Download or read book Greece written by International Monetary Fund. European Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Selected Issues paper explores the links between wage policies, non-wage cost developments, and competitiveness. A series of program-era policies helped to partially reverse this trend, including labor market policies that cushioned the effect of the crisis on employment and brought unit labor costs broadly in line with trading partners. However, the resulting more competitive wage structure only partly translated into price adjustments due to product market rigidities (with firms retaining some profit margin) and rising non-wage cost factors (e.g., taxes and financing costs). This incomplete internal devaluation and subsequent low productivity gains reinforce the view that Greece has further to go to address its external imbalances. However, labor policy reversals following program exit in August 2018 threaten this objective. The paper shows that Greece must preserve its labor cost competitiveness while increasing efforts to facilitate price adjustment in product markets and reduce non-wage costs.

Download or read book Multi Country Report written by International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-06-21 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This background paper, which is a supplement to the board paper on “Ensuring Financial Stability in Countries with Islamic Banking (IB) Sectors”, presents country experiences with reforms to strengthen regulatory oversight of the IB sector. It reviews experiences with and the progress made in adapting prudential, safety nets and resolution frameworks to the specifics of IB. The selection of several countries from a range of regions with different levels of development and approaches to IB was designed to provide a representative sample of country experiences so as to enrich the policy conclusions. Such a multiplicity of experiences can help to identify common challenges that countries face in reforming their regulatory frameworks and to distill best practices. The countries, for which detailed case studies have been undertaken, are: Bahrain, Djibouti, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Download or read book Working Smart and Small written by Mahvash Saeed Qureshi and published by Commonwealth Secretariat. This book was released on 2008 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small states face serious challenges for development due to their size, remoteness and vulnerability. This work suggests how small states can reposition themselves in the global economy and move into knowledge-based and service industries. It provides an overview of factors constraining the development of services sector and trade in services.

Download or read book People s Republic of China written by International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 77 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Selected Issues paper examines the drivers and prospects for high levels of savings in China. China has one of the highest levels of national savings in the world, which is at the heart of its external and internal imbalances. High and rising household savings have mainly resulted from demographic changes as a result of the one-child policy and the breakdown of the social safety net during the transition from a planned to a market economy. Demographic changes will put downward pressure on national savings. Policy efforts to strengthen the social safety net and reduce income inequality are also needed to reduce savings further and faster and to boost consumption.

Download or read book Social Policies in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu written by Biman C. Prasad and published by Commonwealth Secretariat. This book was released on 2012 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are two small states that have struggled to develop successful social policies since independence. This study traces their social histories and examines factors that have hindered progress. Future development requires a move away from traditional social structures and a focus on political stability and economic growth.

Download or read book Solomon Islands written by International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-03-08 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Selected Issues paper sets out options to demonstrate how the authorities could supplement their cash balance target and public debt limit with an anchor to help discipline annual budget decisions. The paper introduces the current fiscal framework and effective fiscal rules based on international experiences, including the characteristics of each rule. It also discusses the need for a new fiscal anchor, given high revenue volatility, high infrastructure needs, and the country’s exposure and vulnerability to natural disasters. Contingency warrants for unforeseen expenditures, including from natural disasters, should be included in the budget in line with international best practices. Furthermore, if a disaster does not occur, this allocation could be saved in a contingency fund for natural disasters, which would enable swift disbursement in the aftermath of the disaster. The fund would be set up once fiscal buffers have been rebuilt. The IMF Staff suggests a target for the overall fiscal deficit of 1.5 percent of gross domestic product as a possible fiscal anchor, which would strike a balance between safeguarding debt sustainability and addressing the severe infrastructure gap.

Download or read book World Development Report 2019 written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Download or read book The World Factbook 2003 written by United States. Central Intelligence Agency and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 2003 with total page 712 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By intelligence officials for intelligent people

Download or read book Ten Steps to a Results based Monitoring and Evaluation System written by Jody Zall Kusek and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004-06-15 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, NGOs, civil society, international organizations and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This Handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a OC Readiness AssessmentOCO and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The Handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way."

Download or read book Global Trends 2040 written by National Intelligence Council and published by Cosimo Reports. This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Download or read book North Africa Revised Edition written by Phillip C. Naylor and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2015-01-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now with a new afterword that surveys the "North African Spring" uprisings that roiled the region from 2011 to 2013, this is the most comprehensive history of North Africa to date, with accessible, in-depth chapters covering the pre-Islamic period through colonization and independence. Now with a new afterword that surveys the "North African Spring" uprisings that roiled the region from 2011 to 2013, this is the most comprehensive history of North Africa to date, with accessible, in-depth chapters covering the pre-Islamic period through colonization and independence.

Download or read book Key Indicators 2007 written by and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2007 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ADB aims to improve the welfare of the people in the asia and pacific region, particularly the nearly 1.9 billion live less than $2 a day. Despite many success sotires, the region remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. ADB is a multilateral development finance instition owned by 67 members, 48 from the region and 19 from other parts of the globe. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. It mission is to help its developing member countries are poverty and improve their inequility of life. ADB's main instruments for helping its developing memeber vountries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants and technical assistance. ADB's annual lending volume is typically about $6 billion, with technical assistatnce usually totalling about $180 million a year.

Download or read book Financial Derivatives written by International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2000-05-10 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 1990s, international statistical experts confirmed that financial derivatives should be treated as financial assets and that transactions in financial derivatives should be reported as separate transactions rather than as integral parts of the values of underlying transactions or of financial assets to which some derivatives are linked as hedges. Therefore, to parallel revisions made to the System of National Accounts (1993), an addendum and amendments to the fifth edition (1993) of the Balance of Payments Manual (BPM5) were prepared and published, in early 2000, as a supplement entitled Financial Derivatives. This supplement comprises two parts. Part I contains a new chapter in which the features of financial derivatives and treatments appropriate for specific derivatives were described. Part II consists of modifications to those portions of the BPM5 that pertain to financial derivatives. The revisions are shown by means of shading and strikeout. Financial Derivatives is an essential component of the BPM5.

Download or read book Yes Africa Can written by Punam Chuhan-Pole and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-06-24 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Takes an in-depth look at twenty-six economic and social development successes in Sub-Saharan African countries, and addresses how these countries have overcome major developmental challenges.

Download or read book Issues in Monetary and Fiscal Policy in Small Developing States written by T. K. Jayaraman and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines how monetary and fiscal policies are implemented in Pacific small states and suggests policy options that can be used by these countries.

Download or read book The Euro at Ten written by Kenneth Dyson and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2008-09-04 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) the European Union is embarked on a major historic political project of formidable technical complexity. In January 2009 the Euro Area will be ten years old. What does the evidence from the first decade tell us about the significance of the euro for the EU and its member states? This book brings together a range of recognized academic specialists to examine the main political aspects of this question. How, and in what ways, has the euro Europeanized states (members and non-members), their institutions, policies and politics? What have been its effects on the location and use of power? Has the euro generated convergence or divergence? What political patterns can be identified? The book offers the first, in-depth and systematic political analysis of the first decade of the euro. It places the euro in its global and European contexts; offers a set of case studies of its effects on a representative sample of EU member states ('Anglo-Saxon', old 'D-Mark Zone', east central European and Baltic, Mediterranean, and Nordic); and looks at three key sectors (financial markets, wages and collective bargaining, and welfare reform). The book contributes to Europeanization studies, comparative political economy, and studies of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It will be of major interest to students of the European Union and European integration, comparative European politics, and area and 'country' studies.