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Business and Economics > Finance: General

You are looking at 1 - 4 of 4 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
The Driving Force behind the Boom and Bust in Construction in Europe
Ms. Yan M Sun
,
Ms. Pritha Mitra
, and
Mr. Alejandro Simone
This paper studies the factors behind pro-cyclical but widely varying construction shares (as a percent of GDP) across countries, with a strong focus on European countries. Using a dataset covering 48 countries (including advanced and emerging economies within and outside Europe) for 1990-2011, we find that country’s geography, demographics, and economic conditions are the key determinants of a norm around which actual construction shares revolve in a simple AR(1) and error-correction process. The empirical results show that in many European countries, construction shares overshoot relative to their norms before the recent global crisis, but they have fallen significantly since the crisis. Nevertheless, there is still room for further adjustment in construction shares in some countries which may weigh on economic recovery.
Keywords:
WP; construction share; Construction; Business Cycle; Error-correction; European Growth; share of construction; significance level; norm vis-a-vis; adjustment dynamics of construction share; share norm equation; estimated construction share norm; construction share norm; medium-term norm; norm equation; adjustment in construction share; increase in construction share; Stock markets; Capital spending; Housing; Income; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
An Integrated Framework for Financial Positions and Flowson a From-Whom-To-Whom Basis: Concepts, Status, and Prospects
Mr. Segismundo Fassler
,
Mr. Manik L. Shrestha
, and
Mr. Reimund Mink
The global crisis of 2008 highlighted the need to understand financial interconnectedness among the various sectors of an economy and between them and their counterparties in the rest of the world. However, application of this kind of analysis has been hampered by the lack of adequate data. This paper sets the background for promoting internationally coordinated efforts for compiling and disseminating data on sectoral financial positions and flows on a from-whom-to-whom basis within the framework of the System of National Accounts. It draws on actual experiences in compiling these kinds of data and provides guidelines for their development in the future.
Keywords:
WP; balance sheet; economy; financial activity; economic activity; G20 industrial nations; holding; financial flows; balance sheets; financial accounts; flow of funds; balance sheet approach; national accounts; financial instruments currency; financial instrument classification; balance sheet weakness; securities holdings statistics; financial instrument category; double entry; Financial statements; Securities; Fiscal accounting and reporting; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
On the Viability of Conditional Assistance Programs
Mr. Wolfgang Mayer
and
Mr. Alex Mourmouras
Economic adjustment and reform programs, including those supported by international financial institutions (IFIs), must cope with informational asymmetries and special interest politics. This presents a particularly serious issue when IFIs make structural economic reforms a condition for providing economic assistance. This paper examines what conditions must be satisfied to make conditional assistance programs viable; that is, to ensure that the assistancereceiving government not only takes the assistance but also implements reforms, without compromising the country's political stability and the IFI's financial integrity. It is pointed out that tightly budgeted conditional assistance programs never bring about reforms, that the IFI's cost of viable programs rises with the dependence of the government on domestic interest groups, and that unconditional assistance might be viable when conditional assistance is not.
Keywords:
WP; economic policy
Cover IMF Staff Papers
IMF Staff Papers: Volume 1, No. 2
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
This paper focuses on various aspects of inflation in Latin America. Among short-run factors, World War II considerably affected the balance of payments of Latin American countries and thus indirectly their inflationary situation. Inflation in a greater or less degree has long been characteristic of many Latin American countries. A high propensity to consume implies either a high multiplier or a high propensity to import. In normal times, the latter was more usual, since the supply of consumers' goods in these countries was rather inelastic. In countries where controls over consumption and investment are strict and efficient, there is a tendency for inflation to give rise to substantial holdings of cash, bank deposits, and other relatively liquid assets in excess of those which would voluntarily be held by business and consumers. In countries such as those of Latin America, where controls have not been very effective, this tendency toward excess liquidity is noticeably smaller. Nevertheless, it is still a factor to reckon with, because involuntary hoarding may be the result of the impossibility of obtaining desired commodities or supplies, even though there is no rationing or similar system in operation. In Latin America during the war the inevitable curtailment of imports did in this way bring about a condition of latent inflation.
Keywords:
SP; import; rate; export