Search

Begin New Search Topic Development Publishing Institution Peterson Institute for International Economics

21. Dealing with Volatile Capital Flows

Author:
Olivier Jeanne
Publication Date:
07-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The set of tools and mechanisms with which emerging-market countries insure themselves against volatile capital flows is in a state of flux. Most emerging-market countries had accumulated an unprecedented level of international reserves before the global financial crisis that started in 2008. The crisis itself led to a large increase in International Monetary Fund (IMF) resources and the introduction of a new lending facility, the Flexible Credit Line (FCL). Meanwhile, some progress was made toward transforming the Chiang Mai Initiative into an Asian Monetary Fund, and the Greek debt crisis even prompted calls for the creation of a European Monetary Fund.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Markets, and Foreign Direct Investment

22. A Trade Agenda for the G-20

Author:
Jeffrey J. Schott
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
For the past 18 months, the G-20 summit countries have worked together to contain the global economic crisis and encourage a sustainable economic recovery. As part of these efforts, the G-20 leaders have sought to constrain the protectionist pressures that invariably arise during times of economic stress and to maintain an open international trading regime. The G-20 trade agenda, as enunciated in the three summit declarations, has covered two specific trade actions: a “standstill” on new protectionism and a charge to complete the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations.
Topic:
Development, Human Rights, International Organization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Washington

23. Reform from Below: Behavioral and Institutional Change in North Korea

Author:
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The state is often conceptualized as playing an enabling role in a country's economic development—providing public goods, such as the legal protection of property rights, while the political economy of reform is conceived in terms of bargaining over policy among elites or special interest groups. We document a case that turns this perspective on its head: efficiency-enhancing institutional and behavioral changes arising not out of a conscious, top-down program of reform, but rather as unintended (and in some respects, unwanted) by-products of state failure. Responses from a survey of North Korean refugees demonstrate that the North Korean economy marketized in response to state failure with the onset of famine in the 1990s, and subsequent reforms and retrenchments appear to have had remarkably little impact on some significant share of the population. There is strong evidence of powerful social changes, including increasing inequality, corruption, and changed attitudes about the most effective pathways to higher social status and income. These assessments appear to be remarkably uniform across demographic groups. While the survey sample marginally overweights demographic groups with less favorable assessments of the regime, even counterfactually recalibrating the sample to match the underlying resident population suggests widespread dissatisfaction with the North Korean regime.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
North Korea

24. On What Terms Is the IMF Worth Funding?

Author:
Edwin M. Truman
Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
In the first decade of the 21st century the International Monetary Fund (IMF) faced crises of legitimacy, relevance, and budgetary finance. It now confronts what likely will be the worst global recession since World War II, potentially huge demands for its financial assistance with limited resources, and calls for it to play a more central role in the international financial and regulatory systems. At the same time, the incoming Barack Obama administration must decide what to do about the modest package of IMF reforms that was completed in the spring of 2008. The package requires US congressional approval to go into effect. This paper reviews the recent, slow progress on IMF reform and makes recommendations to the Obama administration against the background of that record, the emerging global recession, and continuing financial turmoil. I recommend that the IMF package be reopened to include a doubling of IMF quotas and an amendment that will permit the Fund to swap special drawing rights (SDR) with major central banks to finance its short-term lending facility. I also recommend a special allocation of 50 billion SDR. If these proposals are turned down by the G-20 at its meeting in April 2009, I reluctantly recommend that the Obama administration seek congressional approval of the IMF package as it now stands because a failure to do so would seriously undermine the Fund as a central multilateral institution.
Topic:
Development, International Organization, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Global Recession
Political Geography:
United States

25. Exchange Rate Economics

Author:
John Williamson
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
The paper summarizes the current theory of how a floating exchange rate is determined, dividing the subject into what determines the steady state and what determines the transition to steady state. The inadequacies of this model are examined, and an alternative “behavioral” model, which recognizes that the foreign exchange market is populated by both fundamentalists and chartists is presented. It is argued that the main importance of understanding the foreign exchange market for development strategy is to permit a correct appraisal of the dangers of Dutch disease. Empirically it seems that from the standpoint of promoting development it is preferable to have a mildly undervalued rate. The paper concludes by examining implications for exchange rate regimes.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Foreign Exchange, and International Trade and Finance

26. "Fear"and Offshoring: The Scope and Potential Impact of Imports and Exports of Services

Author:
Lori G. Kletzer and J . Bradford Jensen
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
While the uproar over offshoring has largely subsided since the 2004 presidential campaign, there continues to be concern and anxiety regarding the potential impact of offshoring in general and services offshoring in particular. With the economy softening and potentially headed for a recession in the midst of the current presidential campaign, worries about jobs and globalization seem likely to reemerge.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

27. Strengthening Trade Adjustment Assistance

Author:
Howard F. Rosen
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
In 1962, when the United States was running a trade surplus, imports were barely noticeable, and manufacturing employment was increasing, Congress made a commitment to assist American workers, firms, and communities hurt by international trade, by establishing the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. This commitment was based on an appreciation that despite their large benefits, widely distributed throughout the economy, international trade and investment could also be associated with severe economic dislocations.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

28. China and Economic Integration in East Asia: Implications for the United States

Author:
C. Fred Bergsten
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
East Asia is clearly, if gradually and unevenly, moving toward regional economic integration. Market forces are leading the process, as firms construct production chains across the area that exploit the comparative advantage of its individual countries. Governments are now moving to build on those forces, and consolidate them, through a series of formal agreements to intensify their economic relationships and start creating an East Asian Community.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, China, Israel, East Asia, and Asia

29. Global Imbalances: Time for Action

Author:
William R. Cline, John Williamson, Yung Chul Park, Alan J. Ahearne, Kyung Tae Lee, and Jean Pisani-Ferry
Publication Date:
03-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
One of the principal dangers currently facing the world economy arises from the large and unsustainable imbalances in current account positions. Some observers argue that these imbalances will unwind gradually and nondisruptively, while others emphasize the risks of a sudden change of sentiment in financial markets that could result in an abrupt and damaging adjustment. No one knows which scenario will materialize, but a priori for policymakers should be to reduce the risks of a crisis, which could produce a world recession and disruptions to the global trading system. For that, the global economy requires official sponsorship of a credible, comprehensive adjustment program. This policy brief outlines such a program.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance

30. American Trade Politics in 2007: Building Bipartisan Compromise

Author:
I.M. Destler
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:
As Democrats took over the United States Congress in January 2007, many trade advocates trembled. Over the past decade, votes on trade liberalization had broken increasingly along partisan lines. Trade promotion authority (TPA)—indispensable for negotiating new trade agreements—passed by just one House vote in December 2001, with just 21 out of 210 Democrats in favor. In July 2006 the Central American Free Trade Agreement—Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) won by just two votes, with a minuscule 15 of 202 Democrats voting “aye.” By one accounting, voters in November 2006 had replaced 16 trade-friendly House Republicans (and five similar Senate Republicans) with tradeskeptical Democrats. No seats in either house moved in the free trade direction (Evenett and Meier 2006).
Topic:
Development, Government, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:
America