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Business and Economics > Production and Operations Management

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 33 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Financial Institutions and Services: Government Policy and Regulation x
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Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Luxembourg: 2024 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; and Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Luxembourg
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
The 2024 Article IV Consultation discusses that Luxembourg’ economy contracted in 2023 despite buoyant consumption, mainly due to weak external demand and residential investment. Inflation is subsiding but underlying measures remain high. Credit growth turned negative as demand dropped and real estate prices declined. The newly elected government has approved a mix of temporary and permanent measures to support purchasing power and housing demand. Gradually easing financial conditions, continuing disinflation and expansionary fiscal policy is expected to help the economy rebound and the financial cycle bottom out. Inflation should decline in 2024, before temporarily increasing in 2025 once administrative price measures expire. The recovery is fragile amid heightened geopolitical tensions. Risks are tilted to the downside, stemming mainly from external demand/supply shocks and a disorderly correction of asset prices, including domestic real estate valuations. Sustained economic growth hinges on raising productivity, which has been stagnant since the Global Financial Crisis. Increasing investment in intangible assets, aligning workers’ skills with the current demands of the economy, reducing administrative burden, and making the wage indexation system more flexible will be key to harnessing productivity gains and bolstering competitiveness.
Keywords:
FATF report; Luxembourg economy; executive board assessment; headline inflation; labor productivity growth; Macroprudential policy; Productivity; Income; Financial Sector Assessment Program; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
A Proposal to Improve Country-Level Data on Total Factor Productivity Growth
Andrew M. Warner
The assumption behind popular data on national capital stocks, and therefore total factor productivity, is that countries were in a steady state in the first year that investment data became available. This paper argues that this assumption is highly implausible and is necessarily responsible for implausible data on the ratio of capital to output and productivity growth. It is not credible that countries with similar incomes had huge differences in their capital stocks. This paper claims, with evidence, that implausible features of the data can be greatly reduced by using data on electricity usage or national stocks of road vehicles.
Keywords:
Productivity; Total Factor Productivity; Economic Growth; capital output ratio; total factor productivity growth; capita-output ratio; investment data; TFP growth estimate; Capital productivity; Stocks; Capital adequacy requirements; Electricity; Africa; Global
Cover Regional Economic Outlook, Middle East and Central Asia, October 2023
Regional Economic Outlook, Middle East and Central Asia, October 2023
Building Resilience and Fostering Sustainable Growth
International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.

Abstract

Across the Middle East and Central Asia, the combined effects of global headwinds, domestic challenges, and geopolitical risks weigh on economic momentum, and the outlook is highly uncertain. Growth is set to slow this year in the Middle East and North Africa region, driven by lower oil production, tight policy settings in emerging market and middle-income economies, the conflict in Sudan, and other country-specific factors. In the Caucasus and Central Asia, although migration, trade, and financial inflows following Russia’s war in Ukraine continue to support economic activity, growth is set to moderate slightly this year. Looking ahead, economic activity in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to improve in 2024 and 2025 as some factors weighing on growth this year gradually dissipate, including the temporary oil production cuts. But growth is expected to remain subdued over the forecast horizon amid persistent structural hurdles. In the Caucasus and Central Asia, economic growth is projected to slow next year and over the medium term as the boost to activity from real and financial inflows from Russia gradually fades and deep-seated structural challenges remain unsolved. Inflation is broadly easing, in line with globally declining price pressures, although country-specific factors—including buoyant wage growth in some Caucasus and Central Asia countries—and climate-related events continue to make their mark. Despite some improvement since April, the balance of risks to the outlook remains on the downside. In this context, expediting structural reforms is crucial to boost growth and strengthen resilience, while tight monetary and fiscal policies remain essential in several economies to durably bring down inflation and ensure public debt sustainability.

Keywords:
growth; inflation; public debt; external financing; commodity prices; structural reforms; investment; labor productivity; financial stability; stress testing; governance reform; GCC country; credit market reform; government effectiveness; reform package; Policy space; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Credit; Labor force participation; Middle East and Central Asia; Central Asia and the Caucasus; Middle East; North Africa; oil exporter; IMF staff calculation; CCA bank; sovereign-bank nexus; Fiscal stance; Current account balance; Commercial banks; Oil exports; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Principality of Andorra: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
policy implication; banking model; staff team of the International Monetary Fund; features of the Andorran banking sector; contribution rate; Pension spending; Potential output; Pensions; Retirement; Liquidity requirements; Europe; Middle East; South America
Cover IMF Working Papers
Watch What They Do, Not What They Say: Estimating Regulatory Costs from Revealed Preferences
Adrien Alvero
,
Mr. Sakai Ando
, and
Kairong Xiao
We show that distortion in the size distribution of banks around regulatory thresholds can be used to identify costs of bank regulation. We build a structural model in which banks can strategically bunch their assets below regulatory thresholds to avoid regulations. The resulting distortion in the size distribution of banks reveals the magnitude of regulatory costs. Using U.S. bank data, we estimate the regulatory costs imposed by the Dodd-Frank Act. Although the estimated regulatory costs are substantial, they are significatnly lower than those in self-reported estimates by banks.
Keywords:
Bank regulation; regulatory costs; the Dodd-Frank Act; bunching; regulatory cost; size distribution; bank data; costs from revealed preference; bank value; Bank regulation; Productivity; Shadow banking; Total factor productivity; Cost-benefit analysis; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Monetary and Macroprudential Policy Coordination Among Multiple Equilibria
Mr. Itai Agur
The notion of a tradeoff between output and financial stabilization is based on monetary-macroprudential models with unique equilibria. Using a game theory setup, this paper shows that multiple equilibria lead to qualitatively different results. Monetary and macroprudential authorities have tools that impose externalities on each other's objectives. One of the tools (macroprudential) is coarse, while the other (monetary policy) is unconstrained. We find that this asymmetry always leads to multiple equilibria, and show that under economically relevant conditions the authorities prefer different equilibria. Giving the unconstrained authority a weight on "helping" the constrained authority ("leaning against the wind") now has unexpected effects. The relation between this weight and the difficulty of coordinating is hump-shaped, and therefore a small degree of leaning worsens outcomes on both authorities' objectives.
Keywords:
WP; monetary policy; first mover; central bank
Cover Staff Discussion Notes
A Central Fiscal Stabilization Capacity for the Euro Area
Mr. Nathaniel G Arnold
,
Ms. Bergljot B Barkbu
,
H. Elif Ture
,
Hou Wang
, and
Jiaxiong Yao
This note outlines a concrete proposal for a euro area central fiscal capacity (CFC) that could help smooth both country-specific and common shocks. Specifically, it proposes a macroeconomic stabilization fund financed by annual contributions from countries that are used to build up assets in good times and make transfers to countries in bad times, as well as a borrowing capacity in case an exceptionally large shock exhausts the fund’s assets. To address moral hazard risks, transfers from the CFC—beyond a country’s own net contributions—would be conditional on compliance with the EU fiscal rules. The note also discusses several features aimed at avoiding permanent transfers between countries and making the CFC function as automatically as possible—to limit the scope for disputes over its operation—both of which are important points to make it politically acceptable.
Keywords:
SDN; moving average; Euro Area; Fiscal Integration; Macroeconomic Stabilization; CFC transfer; debt group; asset target; CFC assets; shock scenario; trend unemployment rate; aggregate CFC contribution target; CFC asset; deviation trigger; stabilization power; Unemployment rate; Fiscal rules; Return on investment; Output gap; Fiscal stabilization; Global; CFC proposal; inflation impact; usage premium; calibrating contribution; Stress testing
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Euro Area Policies: 2017 Article IV Consultation-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Member Countries
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2017 Article IV Consultation highlights that the cyclical recovery in the euro area is firming and becoming broad based. Lower energy prices, supportive policies, stronger labor markets and a recovery in credit growth have boosted domestic demand, especially private consumption. The near-term outlook is favorable, with growth of 1.9 percent expected in 2017 and 1.7 percent in 2018. Although headline inflation picked up in the first half of 2017 owing to higher energy prices, core inflation has remained persistently low. The improving near-term outlook is clouded by significant downside risks, especially in the medium and long term, amid thin policy buffers.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; bank; liquidation aid provision; member state; headline inflation; inflation outlook; long-term viability; BRRD rule; IMF country team; Productivity; Structural reforms; Inflation; Fiscal stance; Output gap; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Managing the Tide: How Do Emerging Markets Respond to Capital Flows?
Mr. Atish R. Ghosh
,
Mr. Jonathan David Ostry
, and
Miss Mahvash S Qureshi
This paper examines whether—and how—emerging market economies (EMEs) respond to capital flows to mitigate their untoward consequences. Based on a sample of about 50 EMEs over 2005Q1–2013Q4, we find that EME policy makers respond proactively to capital inflows by using a combination of policy tools: central banks raise the policy interest rate to address economic overheating concerns; intervene in the foreign exchange market to resist currency appreciation pressures; tighten macroprudential measures to dampen credit growth; and deploy capital inflow controls in the face of competitiveness and financial-stability concerns. Contrary to conventional policy advice to EMEs, we find no evidence of counter-cyclical fiscal policy in the face of capital inflows. Overall, policies are more likely to respond, and used in combination, during inflow surges than in more normal times.
Keywords:
WP; capital control; capital flow; inflow control; exchange rate; outflow control; capital flows; policy toolkit; capital controls; emerging market economies; FX intervention; prudential measure; Capital inflows; Central bank policy rate; Output gap; Global
Cover Finance & Development
Finance and Development, March 2017
International Monetary Fund. External Relations Dept.
This paper reports about current mainstream growth projections for the United States and the European Union over the medium term represent a marked slowdown from growth rates in the decades prior to the global financial crisis. Slower growth in Europe and the United States has mixed implications for growth prospects in developing economies. Most obviously, on the negative side, it means less demand for these countries’ exports, so models of development based on export-led growth may need to be rethought. In contrast, for Western Europe the narrative is about catch-up growth rather than the rate of cutting-edge technological progress. From the middle of the 20th century to the recent global crisis, this experience comprised three distinct phases. European medium-term growth prospects depend both on how fast productivity grows in the United States and whether catch-up growth can resume after a long hiatus. Economic historians see social capability as a key determinant of success or failure in catch-up growth.
Keywords:
FD; F&D; economy; can money; workforce benefit; productivity growth; utility price; polymer note; pension payment; prices in the shop; Productivity; Non-renewable resources; Income inequality; Aging; Global; Europe; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Europe; East Asia