Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Countries

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Business and Economics > Public Finance

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 23 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Comparative Studies of Countries x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Working Papers
Output Losses in Europe During COVID-19: What Role for Policies?
Mr. Anil Ari
,
Jean-Marc B. Atsebi
, and
Mar Domenech Palacios
We use a decomposition methodology to analyze the factors underlying the differentiated output losses of European countries in 2020. Our findings are fourfold: First, 2020 growth outcomes can be explained by differences in mobility, underlying growth trends, and pre-pandemic country fundamentals. Second, fiscal and monetary policies helped alleviate output losses during the pandemic in all European countries but to a varying extent. Third, shallower recessions in emerging market economies in Europe can be attributed to higher underlying growth and younger populations. Fourth, fiscal multipliers were higher in countries where above-the-line measures accounted for a larger share of the total fiscal package, the size of the total fiscal package was smaller, and inequality and informality were greater, as well as in countries with IMF-supported program during the pandemic.
Keywords:
COVID-19 crisis; output losses; monetary policy; fiscal policy; fiscal multipliers; growth outcome; output loss; decomposition methodology; types of fiscal policies; monetary policy support; COVID-19; Central bank policy rate; Income inequality; Europe; Global
Cover Departmental Papers
State-Owned Enterprises in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: Size, Costs, and Challenges: Executive Summary
Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo
,
Christine J. Richmond
,
Oluremi Akin Olugbade
,
Gareth Anderson
,
Maria Atamanchuk
,
Mr. Hatim Bukhari
,
Iacovos Ioannou
,
Deeksha Kale
,
Tannous Kass-Hanna
,
Mr. Maximilien Queyranne
,
Wei Shi
, and
Joyce Wong
Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.
Keywords:
State-owned enterprises; corporate governance; fiscal risks; Middle East; Central Asia; COVID-19; SOE footprint; government support; SOE definition; SOE mandate; SOE sector; SOE governance; Public enterprises; Public sector; North Africa; Middle East and Central Asia; Global
Cover Departmental Papers
State-Owned Enterprises in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: Size, Costs, and Challenges
Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo
,
Christine J. Richmond
,
Oluremi Akin Olugbade
,
Gareth Anderson
,
Maria Atamanchuk
,
Mr. Hatim Bukhari
,
Iacovos Ioannou
,
Deeksha Kale
,
Tannous Kass-Hanna
,
Mr. Maximilien Queyranne
,
Wei Shi
, and
Joyce Wong
Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.
Keywords:
State-owned enterprises; corporate governance; fiscal risks; Middle East; Central Asia; COVID-19; SOE footprint; government support; SOE definition; SOE mandate; SOE sector; SOE governance; Public enterprises; Public sector; North Africa; Middle East and Central Asia; Global
Cover Departmental Papers
State-Owned Enterprises in Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: Size, Costs, and Challenges: Executive Summary
Mr. Ernesto Ramirez Rigo
,
Christine J. Richmond
,
Oluremi Akin Olugbade
,
Gareth Anderson
,
Maria Atamanchuk
,
Mr. Hatim Bukhari
,
Iacovos Ioannou
,
Deeksha Kale
,
Tannous Kass-Hanna
,
Mr. Maximilien Queyranne
,
Wei Shi
, and
Joyce Wong
Prior to the COVID-19 shock, the key challenge facing policymakers in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia region was how to generate strong, sustainable, job-rich, inclusive growth. Post-COVID-19, this challenge has only grown given the additional reduction in fiscal space due to the crisis and the increased need to support the recovery. The sizable state-owned enterprise (SOE) footprint in the region, together with its cost to the government, call for revisiting the SOE sector to help open fiscal space and look for growth opportunities.
Keywords:
State-owned enterprises; corporate governance; fiscal risks; Middle East; Central Asia; COVID-19; SOE footprint; government support; SOE definition; SOE mandate; SOE sector; SOE governance; Public enterprises; Public sector; North Africa; Middle East and Central Asia; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Economic Consequences of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa
Xiangming Fang
,
Siddharth Kothari
,
Mr. Cameron McLoughlin
, and
Mustafa Yenice
Sub-Saharan Africa has been marred by conflicts during the past several decades. While the intensity of conflicts in recent years is lower than that observed in the 1990s, the region remains prone to conflicts, with around 30 percent of the countries affected in 2019. In addition to immeasurable human suffering, conflicts impose large economic costs. On average, annual growth in countries in intense conflicts is about 2.5 percentage points lower, and the cumulative impact on per capita GDP increases over time. Furthermore, conflicts pose significant strains on countries’ public finances, lowering revenue, raising military spending, and shifting resources away from development and social spending.
Keywords:
conflict; growth; fiscal policy; military spending; sub-Saharan Africa; sub-Saharan Africa country; partner country growth; per-capita GDP; Sahel region; growth rate; public finances; No. of country; conflict country; civil war; time effect; country classification; Defense spending; Capital spending; Total expenditures; Africa; Middle East; East Africa; North Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Digital Connectivity in sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Perspective
Mr. Emre Alper
and
Michal Miktus
Higher digital connectivity is expected to bring opportunities to leapfrog development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Experience within the region demonstrates that if there is an adequate digital infrastructure and a supportive business environment, new forms of business spring up and create jobs for the educated as well as the less educated. The paper first confirms the global digital divide through the unsupervised machine learning clustering K-means algorithm. Next, it derives a composite digital connectivity index, in the spirit of De Muro-Mazziotta-Pareto, for about 190 economies. Descriptive analysis shows that majority of SSA countries lag in digital connectivity, specifically in infrastructure, internet usage, and knowledge. Finally, using fractional logit regressions we document that better business enabling and regulatory environment, financial access, and urbanization are associated with higher digital connectivity.
Keywords:
WP; digital connectivity; EDAI SSA distribution; account ownership; ICT indicators database; SSA countries lag; Digitalization; unsupervised machine learning; fractional logit model; connectivity index; SSA economy; Information technology in revenue administration; Infrastructure; Machine learning; Income; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fiscal Reforms, Long-term Growth and Income Inequality
Mr. Santiago Acosta Ormaechea
,
Mr. Takuji Komatsuzaki
, and
Carolina Correa-Caro
We estimate the effects on growth of nine fiscal reform episodes in seven high-income countries using the Synthetic Control Method. These episodes are selected using an indicator-based approach applied to the evaluation of growth-friendly fiscal reforms during 1975-2010. We find that in reform countries the annual growth rate of real GDP was on average about 1 percentage point above their synthetic units 10 years after each respective reform. Moreover, countries which were initially less developed seemed to experience a larger growth impact after their reforms. Results are broadly robust to controlling for structural reforms on business regulation, financial market, labor market, and legal and product markets, which may also affect growth. Our findings also suggest that inequality is not affected by the growth-friendly fiscal reforms analyzed in this paper.
Keywords:
WP; income; SCM result; Chile; Gini coefficient; Fiscal Policy; Synthetic Control Method; Structural Reform; growth effect; country selection; SCM approach; outcome variable; Structural reforms; Personal income; Income inequality; Income distribution; Global
Cover Policy Papers
Implementation Plan in Response to the Board-Endorsed Recommendations for the IEO Evaluation Report on Self-Evaluation at the IMF
International Monetary Fund
This paper sets out Management’s response to the Independent Evaluation Office’s (IEO) evaluation report on Self-Evaluation at the IMF. The implementation plan proposes specific actions to address the recommendations of the IEO that were endorsed by the Board in its September 18, 2015 discussion of the IEO’s report, namely: (i) adopt a broad policy or general principles for self-evaluation in the IMF, including its goals, scope, outputs, utilization, and follow-up; (ii) give country authorities the opportunity to express their views on program design and results, and IMF performance; (iii) for each policy and thematic review, explicitly set out a plan for how the policies and operations it covers will be self-evaluated; (iv) develop products and activities aimed at distilling and disseminating evaluative findings and lessons. The implementation of some of these proposed actions is already underway. The paper also explains how implementation will be monitored.
Keywords:
PP; plan; IMF performance; implementation; implementation plan; practice
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Impact of Product Market Reforms on Firm Productivity in Italy
Mr. Sergi Lanau
and
Petia Topalova
This paper examines the role of removing obstacles to competition in product markets in raising growth and productivity. Using firm-level data from Italy during 2003–13 and OECD measures of product market regulation, we estimate the effect of deregulation in network sectors on value added and productivity of firms in these sectors, as well as firms using these intermediates in their production processes. We find evidence of a significant positive impact. These effects are more pronounced in Italian provinces with more efficient public administration, underscoring the complementarities of advancing public administration and product market reforms simultaneously.
Keywords:
WP; firm; firm performance; productivity; growth; structural reforms; product markets; firm data; performance metrics; downstream firm; firm size variable; firms exit; performance variable; Commodity markets; Public expenditure review; Total factor productivity; Competition; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Can a Government Enhance Long-Run Growth by Changing the Composition of Public Expenditure?
Mr. Santiago Acosta Ormaechea
and
Atsuyoshi Morozumi
This paper studies the effects of public expenditure reallocations on long-run growth. To do this, we assemble a new dataset based on the IMF’s GFS yearbook for the period 1970-2010 and 56 countries (14 low-, 16 medium-, and 26 high-income countries). Using dynamic panel GMM estimators, we find that a reallocation involving a rise in education spending has a positive and statistically robust effect on growth, when the compensating factor remains unspecified or when this is associated with an offsetting reduction in social protection spending. We also find that public capital spending relative to current spending appears to be associated with higher growth, yet results are non-robust in this latter case.
Keywords:
WP; central government; dependent variable; economic growth; fiscal policy; Expenditure composition; panel-data analysis; increase in capital expenditure; spending envelope; share variable; expenditure outlay; expenditure composition information; expenditure subcomponent; lowering spending trend; disaggregated fiscal expenditure dataset; spending reallocation; spendings fall; public education; Education spending; Total expenditures; Social protection spending; Capital spending