Monetary Instruments and their Use During the Transition From a Centrally Planned to a Market Economy


Book Description

This paper discusses different instruments of monetary policy, and in particular the choice between direct and indirect instruments. It identifies the main characteristics of a country’s financial system that should be considered in selecting monetary instruments, and analyzes how these characteristics should influence that selection in countries that are progressing from a state-controlled to a market economy. The characteristics of the financial system during the initial stage of the transition sometimes favor relatively direct instruments. At this stage market-based variants of direct instruments may combine the necessary effectiveness in reducing monetary expansion with the need to introduce and stimulate competition in the financial markets. During this stage indirect instruments can be developed and tested (“belt and braces” approach). In later stages, as experience is gained, these indirect instruments can gradually replace the more direct controls.










The Federal Reserve System Purposes and Functions


Book Description

Provides an in-depth overview of the Federal Reserve System, including information about monetary policy and the economy, the Federal Reserve in the international sphere, supervision and regulation, consumer and community affairs and services offered by Reserve Banks. Contains several appendixes, including a brief explanation of Federal Reserve regulations, a glossary of terms, and a list of additional publications.




Monetary and Exchange System Reforms in China


Book Description

In 1978, China embarked on a gradual but far-reaching reform of its economic system. This paper focuses on the achievements so far in reforming the financial sector, the legal framework for financial transactions, the payments system, and the monetary policy and foreign exchange system. It also analyzes the tasks ahead to achieve the goals set in these areas for the year 2000.




Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya


Book Description

This 2004 Article IV Consultation highlights that the Libyan economy remains largely state controlled and heavily dependent on the oil sector. Since the lifting of the Libya-specific trade sanctions of the United Nation and United States in September 2003 and September 2004, respectively, the pace of economic and structural reforms has picked up somewhat, with the implementation of measures aimed at enhancing the role of the private sector in the economy. However, these reforms continue to be implemented in an ad hoc and nontransparent manner.




Economics of Transition


Book Description

First published in 1998, this volume responded to the recent fall of the Soviet Union and looks at the process of transitioning away from Socialist economies, including case studies in the former Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary, China, East Germany and other Socialist countries. Taking the view that economic and political indicators suggest a lack of success in the post-Soviet transformation process, Kızılyallı argues that they have been unsuccessful due to poor planning. Kızılyallı notes an abandonment of the previous system and an ineffective implementation of market capitalism which have led to these negative outcomes. The new method developed herein provides a partial solution through estimating the correct exchange rate based on world prices and under conditions of macroeconomic equilibrium, while also allowing planning for sequencing market reforms. Reform issues are then discussed, followed by the reform experiences of Poland, Hungary, East Germany, China and the former Soviet Union. Lastly, developments in macroeconomic theory are reviewed in light of these case studies. Kızılyallı concludes that both neoclassical and new Keynesian theories fail to provide an economically meaningful framework for analysis of current economic and employment problems, nor for their cure.




IMF Staff papers


Book Description

This paper provides a critical survey of the literature on politico-institutional determinants of the government budget. We organize our discussion around two questions: Why did certain OECD countries, but not others, accumulate large public debts? Why did these fiscal imbalances appear in the last twenty years rather than sooner? We begin by discussing the “tax smoothing” model and conclude that this approach alone cannot provide complete answers to these questions. We then proceed to a discussion of political economy models, which we organize into six groups: (1) models based upon opportunistic policy makers and naive voters with “fiscal illusion”; (2) models of intergenerational redistributions; (3) models of debt as a strategic variable, linking the current government with the next one; (4) models of coalition governments; (5) models of geographically dispersed interests; and (6) models emphasizing the effects of budgetary institutions. We conclude by briefly discussing policy implications.







The Handbook of China's Financial System


Book Description

"The Chinese economy is now easily one of the most important and closely scrutinized economies in the world. Relatively minuscule changes in predictions of how the Chinese economy will perform can drive up or down stocks and the price of oil and other commodities. At the heart of how the Chinese economy works is its financial system-but the Chinese financial system is vastly different than most people in the West can understand. How do house prices work, for example, in a country where the very concept of property ownership is significantly different than our own? This edited volume will serve as a standard reference guide to China's financial system. With eighteen chapters, the handbook features overviews on the banking sector-the core of China's financial system and the key channel for implementing China's monetary policy-China's ongoing reforms, and the quickly growing bond and money markets, among other topics. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in the field, and as a whole the list of contributors represents an impressive mix of leading scholars and high-level policy officials, some with first-hand knowledge of setting and carrying out Chinese financial policy. The handbook will serve as the first real authoritative volume of literature in the field, and will shed extensive new light on the links between China's financial system and the real economy"--