of issues, such as: alternative post-collapse regimes, uncertainty, real sector effects, external borrowing and capital controls, imperfect asset substitutability, sticky prices, and endogenous policy switches. Empirical evidence on the collapse of exchange rate regimes is also examined, and the major implications of the analysis for macroeconomic policy are discussed.

Abstract:
Agenor, Izquierdo, and Fofack present a dynamic, quantitative macroeconomic framework designed for analyzing the impact of adjustment policies and exogenous shocks on poverty and income distribution. They emphasize the role of labor market segmentation, urban informal activities, the impact of the composition of public expenditure on supply and demand, and credit market imperfections. Numerical simulations for a prototype low-income country highlight the importance of accounting for the various channels through which poverty alleviation programs and debt relief may ultimately affect the poor.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the impact of adjustment policies on the poor.

Abstract:
In a country where financial intermediation is highly inefficient (with the enforcement costs of loan contracts very high, for example), or in one experiencing great volatility and large adverse shocks in output, the likelihood of an inefficient equilibrium is great. In East Asia it may be in the interests of both debtors and creditors to collectively reduce the face value of debt, to reduce inefficiencies in the financial sector.

Agenor and Aizenman analyze the implications for crisis management of inefficient financial intermediation in a country (such as Indonesia or the Republic of Korea) where firms are highly indebted.

They base their analysis on a model in which firms rely on bank credit to finance their working capital needs and loan contracts entail high state verification and enforcement costs for lenders.

They find that higher volatility of output, lower productivity, or higher costs for contract enforcement and verification may shift the economy to the inefficient portion of the debt Laffer curve - with potentially sizable losses in employment and output.

What implications does this have for the policy debate on crisis management in East Asia? Debt reduction, in addition to debt rescheduling, may be required to reduce employment and output losses in the presence of inefficiencies in the financial sector.

In practice this may be difficult to coordinate among a large group of creditors because of the free-riding problem: Each creditor has an incentive to refrain from offering debt relief on its own claims and wait for others to do so, thereby raising the expected value of its own claims.

This paper - a product of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to explore the real effects of financial sector inefficiencies. The authors may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org or j.aizenman@dartmouth.edu.

Abstract:
This paper documents the main stylized features of macroeconomic fluctuations for 12 developing countries. Cross-correlations between domestic industrial output and a large group of macroeconomic variables (including fiscal variables, wages, inflation, money, credit, trade, and exchange rates) are presented. Also analyzed are the effects of industrial country economic conditions on output fluctuations in these countries. The robustness of the results is examined using different detrending procedures. The results indicate many similarities between macroeconomic fluctuations in developing and industrial countries (procyclical real wages; countercyclical variation in government expenditure) and some important differences (countercyclical variation in the velocity of monetary aggregates).

Business Cycles, Fluctuations, Developing Countries

Abstract:
Agenor and El Aynaoui study the impact of labor market policies on unemployment in Morocco. They begin by reviewing the main features of the labor market. Then they present a quantitative framework that captures many of these features - such as a large public sector, high redundancy payments, powerful trade unions, and international labor migration. The authors simulate the impact of a cut in the minimum wage and a reduction in payroll taxation. The results indicate that these policies may have a significant impact in the short term on open unskilled unemployment. But they also show that labor market reforms, to be effective in the long run, may need to be accompanied by offsetting changes in the budget to avoid crowding-out effects on private investment.

This paper - a joint product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute and Poverty Reduction and Economic Management 2, Africa Technical Families - is part of a larger effort in the Bank to understand the impact of labor market reforms on growth and unemployment.

Abstract:
This paper focuses on approaches to linking macroeconomic models to household income data for poverty and distributional analysis. Given that linkage methods can influence the resulting poverty and income distribution effects, understanding the benefits and costs of various linkages is important. Simulation exercises do not show fundamentally different results when comparing three approaches: a simple micro-accounting method, an extension of that method to account for changes in employment structure, and the Beta distribution approach. However, potential differences can be very large. We also highlight the extended micro-accounting method as a practical approach to linking macroeconomic models to household income data.

Applied General Equilibrium Models, Poverty, Income Distribution, Policy Evaluation

Abstract:
This paper examines the links between fiscal policy, capital inflows, and the real exchange rate in Turkey since the late 1980s. After an overview of recent macroeconomic developments in Turkey, a vector autoregression model is estimated linking government spending, interest rate differentials, capital inflows, and the temporary component of the real exchange rate. Positive shocks to government spending and capital inflows lead to an appreciation of the temporary component of the real exchange rate, whereas positive shocks to the uncovered interest rate differential lead to a capital inflow and an appreciation of the temporary component of the real exchange rate. The findings highlight the role of fiscal adjustment in restoring macroeconomic stability.

Abstract:
This paper examines the links between capital inflows and the real exchange rate under pegged exchange rates. The analytical framework is described, and a near-VAR model linking capital inflows, interest rate differentials, government spending, money base velocity, and the temporary component of the real exchange rate (TCRER) is estimated for Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, and Thailand. TCRER movements are associated only weakly with shocks to capital flows. Negative shocks to U.S. interest rates lead to capital inflows in Asia and a TCRER appreciation in the Philippines and Thailand. Positive shocks to government spending have a small but statistically significant effect on the TCRER for Korea.

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the effects of monetary policy and fiscal adjustment on output and unemployment in Turkey. The model on which the analysis is based accounts for rural-urban migration, a large urban informal sector, flexible exchange rates, a dollarized banking system, and interactions between default risk on government liabilities, credibility, and inflation expectations. The short- and long-run effects of a rise in official interest rates and tax increases are analyzed. The results highlight the importance of accounting for the link between default risk and credibility in understanding the real and financial effects of macroeconomic adjustment.

Abstract:
Analysis of data for Brazil suggests that poverty responds asymmetrically to output shocks, showing less tendency to fall in response to a positive shock when the economy is initially in a downturn.

Agenor examines whether output contractions associated with cyclical output fluctuations and economic crises have an asymmetric effect on poverty. He identifies four potential sources of asymmetry: expectations and confidence factors, credit rationing at the firm level (induced by either adverse selection problems or negative shocks to net worth), borrowing constraints at the household level, and the "labor hoarding" hypothesis. He also identifies some testable implications of these alternative explanations.

The author then proposes a vector autoregression technique (involving the detrended components of real output, the unemployment rate, real wages, and the poverty rate) to test whether the initial cyclical position of the economy, and the size of the initial drop in the output gap in a downturn, matter in assessing the extent to which output shocks affect poverty. He applies the technique to Brazil, using annual data for 1981-99. The results indicate that poverty responds asymmetrically to output shocks, showing less sensitivity when the economy is initially in a downturn.

This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to analyze the impact of macroeconomic adjustment on poverty. The author may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org.

Abstract:
This paper provides empirical estimates of contracting models of the Phillips curve for four middle-income developing economies - Chile, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, and Turkey. Following an analytical review, models with both one lead and one lag, and two lags and three leads, are then estimated using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) techniques. The results indicate that for both Chile and Turkey past and future inflation are of about the same magnitude in affecting current inflation. In Korea past inflation has a larger impact on inflation, whereas in the Philippines it is future inflation that plays a larger role. Homogeneity restrictions are satisfied for Korea and Turkey but not for Chile and the Philippines.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the dynamics of inflation in developing countries.

Abstract:
A positive historical shock to external spreads can lead to an increase in domestic spreads and a reduction in the cyclical component of output. Shocks to external spreads immediately after the Mexican peso crisis had a sizable effect on movements in output and domestic interest rate spreads in Argentina.

Agénor, Aizenman, and Hoffmaister study how contagion affects bank lending spreads and fluctuations in output in Argentina.
They analyze what determines bank lending spreads when verification and enforcement costs for loan contracts are high.

They present estimates of a vector autoregression model that relates bank lending spreads, the cyclical component of output, the real bank lending rate, and the spread in external interest rates.

Using generalized impulse response functions, they show that a positive historical shock to external spreads leads to an increase in domestic spreads and a reduction in the cyclical component of output.

Historical decompositions indicate that shocks to external spreads immediately after the Mexican peso crisis had a sizable effect on movements in output and domestic interest rate spreads in Argentina.

This paper - a product of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to analyze the real effects of financial sector inefficiencies. The authors may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org or j.aizenman@dartmouth.edu.

Abstract:
This paper examines the effect of trade reform on wages and unemployment in a two-sector, three-good economy in which labor is imperfectly mobile across sectors. Wages in the export sector are set so as to minimize turnover costs. The analysis shows that a reduction in tariffs, coupled with an adjustment in lump-sum taxes to equilibrate the government budget, lowers wages in all production sectors in the short and the medium run but has an ambiguous effect on unemployment. Although employment and production of exportables expand in the medium run, the unemployment rate may rise or fall depending on whether the elasticity of wages in the export sector with respect to wages in the nontraded goods sector is lower or greater than unity. Potentially adverse effects may be mitigated in the long run, however, as a result of induced shifts in the structure of production activities.

Abstract:
Agenor describes a specialized and less data-intensive version of the Integrated Macroeconomic Model for Poverty Analysis (IMMPA) developed by Agenor, Izquierdo, and Fofack (2003) and Agenor, Fernandes, Haddad, and van der Mensbrugghe (2002). The mini-IMMPA focuses only on the real side but it offers a more detailed treatment of the labor market (by accounting, for instance, for public education, employment subsidies, and job security provisions) and the tax structure. Simulations of a cut in payroll taxes on unskilled labor show the importance of accounting for the fiscal implications of labor market reforms when assessing their effects on unemployment and poverty.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to analyze the interactions between micro and macro factors in the design of poverty reduction strategies.

Abstract:
Agenor examines the potential trade-offs that may arise between poverty alleviation and unemployment reduction. He discusses various analytical arguments that may provide a rationale for their existence, and uses three alternative methodologies to assess their relevance: a vector autoregression framework (which is applied to Brazil and Chile), cross-country regressions, and simulations with a structural macro model linked to a household survey. Impulse response functions to output and wage shocks indicate no short-run tradeoff. between unemployment and poverty. By contrast, regression results, which control for a variety of determinants of poverty rates across countries, suggest that such a trade-off may indeed exist. Simulations with the structural model show that labor market reforms may induce both short- and long-run trade-offs between the composition of unemployment and the incidence of poverty among household groups.

This paper - a product of the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the links between unemployment reduction and poverty alleviation.

Abstract:
This paper interprets contagion effects as an increase in the volatility of aggregate shocks impinging on the domestic economy. The implications of this approach are analyzed in a model with two types of credit market imperfections: domestic banks borrow at a premium on world capital markets, and domestic producers (whose demand for credit results from working capital needs) borrow at a premium from domestic banks. Higher volatility of producers` productivity shocks increases both domestic and foreign financial spreads and the producers` cost of capital, resulting in lower employment and higher incidence of default. Welfare effects are nonlinearly related to the degree of international financial integration.

Credit market imperfections, volatility, interest rate spreads

Abstract:
This paper interprets contagion effects as a perceived increase (triggered by events occurring elsewhere) in the volatility of aggregate shocks impinging on the domestic economy. The implications of this approach are analyzed in a model with two types of credit market imperfections: domestic banks borrow at a premium on world capital markets, and domestic producers (whose demand for credit results from working capital needs) borrow at a premium from domestic banks which possess comparative advantage in monitoring the behavior of domestic agents. Financial intermediation spreads are shown to be determined by a markup that compensates for the expected cost of contract enforcement and state verification and for the expected revenue lost in adverse states of nature. Higher volatility of producers' productivity shocks increases both financial spreads and the producers' cost of capital, resulting in lower employment and higher incidence of default. The welfare effects of volatility are non-linear. Higher volatility does not impose any welfare cost for countries characterized by relatively low volatility and efficient financial intermediation. The adverse welfare effects are large (small) for countries that are at the threshold of full integration with international capital markets (close to financial autarky), that is, countries characterized by a relatively low (high) probability of default.

Abstract:
This paper provides an assessment of competitiveness and external trade performance of the French manufacturing industry during the 1980s and early 1990s. The first part of the paper reviews developments in a broad range of competitiveness indicators. The analysis indicates that the manufacturing sector appears to have maintained its competitive position in recent years. The second part discusses developments in export market shares. The third part estimates a vector error correction model relating the trade ratio to relative unit labor costs, domestic and foreign demand, and nonprice competitiveness. Variance decompositions suggest that fluctuations in price and nonprice competitiveness account for about two-fifths of fluctuations in manufacturing trade flows.

Abstract:
The paper reviews recent theoretical and empirical developments in the analysis of informal currency markets in developing countries. The basic characteristics of these markets are highlighted, and alternative analytical models to explain them are discussed. The implications for exchange rate policy --including imposition of foreign exchange restrictions, devaluation, and unification of exchange markets-- in countries with a sizable parallel market are also examined.

Abstract:
This paper examines the relative demands for domestic and foreign currency deposits by residents of developing countries. A dynamic currency substitution model that incorporates forward-looking rational expectations is formulated and then estimated for a group of ten developing countries. The results indicate that the foreign rate of interest and the expected rate of depreciation of the parallel market exchange rate are important factors in the choice between holding domestic money or switching to foreign currency deposits held abroad. From an empirical standpoint, the forward-looking framework adopted here also turns out to be superior to the conventional currency-substitution model.

Abstract:
This paper examines the short-run links between money growth, exchange rate depreciation, nominal wage growth, the output gap, and inflation in Chile, Korea, Mexico, and Turkey, using a generalized vector autoregression analysis. Nominal historical wage shocks are shown to have an important effect on movements in inflation only in Mexico. Generalized impulse response functions show that a positive historical shock to nominal wage growth generates a transitory but significant reduction in output. Inflation increases in all countries, particularly Mexico. A positive shock to nominal money growth raises real cash balances on impact and exerts an expansionary effect on output, despite an increase in real wages.

Determinants of inflation, generalized VAR analysis

Abstract:
This paper estimates a simple consumption-smoothing model of the French current account, and examines its capacity to predict recent developments in France`s external performance. The model views the current account as a buffer through which private agents can smooth consumption over time in response to temporary disturbances to output, investment, and government expenditure. The empirical results indicate that the model performs well overall, and predicts correctly the sharp turnaround in France`s external accounts observed in the past three years--a feature of the data that conventional models of trade flows, based on income and relative price variables, appear unable to explain.

Abstract:
Agénor and Aizenman analyze the implications of inefficient financial intermediation for debt management using a model in which firms rely on bank credit to finance their working capital needs and lenders face high state verification and enforcement costs of loan contracts. Their analysis shows that lower expected productivity, higher contract enforcement and verification costs, or higher volatility of productivity shocks may shift the economy to the wrong side of the debt Laffer curve, with potentially sizable output and welfare losses. The main implication of this analysis is that debt relief may generate little welfare gains unless it is accompanied by reforms aimed at reducing financial sector inefficiencies.

This paper - a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute - is part of a larger effort in the institute to understand the macroeconomic effects of financial sector inefficiencies.

Abstract:
The authors propose a bottom up approach to link public investment programs with a class of macro models recently developed to quantify Strategy Papers for Human Development (SPAHD) in low-income countries. The methodology involves establishing constant-price projections of investment outlays (disaggregated into infrastructure, education, and health), spending on maintenance and other goods and services, salaries, and user charges. These estimates are incorporated in a SPAHD macro framework to calculate, under alternative scenarios, domestic financing, foreign borrowing, and aid requirements. The authors also evaluate the impact on growth and indicators associated with the Millennium Development Goals. They use illustrative applications, based on a SPAHD model for Niger, to highlight the link between tax reform and aid requirements.

Public Sector Economics & Finance, Economic Theory & Research, Public Sector Expenditure Analysis & Management, Investment and Investment Climate, Population Policies

Abstract:
This paper examines the role of the labor market in the transmission process of adjustment policies in developing countries. It begins by reviewing the recent evidence regarding the functioning of these markets. It then studies the implications of wage inertia, nominal contracts, labor market segmentation, and impediments to labor mobility for stabilization policies. The effect of labor market reforms on economic flexibility and the channels through which labor market imperfections alter the effects of structural adjustment measures are discussed next. The last part of the paper identifies a variety of issues that may require further investigation, such as the link between changes in relative wages and the distributional effects of adjustment policies.

Abstract:
The paper presents a general equilibrium framework for short-run macroeconomic analysis in a developing country context where controls on interest rates and foreign exchange restrictions lead to the emergence of informal financial markets. The complexity of the model precludes an analytical treatment. A simulation approach, based on parameters derived from estimates in the existing literature, is used to assess the properties of the model, which differ in important ways from those of standard open-economy models.

Abstract:
The paper develops and tests a model of a developing economy that incorporates trade and capital restrictions, illegal transactions, a parallel foreign exchange market, currency substitution features, and forward-looking rational expectations. Temporary expansionary demand policies are associated with an increase in output and prices, a fall in the stock of net foreign assets, and a depreciation of the parallel exchange rate. The speed of adjustment is inversely related to the degree of rationing in the official foreign currency market. A once-for—all devaluation of the official exchange rate has no long-term effect on the premium.

Abstract:
The paper examines the role of credibility in the conduct of exchange rate policy in developing countries. The analysis is based on a model in which policymakers are concerned about inflation and external competitiveness. Price setters in the nontraded goods sector of the economy adjust prices in reaction to anticipated fluctuations in the domestic price of tradable goods. This type of model is shown to generate a "devaluation bias" which undermines the credibility of a fixed exchange rate. The effect of reputational factors, signaling considerations, and joining a currency union as possible solutions to this bias is examined.

Abstract:
This paper examines the behavior of real interest rates in exchange-rate based stabilization programs. The analysis is based on a model with imperfect capital mobility and optimizing agents. A permanent reduction in the devaluation rate is first shown to have an ambiguous effect on real interest rates on impact. The analysis is then extended to consider a stabilization program characterized by an initial reduction in the rate of devaluation of the nominal exchange rate, and the announcement of a future increase in income taxes. The impact effect on real interest rates is shown to depend upon the degree of credibility of the announcement. Real interest rates may fall if agents do not believe that taxes will be raised, and rise if the future tax reform is sufficiently credible.

Abstract:
This paper models the Tequila effect (triggered by the collapse of the Mexican peso in December 1994) as a temporary increase in the risk premium faced by domestic private borrowers on world capital markets. The effects of this shock are studied in an intertemporal optimizing framework where firms` demand for working capital is financed by bank credit. Under the assumption that the perceived duration of the shock is sufficiently long, the model is capable of reproducing some of the main features of Argentina`s economic downturn in the aftermath of the collapse of the Mexican peso: the rise in domestic interest rates, the reduction in net private capital inflows and the drop in official reserves, the reduction in bank deposits and credit supply, the fall in private consumption, the contraction in output, and the increase in unemployment.

Default risk, intertemporal models, temporary shocks

Abstract:
This paper examines some recent techniques designed to draw inferences about the credibility of changes in macroeconomic policy regimes. An alternative two-step approach, based on the decomposition between permanent and transitory components of a "credibility variable" is proposed. The methodology is then used to test for the existence of a credibility effect in the Cruzado stabilization plan implemented in Brazil in 1986.

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the macroeconomic effects of fiscal and labor market policies in developing countries. The basic framework considers a small open economy with a large informal production sector and a heterogeneous work force. The labor market is segmented as a result of efficiency considerations and minimum wage laws. The basic model is then extended to account for unemployment benefits, income taxation, and imperfect labor mobility across sectors. The analysis indicates, among other results, that a reduction in unemployement benefits has a positive effect on output of tradable goods by lowering both the level of efficiency wages and the relative rent captured by skilled workers.

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the macroeconomic effects of fiscal and labor market policies in a small open developing country. The basic framework considers an economy with a large informal production sector and a heterogeneous work force. The labor market is segmented as a result of efficiency considerations and minimum wage laws. The basic model is then extended to account for unemployment benefits, income taxation, and imperfect labor mobility across sectors. Under the assumption of perfect labor mobility, we show that a permanent reduction in government spending on nontraded goods leads in the long run to a depreciation of the real exchange rate, a fall in the market-clearing wage for unskilled labor, an increase in output of traded goods, and a lower stock of net foreign assets. A permanent reduction in the minimum wage for unskilled workers improves competitiveness, and expands the formal sector at the expense of the informal sector. Hence, in a two-sector economy in which the minimum wage is enforced only in the formal sector and wages in one segment of the labor market are competitively determined, efficiency wage considerations do not alter the standard neoclassical presumption. A reduction in unemployment benefits is also shown to have a positive effect on output of tradable goods by lowering both the level of efficiency wages and the employment rent of skilled workers.

Abstract:
The introduction of a new currency has often occurred as part of a program to fight hyperinflation. In this context, non-uniform conversion rates for different types of assets and liabilities have been used as a means of reducing an initial "excess" stock of liquidity. The paper examines the anticipatory dynamics associated with such reforms. The analysis suggests that monetary reforms of this type have a deflationary effect upon announcement as well as during the transition period. Under uncertainty about the reform date, the direction of the initial jump in prices upon announcement is a priori ambiguous. Upon implementation, a monetary reform leads to a downward jump in prices.

Abstract:
The paper analyzes the role of labor market segmentation and relative wage rigidity in the transmission process of macroeconomic shocks in a two-sector optimizing model of a small open economy. The analysis is first conducted in the context of perfect intersectoral labor mobility. The discussion is then extended to consider the existence of short-run constraints on labor movements. The results highlight the role of efficiency considerations in the behavior of sectoral wages. A deflationary policy induces a reallocation of labor across sectors, but has no long-run effect on the unemployment rate.

Abstract:
This paper examines the effect of skill-biased technological change on the structure of wages, the composition of employment and the level of unemployment in a two-sector economy with a heterogenous work force. Efficiency wage considerations and minimum wage legislation lead to labor market segmentation. A technological shock that reduces the demand for unskilled labor and raises the demand for skilled labor in the primary, high-wage sector is shown to increase the relative wage of skilled workers and reduce aggregate employment as well as the employment level of unskilled workers in that sector. The net effect of the shock on the employment level of skilled workers is mitigated by the existence of efficiency factors.

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the cyclical effects of bank capital requirements in a simple model with credit market imperfections. Lending rates are set as a premium over the cost of borrowing from the central bank, with the premium itself depending on firms' effective collateral. Basel I- and Basel II-type regulatory regimes are defined and a capital channel is introduced through a signaling effect of capital buffers on the cost of bank deposits. The macroeconomic effects of various shocks (a drop in output, an increase in the refinance rate, and a rise in the capital adequacy ratio) are analyzed, under both binding and nonbinding capital requirements. Factors affecting the procyclicality of each regime (defined in terms of the behavior of the risk premium) are also identified and policy implications are discussed.

Banks & Banking Reform, Access to Finance, Economic Theory & Research, Currencies and Exchange Rates, Debt Markets

Abstract:
This paper studies how capital market imperfections affect the welfare effects of forming a currency union. The analysis considers a bank-only world where intermediaries compete in Cournot fashion and monitoring and state verification are costly. The first part determines the credit market equilibrium and the optimal number of banks, prior to joining the union. The second part discusses the benefits from joining a currency union. A competition effect is identified and related to the added monitoring costs that banks may incur when operating outside their home country, through an argument akin to the Brander-Krugman "reciprocal dumping" model of bilateral trade. Whether joining a union raises welfare of the home country is shown to depend on the relative strength of "investment creation" and "intermediation diversion" effects.

Optimum theory, Captial markets, Currency areas

Abstract:
This paper examines the effects of capital inflows and domestic factors on Brazil`s real exchange rate. It describes the analytical framework, and then estimates a near-VAR model linking capital flows, interest rate differentials, government spending, money-base velocity, and the temporary component of the real exchange rate (TCRER). Generalized variance decompositions indicate that world interest rate shocks largely explain medium-term fluctuations in capital flows and the TCRER. Generalized impulse response functions show that a reduction in the world interest rate (and, to a lesser extent, an increase in government spending) have significant effects on the TCRER and capital flows.

Real exchange rate, capital inflows, generalized VAR analysis, Brazil

Abstract:
This paper develops a model of devaluation crises for an economy where foreign exchange restrictions lead to the emergence of a parallel market. The devaluation rule relates the size of the parity change to the spread between the official and parallel exchange rates. The mechanism that triggers the devaluation relates credit policy and the inflation tax. A credit expansion leads to an increase in the spread and possibly to a fall in inflation tax revenue, as agents switch away from domestic currency holdings. A devaluation reverses temporarily the process of erosion of the tax base if the associated fall in the premium raises the credibility of the new parity.

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the implication of inefficient financial intermediation for crisis management in a country where firms are highly-indebted. The analysis is based on a model in which firms rely on bank credit to finance their working capital needs and lenders face high state verification and enforcement costs of loan contracts. The analysis shows that higher contract enforcement and verification costs, lower expected productivity, or higher volatility, may shift the economy to the wrong side of the debt Laffer curve, with potentially sizable employment and output losses. The main implication of this analysis for the current policy debate on crisis management is East Asia is that dept reduction, in addition to debt rescheduling, may be required as part of the process of reducing financial sector inefficiencies.

Abstract:
What role do supply-side factors play in the dynamics of output and absorption in exchange rate-based stabilization programs?

AgEnor and Pizzati study the dynamics of output, consumption, and real wages induced by a disinflation program based on permanent and temporary reductions in the nominal devaluation rate.

They use an intertemporal optimizing model of a small open economy in which domestic households face imperfect world capital markets, the labor supply is endogenous, and wages are flexible.

The model predicts that, with a constant capital stock and no investment, there is an initial reduction in real wages and output expands. Consumption falls on impact but increases afterward.

In addition, with a temporary shock, a current account deficit emerges and, later, a recession sets in, as documented in various studies.

With endogenous capital accumulation, numerical simulations show that the model can also predict a boom in investment.

This paper is a product of the Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction Division, World Bank Institute. The authors may be contacted at pagenor@worldbank.org and lpizzati@worldbank.org.

Abstract:
When households face the possibility of borrowing constraints in bad times, favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade may lead to higher rates of private savings. Agenor and Aizenman examine the extent to which permanent terms-of-trade shocks have an asymmetric effect on private savings.

Using a simple three-period model, they show that if households expect to face binding constraints on borrowing in bad states of nature (when the economy is in a long trough rather than a sharp peak), savings rates will respond asymmetrically to favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade-in contrast with the predictions of conventional consumption-smoothing models.

They test for asymmetric effects of terms-of-trade disturbances using an econometric model that controls for various standard determinants of private savings. The results - based on panel data for nonoil commodity exporters of Sub-Saharan Africa for 1980-96 (a group of countries for which movements in the terms of trade have traditionally represented a key source of macroeconomic shocks) - indicate that increases in the permanent component of the terms of trade (measured using three alternative filtering techniques) indeed tend to be associated with higher rates of private savings.

This paper is a product of Economic Policy and Poverty Reduction, World Bank Institute.

Abstract:
This paper studies the links between macroeconomic adjustment and poverty. The first part summarizes some of the recent evidence on poverty in the developing world. The second reviews the various channels through which macroeconomic policies affect the poor, whereas the third is devoted to the specific role of the labor market. It presents an analytical framework that captures some of the main features of the urban labor market in developing countries and studies the effects of fiscal adjustment on wages, employment, and poverty. The fourth part presents cross-country regressions linking various macroeconomic and structural variables to poverty. Higher levels and growth rates of per capita income, higher rates of real exchange rate depreciation, better health conditions, and a greater degree of commercial openness lower poverty, whereas inflation, greater income inequality, and macroeconomic volatility tend to increase it. Moreover, the impact of growth on poverty appears to be asymmetric; it seems to result from a significant relationship between episodes of increasing poverty and negative growth rates.

Macroeconomic policy, poverty, labor markets

Abstract:
This paper studies the interactions between electoral considerations and the imposition of price controls by opportunistic policymakers. The analysis shows that a policy cycle emerges in which price controls are imposed in periods leading to the election, and removed immediately afterwards. The shape of the cycle is shown to depend on the periodicity of elections, the relative weight attached by the public to inflation as opposed to the macroeconomic distortions associated with price controls, the nature of wage contracts, and the degree of uncertainty about the term in office.

Abstract:
Exchange rate reforms in developing countries have often aimed at floating the exchange rate in an attempt to unify the official and parallel markets for foreign exchange. This paper examines the anticipatory dynamics associated with such reforms. The analysis shows that if the future unified exchange rate is more depreciated than the prevailing official rate, a pre-announced reform will lead to a depreciation of the parallel rate upon announcement and, during the transition period, a rising premium, an increase in the rate of reserve losses, and possibly to an output contraction and an appreciation of the real exchange rate.

Abstract:
This paper examines the effect of volatility on the costs and benefits of financial market integration. The basic framework combines the costly state verification model and the contract enforceability approach. The welfare effects of financial market integration are assessed by comparing welfare under financial autarky and financial openness -- under which foreign banks, characterized by lower costs of intermediation and a lower markup rate, have free access to domestic capital markets. The analysis shows that financial integration may be welfare reducing if world interest rates under openness are highly volatile. The basic framework is then extended to consider the case of an upward-sloping domestic supply curve of funds and congestion externalities. It is shown, in particular, that opening the economy to unrestricted inflows of capital may magnify the welfare cost of existing distortions, such as congestion externalities or deposit insurance.

Abstract:
The paper examines the short- and long-term effects of price liberalization in a reforming socialist economy. The analysis is based on an optimizing framework that highlights hoarding behavior and the existence of parallel goods markets. The behavior of official and parallel market prices, stock of durables, and the velocity of money in the transition period between reform announcement and reform implementation is characterized, in the presence and absence of uncertainty about the transition date.

Abstract:
This paper examines the long-run effects of macroeconomic policy shocks on the behavior of output, inflation, real wages and the real exchange rate in a small open economy. The analysis is based on a two-sector, three-good optimizing model with imperfect capital mobility, nominal wage contracts with backward- or forward-looking price expectations, and endogenous mark-up pricing in the nontraded goods sector. The effects of a cut in government spending on nontraded goods are shown to be independent of the expectational mechanism embedded in wage contracts. A reduction in the nominal devaluation rate lowers steady-state output in the tradable sector under backward-looking contracts, but exerts an expansionary effect under forward-looking contracts.

Abstract:
This paper studies the effects of contagion on bank lending spreads and output fluctuations in Argentina. The first part presents the analytical framework, which analyzes the determination of bank lending spreads in the presence of verification and enforcement costs of loan contracts. The second part presents estimates of a vector autoregression model that relates the ex ante bank lending spread, the cyclical component of output, the real bank lending rate, and the external interest rate spread. The effects of a contagious shock (modeled as a positive historical shock in the external interest rate spread) are analyzed using generalized impulse response functions. The sock is shown to lead to an increase in domestic spreads and a reduction in the cyclical component of output. These results are consistent with the predictions of our analytical framework.

Abstract:
This paper studies the impact of aid volatility in a two-period model where production may occur with either a traditional or a modern technology. Public spending is productive and "time to build" requires expenditure in both periods for the modern technology to be used. The possibility of a poverty trap induced by high aid volatility is first examined in a benchmark case where taxation is absent. The analysis is then extended to account for self insurance (taking the form of a first-period contingency fund) financed through taxation. An increase in aid volatility is shown to raise the optimal contingency fund. But if future aid also depends on the size of the contingency fund (as a result of a moral hazard effect on donors' behavior), the optimal policy may entail no self insurance.

Abstract:
This paper examines the extent to which permanent terms-of-trade shocks have an asymmetric effect on private savings. The first part uses a simple three-period model to show that, if households expect to face binding borrowing constraints in bad states of nature, savings rates will respond asymmetrically to favorable movements in the permanent component of the terms of trade in contrast to what conventional consumption-smoothing models would predict. The second part tests for the existence of asymmetric effects of terms-of-trade disturbances using an econometric model that controls for various standard determinants of private savings. The results, based on panel data for non-oil commodity exporters of sub-Saharan Africa for the period 1980-96, indicate that increases in the permanent component of the terms of trade (measured using three alternative filtering techniques) tend indeed be associated with higher rates of private savings.

Abstract:
Since the early 1980s, wage dispersion and the ratio of skilled to unskilled employment have increased significantly in several industrial countries. A number of economists have attributed these trends to skill-biased technical progress. This paper studies the wage and employment effects of technological changes of this type. The analysis is based on a model with a heterogeneous work force and a segmented labor market. Skill-biased technical progress is modeled as a shock that switches demand from unskilled to skilled labor in the primary, high-wage sector, while leaving the total demand for labor in that sector constant at initial wages. Such a shock reduces total employment in the primary sector, as the equilibrium increase in skilled labor employment is smaller than the fall in employment of unskilled labor. Efficiency factors are shown to magnify the adverse employment effects of pro-skilled technical change.

Abstract:
This paper examines the behavior of real interest rates at the inception of exchange-rate-based stabilization programs. The analysis is based on an optimizing model of a small open economy facing imperfect world capital markets. A reduction in the devaluation rate is shown to have a positive impact on real interest rates. By contrast, a program characterized by an initial reduction in the devaluation rate and a perceived future increase in government spending has an ambiguous effect - which depends in particular on the degree of credibility of the fiscal policy stance.

Abstract:
The effects of an adverse change in market sentiment, defined as a temporary increase in the premium faced by domestic borrowers on world financial markets, are studied in an intertemporal optimizing framework with imperfect capital mobility. Firms' demands for working capital are financed by bank credit. The shock leads to a rise in domestic interest rates, capital outflows and a drop in official reserves, a reduction in bank deposits and loans, a contraction in output, and an increase in unemployment. These predictions are consistent with Argentina's economic downturn in the immediate aftermath of the Mexican peso crisis of December 1994.

Abstract:
This paper puts in perspective recent research on the macroeconomics of poverty reduction. It begins by arguing that research on poverty was, and continues to be, distorted by an excessive focus on micro and measurement issues. The debate on 'pro-poor growth' is used to illustrate the extent of this bias. Next, it provides a review of the transmission channels of macroeconomic policies to the poor, with particular emphasis on the role of the labor market. It then presents a new class of theoretical and applied macroeconomic models for poverty analysis. It concludes by identifying directions for future research.

Abstract:
This paper studies how capital market imperfections affect the welfare effects of forming a currency union. The analysis considers a bank-only world where intermediaries compete in Cournot fashion and monitoring and state verification are costly. The first part determines the credit market equilibrium and the optimal number of banks, prior to joining the union. The second part discusses the benefits from joining a currency union. A competition effect is identified and related to the added monitoring costs that banks may incur when operating outside their home country, through an argument akin to the Brander-Krugman reciprocal dumping model of bilateral trade. Whether joining a union raises welfare of the home country is shown to depend on the relative strength of investment creation and intermediation diversion effects.

Abstract:
A model emphasizing the tradeoff between the costs of changes of domestic interest rates and exchange rate stability is used to assess the role of credibility and reputational factors in the lead-up to the December 1994 crisis of the Mexican peso. Devaluation expectations are decomposed into the probability that the authorities do not truly put a high weight on exchange rate stability and the probability that an exogenous shock will make a devaluation the preferred policy. Estimates indicate that prior to the peso collapse there was no significant increase in devaluation fears and no perceived shift in the authorities' policy preferences. But the increase in the differential that occurred after the devaluation may have resulated from such a shift.