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1852. Monetary Policy in the CFA Zone: Country-level Credit Policy
- Author:
- Anja Shortland and David Stasavage
- Publication Date:
- 02-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper examines whether the BCEAO has made use of the various policy instruments at its disposal for steering credit in the individual CFA zone member countries to complement interest rate policy at the zone level. We estimate whether private sector credit has responded systematically to different monetary policy variables using iterated 3-stage least squares regressions for Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo. If we constrain the coefficient estimates there is some support for the hypothesis that the BCEAO has contracted private sector credit in response to a higher inflation differential with France. However, there seems to be no policy rule to restrict private sector credit in response to increasing government borrowing from the central bank or increased foreign borrowing. If the coefficient estimates are unconstrained, there does not appear to be any systematic policy to control credit expansion at the domestic level.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa and France
1853. The Costs and Benefits Analysis of CFA Membership: The Choice of an Exchange Rate Regime for the CFA Countries Zone
- Author:
- Mireille Linjouom
- Publication Date:
- 02-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The paper determines an analytical framework defining the choice of an optimal exchange rate regime for a typical CFA country. The policymakers behave strategically to decide to adopt alternative exchange rate regime by minimizing their loss function under specific constraints like economic characteristics and political consideration. One concludes a CFA economy with less inflationary propensity and greater external shocks volatility will tend to select a flexible exchange rate regime. Moreover, the model suggests that a CFA country with a more unstable political system and a higher propensity to apply inflationary policies will prefer a flexible arrangement than a fixed one.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1854. An Aggregate View of Macroeconomic Shocks in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Study Using Innovation Accounting
- Author:
- Simeon Coleman
- Publication Date:
- 02-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- This paper investigates the impacts and responses of macroeconomic shocks in some domestic economies in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1961-99; more specifically, it seeks to answer the question of whether there are any systematic differences in the responses of the CFA franc zones and the non-CFA franc zone countries to macroeconomic shocks. Based on the Blanchard-Quah methodology, we identify shocks to the changes in real exchange rate and output using a structural VAR (SVAR) model for these small open economies. Our finding that the real exchange rate innovations in the CFA franc zones are largely independent of domestic variables suggests that external influence is more important in the CFA zones. There is also some evidence that money demand shocks are more significant in the non-CFA franc zone countries.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1855. Economic Growth, Income Distribution and Poverty: Time-series and Cross-country Evidence from the CFA-zone Countries of sub-Saharan Africa
- Author:
- Michael Bleaney and Akira Nishiyama
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The causes of the slow growth of CFA countries are investigated. There is little difference in this respect between the CFA and other sub-Saharan African countries. Since 1970, GDP growth in the CFA countries has shown no significant trend but one or two medium-term fluctuations (positive in 1979-83 and negative in 1989-93). Internationally, the income share of the poorest 20 per cent of the population of any country has improved most in poor countries, and there is no evidence that this does not apply to CFA countries also.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1856. How Does Monetary Policy Affect the Poor? Evidence from the West African Economic and Monetary Union
- Author:
- David Fielding
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) has a history of monetary stability and low inflation. Nevertheless, there is substantial variation in relative prices within some UEMOA countries, in particular in the price of food relative to other elements of the retail price index (IHPC). Using monthly time-series data for cities within the region, we analyze the impact of changes in monetary policy instruments on the relative prices of components of the IHPC. We are then able to explore how the burden of monetary policy innovations is likely to be shared between the rich and poor.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Africa
1857. A Development-focused Allocation of the Special Drawing Rights
- Author:
- Ernest Aryeetey
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Efforts to realize the issue of development-focused Special Drawing Rights (SDR) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been on-going for many years. Recently, however, the campaign first gained a new momentum immediately after the Asian financial crises with the new liquidity problems of developing nations following the collapse of private capital markets. Currently the search for financing options towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals drives the interest in development-focused SDRs. Extending the uses to which SDR can be put is derived from the growing demands on the international financial system to respond to the development finance needs of poor nations. Apart from the need to provide emergency funds in times of crises and the whole area of crisis prevention, increasingly the facilitation of development in poor countries and assistance to make the best policy decisions is considered crucial.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Asia
1858. Access to ARV Treatment - Aid, Trade and Governance in Uganda
- Author:
- Lisa Ann Richey and Stine Jessen Haakonsson
- Publication Date:
- 10-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- Access to antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) for AIDS treatment creates a field binding local and global governance. Local modalities of AIDS treatment are governed by the context of global trade through the implementation of patents on medicines in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and within the context of global aid through development assistance. While industrialized countries, on the one hand, set aside donations to fight AIDS in developing countries, on the other hand, the same countries use the WTO to prevent developing countries from accessing cheap medicines. Uganda's success in reducing HIV prevalence is unique among African states, and it is considered the most promising candidate for effectively "scaling up" ARV treatment on the basis of its history of dealing with the pandemic. Yet, despite the many interventions addressing HIV/AIDS and dramatic price reductions of ARVs, only a minority of the infected population is currently receiving treatment, and promises of universal coverage for all who need it seem unrealistic. Our paper examines how the disconnect between international and national priorities on the one hand, and between aid and trade on the other, are currently affecting access to ARVs in Uganda. In spite of the political discourse of equality in treatment, the realities of funding suggest the difficult choices will be made from the level of policy to that of individual. Thus, global governance of trade and of aid will both shape and rely on individuals in charge of "implementation" which must be examined outside the sanitizing context of development discourse. We introduce our use of governance in this paper, and then discuss the global governance of aid to AIDS and global governance of trade and AIDS. The second half of the paper examines the Ugandan case study beginning with a political background and examination of aids policy, followed by the history of ARV provision and advocacy for ARVs, a discussion of the national health system and then aid initiatives and trade of ARVs in Uganda. Finally, we draw preliminary conclusions from our case on the conflicts between global and local governance of trade and aid to AIDS.
- Topic:
- Development, Human Welfare, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa
1859. Does venture capital investment spur employment growth?
- Author:
- Ansgar Belke, Rainer Fehn, and Neil Foster
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- Anglo-Saxon countries have been successful in the 1990s concerning labour market performance compared to the former role models of Germany and Japan. This reversal in relative economic performance might be related to idiosyncracies in financial markets, with bank-based financial markets as in Germany and Japan being possibly inferior to stock-market based financial markets in turbulent times and when approaching the economic frontier. A cleavage is related to venture capital markets which are flourishing in Anglo-Saxon but not in German-type financial markets. Venture capital is crucial for financing structural change, new firms and innovations and therefore possibly also nowadays for employment growth.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Japan, Europe, and Germany
1860. Trade Policy Issues for the Euro-Med Partnership
- Author:
- Paul Brenton and Miriam Manchin
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies
- Abstract:
- The economic prospects of the Mediterranean countries are currently constrained by the lack of ambition in their relationships with each other and with their major export market, the EU. These economic relationships are limited by a lack of coverage (agriculture and services are effectively excluded), by a lack of depth (substantial technical barriers to trade remain due to differences in regulatory requirements and the need to duplicate testing and conformity assessment when selling in overseas markets), and they are limited by rules (restrictive rules of origin and lack of cumulation limit effective market access). In addition, the rest of Europe, including Turkey, is integrating at a faster pace to create a Wider European Economic Space. If nothing is done to invigorate the integration process in the Mediterranean, then the region will fall (further) behind relative to other regions on the periphery of the EU, such as the Balkans and Russia and the Ukraine.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Turkey, Ukraine, Middle East, and Balkans