Global Waves of Debt


Book Description

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.




Expansionary Austerity New International Evidence


Book Description

This paper investigates the short-term effects of fiscal consolidation on economic activity in OECD economies. We examine the historical record, including Budget Speeches and IMFdocuments, to identify changes in fiscal policy motivated by a desire to reduce the budget deficit and not by responding to prospective economic conditions. Using this new dataset, our estimates suggest fiscal consolidation has contractionary effects on private domestic demand and GDP. By contrast, estimates based on conventional measures of the fiscal policy stance used in the literature support the expansionary fiscal contractions hypothesis but appear to be biased toward overstating expansionary effects.







Global Imbalances, Exchange Rates and Stabilization Policy


Book Description

This book analyzes key international monetary issues from a macro-foundations perspective. It proposes novel frameworks to interpret macroeconomic and financial linkages for globally integrated economies, examining global imbalances, exchange rates, interest rates, international capital flows, inflation, foreign and public debt.




The Volatility Machine


Book Description

This book presents a radically different argument for what has caused, and likely will continue to cause, the collapse of emerging market economies. Pettis combines the insights of economic history, economic theory, and finance theory into a comprehensive model for understanding sovereign liability management and the causes of financial crises. He examines recent financial crises in emerging market countries along with the history of international lending since the 1820s to argue that the process of international lending is driven primarily by external events and not by local politics and/or economic policies. He draws out the corporate finance implications of this approach to argue that most of the current analyses of the recent financial crises suffered by Latin America, Asia, and Russia have largely missed the point. He then develops a sovereign finance model, analogous to corporate finance, to understand the capital structure needs of emerging market countries. Using this model, he finally puts into perspective the recent crises, a new sovereign liability management theory, the implications of the model for sovereign debt restructurings, and the new financial architecture. Bridging the gap between finance specialists and traders, on the one hand, and economists and policy-makers on the other, The Volatility Machine is critical reading for anyone interested in where the international economy is going over the next several years.




Revised Guidelines for Public Debt Management


Book Description

The Revised Guidelines for Public Debt Management have been developed as part of a broader work program undertaken by the IMF and the World Bank to strengthen the international financial architecture, promote policies and practices that contribute to financial stability and transparency, and reduce countries external vulnerabilities.




The Liquidation of Government Debt


Book Description

High public debt often produces the drama of default and restructuring. But debt is also reduced through financial repression, a tax on bondholders and savers via negative or belowmarket real interest rates. After WWII, capital controls and regulatory restrictions created a captive audience for government debt, limiting tax-base erosion. Financial repression is most successful in liquidating debt when accompanied by inflation. For the advanced economies, real interest rates were negative 1⁄2 of the time during 1945–1980. Average annual interest expense savings for a 12—country sample range from about 1 to 5 percent of GDP for the full 1945–1980 period. We suggest that, once again, financial repression may be part of the toolkit deployed to cope with the most recent surge in public debt in advanced economies.




Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management


Book Description

Traditionally, economics training in public finances has focused more on tax than public expenditure issues, and within expenditure, more on policy considerations than the more mundane matters of public expenditure management. For many years, the IMF's Public Expenditure Management Division has answered specific questions raised by fiscal economists on such missions. Based on this experience, these guidelines arose from the need to provide a general overview of the principles and practices observed in three key aspects of public expenditure management: budget preparation, budget execution, and cash planning. For each aspect of public expenditure management, the guidelines identify separately the differing practices in four groups of countries - the francophone systems, the Commonwealth systems, Latin America, and those in the transition economies. Edited by Barry H. Potter and Jack Diamond, this publication is intended for a general fiscal, or a general budget, advisor interested in the macroeconomic dimension of public expenditure management.




External Deficits and the Dollar


Book Description

The large external deficit in the U.S. balance of payments and the exchange value of the U.S. dollar have become central issues of public concern and economic policy. Unfortunately, the increased concern has not led to an increase in clear thinking. Confusion is widespread about the reasons for the swelling of the external deficit. Is increased foreign protectionism a significant cause? Are structural changes in the U.S. or foreign economies a cause? And uncertainty is rife about the prospects for the future. Is the external deficit bound to increase, or will it eventually be eliminated by the depreciation of the dollar that began in the spring of 1985? Will the dollar have to depreciate further? What policy actions, if any, should the United States and foreign governments take to deal with the situation? External Deficits and the Dollar, containing papers and research materials generated for a Brookings workshop held early in 1987, provides cogent answers to all these questions. The papers both explain the recent history and shed light on policy options for dealing with the deficit and the dollar in the future. Contributos are William L. Helkie and Peter Hooper, Ralph C. Bryant and Gerald Holtham, and Paul R. Krugman. As background for the papers, and as a major contribution in itself, the volume also reports the results of historical tracking experiments and forward-looking simulations carried out on a uniform basis using leading econometric models. The project continues the empirical research sponsored by Brookings on macroeconomic policy interactions and policy design for interdependent economies.




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