International capital flows : do short-term investment and direct investment differ?

The authors examine the behavior of four major components of international capital flows in 15 developing and industrial countries. Striking differences in the behavior of the component flows arise in general specifications that allow the flows to interact. For example, the behavior of international short-term investment appears to be sensitive to changes in all the other types of international capital flows, including direct investment, but direct investment appears to be insensitive to such changes. In finding that short-term investment appears to respond more dramatically to disturbances in other capital flows and in other countries than does direct investment, the authors provide empirical support for the conventional notion that short-term investment is"hot money"and direct investment is not.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Capital Markets and Capital Flows,Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Capital Flows

Equity and bond flows to Asia and Latin America : the role of global and country factors

The authors investigate what has motivated the large portfolio flows to several developing countries in recent years. Using monthly data on U.S. capital flows to nine Latin American and nine Asian countries (instead of monthly reserves data), they analyze the behavior of bond and equity flows to those countries. Using panel data, they find that global factors - such as a drop in U.S. interest rates and the slowdown in U.S. industrial production - are important in explaining capital inflows. But country developments are at least as important in determining those flows, especially for Asia. They also find that equity flows are more sensitive than bond flows to global factors, but that bond flows are generally more sensitive to a country's credit rating and to the secondary market price of debt.Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Macroeconomic Management

Infrastructure Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scorecard

Infrastructure is viewed as a crucial ingredient to foster growth and productivity. Amid the post -- global financial crisis slowdown, Sub-Saharan Africa is in dire need to continue the growth momentum it experienced during the period of the Africa Rising narrative. An emerging consensus in the empirical literature is that, under the right circumstances, an adequate supply of infrastructure can help foster growth in the region. This paper provides a scorecard on infrastructure development in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decades along four sectors (telecommunications, electric power, transportation, and water and sanitation) and three dimensions (quantity, quality, and access). First, it documents the existence of a large gap in infrastructure in the regionalthough the magnitude of the gap depends on the sector, dimension, and country/group. Second, the potential growth benefits from closing the infrastructure gap are large. Third, the infrastructure financing needs are very large, and the public sector so far is unable to meet these needs. Other options that involve the private sector may be available for the region. Finally, there is room for improving the efficiency of public infrastructure spending (that is, the quality of public investment management systems and procurement methods), which, in turn, may increase the output multiplier of investment spending. Document type: Boo

O financiamento da América Latina no mercado de capitais do Japão

Incluye Bibliografí

El financiamiento latinoamericano en los mercados de capital de Japón

Incluye Bibliografí

Paying for health and schooling services in rural Mali

référence interne : 86019This study reports on analyses of household demand for health, schooling and water supply services in an impoverished region of the African Sahel. The ability and willingness of rouseholds to pay user fees for these services is assessed. The effect of introduction of such charges on demand among low-income groups most in need of the services is analyzed. Data for the analyses come from surveys conducted in the Kayes region of the Republic of Mali, an area typical of the least-developed rural areas of the Sahel, including a survey of households, surveys of health posts, schools, and drug outlets, and village group surveys.The analyses presented highlight tre importance of service-related variables in influencing the use of schooling, health, and water supply services:• Distance to the service is a consistently significant determinant of use. Greater distance is associated with lower use of schooling and health care, lower drug expenditure, and higher willingness to pay for village wells and health workers.• The quality of services is also an important correlate of use. School quality - as measured by class size and the number of textbooks - is associated with higher enrollments. Households with access to higher quality drug outlets are more likely to choose modern care or self-treatment over traditional treatment, and are less willing to pay for a real the worker.• The effect of user fees on demand - which could only be measured for schooling - is negative, as expected, but small in magnitude. Households in the majority of villages are willing to finance well maintenance, but not clearly willing to finance community health care provision. Private expenditures on drugs are substantial.The experienoe of villages and public facilities in the region studied in collecting and managing fees is extremely limited, institutional development would be a necessary prerequisite for success of any local cost recovery schemes

DEFAULT EPISODES IN THE 1980s AND 1990s: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED? By

prepared for the Volatility Handbook. The authors wish to thank Paul Beckerman, Crai