International Monetary Fund imprint: 1365 books

This paper reviews China's experience with market-oriented reform since 1978, including domestic reforms, the opening of the economy to foreign trade and investment, and the decentralization of decision making. It identifies special conditions that may have affected China's capacity to implement reforms,...

This book brings together the views not only of policymakers and academics but also of religious leaders and labor leaders from around the world- including the 1998 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Amartya Sen - who participated in an IMF conference on this topic. Contributors discuss the causes of growing...

This book, by Christopher Browne with Douglas A. Scott, reviews the economic progress that Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa have made since independence. An overview of the region examines development strategies, external economic relations, the role...

The IMF has had extensive involvement in the stress testing of financial systems in its member countries. This book presents the methods and models that have been developed by IMF staff over the years and that can be applied to the gamut of financial systems. An added resource for readers is the companion toolkit, which makes available some of the macros and program codes used in the models.

A distinguishing feature of emerging market crises in recent years has been the sudden disruption in the capital accounts of the economy. These crises have highlighted the need for closer attention to macroeconomic vulnerabilities in sectoral balance sheets. This book enhances application of the balance...

With increasing frequency, the IMF has assisted middle-income countries, especially emerging economies, in adopting the types of budget reforms that have been introduced in many Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries - reforms that emphasize performance and results achieved...

The question of what makes fiscal decentralization work is faced by many policymakers around the world. This book draws on both the relevant literature and policy and technical advice provided by the IMF to a wide range of member countries, and discusses the key factors that help make decentralization...

This paper is a preliminary review of the design of and early experience with IMF-supported programs in Indonesia, Korea, and Thailand during 1997-98. The review takes into account developments as of October 1998, and was the basis for a discussion of the programs by the IMF's Executive Board in December 1998.

This paper explores the experience of six countries (Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Mexico, Spain and Thailand) with capital inflows. It illustrates that although capital inflows are usually beneficial, too great an inflow can become a problem and make it difficult for authorities to choose the appropriate policy response.

Over the past two decades, sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind other regions in economic performance. The important overall indicators of performance, however, mask wide differences among countries. On the whole, countries that effectively implemented comprehensive adjustment and reform programs...

Not unpredictably, there is a complex energy bind as we approach the end of the twentieth century. The oil importing industrial countries have anchored their industries, their means of transportation, their home comfort- in short, their whole energy-dependent lifestyle-largely to hydrocarbon fuels.

Efforts to control atmospheric accumulations of greenhouse gases that threaten to heat up the planet are in their infancy. Although the IMF is not an environmental organization, environmental issues matter for the organization's mission when they have major implications for macroeconomic performance...

The analysis of currency and maturity mismatches in sectoral balance sheets has increasingly become a regular element in the IMF’s tool kit for surveillance in emerging market countries. This paper describes this so-called balance sheet approach and shows how it can be applied to detect vulnerabilities...

Arab financial assistance to developing - particularly Arab - countries rose sharply between 1973 and 1980 but fell gradually through the 1980s, owing mainly to weakening oil prices. As a percent of GNP, however, Arab contributions remain the largest among major donors. This paper surveys the volume and distribution of Arab financing from 1973 to 1989.