52,677 research outputs found

    United Nations employment law and the causes for its failed senior female appointments record

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    This is the author's final version of the article. The final publication is available from the link below. Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009.No abstract available

    Interest rates, official lending, and the debt crisis : a reassessment

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    The authors document and try to explain the sizable cross-country differences in interest rates on external debt paid by a group of highly indebted developing countries in 1973-89. They find that Indonesia and Turkey, which are often praised for not rescheduling in the 1980s, paid interest rates substantially below LIBOR - and avoided the interest rate shock of the early 1980s. Differences in the default-risk premium explain some of the variation among countries, but different degrees of access to official loans carrying highly subsidized interest rates played the major role. In the sample they studied, they found no evidence that debt at floating interest rates was more expensive than debt at fixed rates. For the period 1981-89, it is possible to control for differences in the currency composition of debt, and the results are essentially unchanged. These results suggest that studies of economic performance among the highly indebted countries during the debt crisis should control for cross-country differences in the burden of interest payments.Economic Theory&Research,Strategic Debt Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation

    Recent Private Capital Inflows to Developing Countries: Is the Debt Crisis History?

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    This empirical study finds that while debt reduction and policy reforms in debtor countries have been important determinants of renewed access to international capital markets, changes in international interest rates have been the dominant factor. We calculate the effects of changes in international interest rates for a 'typical' debtor country. We conclude that increases in interest rates associated with business cycle upturn in industrial countries could depress the secondary market prices of existing debt to levels inconsistent with continued capital inflows.

    The Euro-mediterranean partnership : trade in services as an alternative to migration ?

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    This paper discusses options to facilitate movement of workers between high-income and developing countries within the framework of trade agreements, focusing on the European Union’s partnership agreements with neighboring countries. Existing frameworks for cooperation offer the possibility of expanding temporary rather than longer-term or permanent movement of workers since extant trade agreements provide scope for negotiating specific market access commitments for services, including those delivered through the cross-border movement of natural persons. Even though the potential for such"embodied"trade in services will not be anywhere near what would be associated with substantial liberalization of migration regimes, furthering the services trade dimension in the European Union’s ¬trade agreements offers significant potential Pareto gains. For the partner countries these gains from temporary movement of service providers are both direct - through greater employment in/revenue from providing services in the European Union - and indirect - by helping to increase and sustain higher growth at home.Population Policies,Labor Markets,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Labor Policies,Housing&Human Habitats

    The design of the Work Programme in international context

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    Is the debt crisis history? Recent private capital inflows to developing countries

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    The outlook for economic development for an important group of middle-income countries has again been buoyed by substantial private capital inflows in the 1990s. As in the 1970s, this development has been met with cautious optimism. It is generally accepted that these countries need resource transfers from the rest of the world to support capital formation and growth. It is also generally accepted that these private capital flows make the allocation of resources more efficient. But there is concern that a rapid reversal of market sentiment could impose considerable adjustment costs on these same economies. The authors try to quantify what many consider to be the main reasons debtor countries have access to capital markets again: (a) Domestic policy reform in the debtor countries. (b) Debt and debt service reduction, usually associated with Brady Plan restructuring. (c) Changes in the external market, such as changes in interest rates in industrial countries. They argue that a useful barometer for access to new loans is the market value of existing sovereign debt. It follows that a quantitative analysis of the factors that caused the market value of sovereign debts to rise rapidly after 1989 would also improve understanding of the forces behind the renewed access to international capital. Empirical historical evidence suggests that fiscal reform, privatization, and debt reduction are useful in explaining relative improvements in the standing of debtor countries in international credit markets. Debtor countries with strong reform programs, in other words, are better prepared to withstand deterioration in the external environment. But the reduction in dollar interest rates since 1989 appears to be the chief factor in the debtor countries'renewed access to international loans. The authors estimate the effect of increases in dollar interest rates and conclude that the typical debtor country remains vulnerable to increases in interest rates that are well within the range of recent experience.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Strategic Debt Management,Financial Intermediation

    Making Fiscal Space Happen! Managing Fiscal Policy in a World of Scaled-Up Aid

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    aid, fiscal policy, low income countries, macroeconomic policy, public financial management

    Identifying and Evaluating Equity Provisions in State Health Care Reform

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    Identifies state policies that promote equitable access to quality health care and analyzes whether reform proposals in five states meet those equity benchmarks. Discusses innovative measures and the need to implement truly universal health insurance

    Rural finance policies for food security of the poor

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    The objective of IFPRI's multicountry research program on rural financial policies for food security of the poor is to identify policies and institutional arrangements that help the poor integrate themselves into sustainable savings and credit systems such that they have an increased capacity to invest, bear risk, and smooth consumption. The focus of the research on policy and program design and their effects on household investment and consumption requires field data collection at the institutional and household level. This paper presents the underlying conceptual framework and various methodological approaches that have been reviewed and tested by the team at IFPRI and at collaborating institutions. Methodologies are presented for analysis at the institutional level, mainly focusing on the determinants of the formation of financial institutions and the analysis of effects of program design on institutional conduct and performance, and at the household level, thereby addressing determinants of access to and participation in financial markets and related effects on household welfare.Food security Developing countries. ,Financial institutions. ,Households Economic aspects. ,

    UNDERSTANDING AGRICULTURE'S TRANSITION INTO THE 21ST CENTURY: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, CONSEQUENCES AND ALTERNATIVES

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    Advances in production, communication and transportation technologies as well as expectations of consumers, taxpayers, business people and rural residents continue to cause changes in agriculture and rural areas. These changes pose challenges, such as increased competition, as well as offer opportunities to produce specialized products and reach new markets. The opportunities for production agriculture appear to be 1) low-cost, large-scale commodity production, 2) medium- or small-scale commodity production combined with non-farm sources of income, or 3) production and marketing of specialized products. Emerging opportunities for rural businesses appear to be in serving production agriculture and agribusinesses by meeting their unique needs. These firms also can use advancing communication technologies to reach distant markets. Many business managers are adopting strategies that will shift their firm away from perfect competition. Opportunities for rural communities lie in using technology to efficiently provide services to rural residents. The size and composition of rural communities also will be redefined by advances in communication and transportation technologies. The decision of how to pursue these opportunities require a thorough understanding of what is occurring and thoughtful deliberations.Agribusiness, Production Economics,
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