Most of the seven major industrial countries are now experiencing significant changes in their demographic structure. A persistent pattern of declining fertility and improving life expectancy has created major segments of the population that are already relatively aged or will become so in the near future. This paper examines the impact of prospective demographic trends on the level and structure of social expenditure by the governments of the seven major industrial countries (the Group of...

Praise for Financial Analysis Tools and Techniques:"Bona fide treasury for executives, managers, entrepreneurs. Have long used this great work in corporate & university programs. Uniquely makes the arcane clear."Allen B. Barnes, Provost, IBM Advanced Business Institute"A candidate for every consultant-to-management's bookshelf. Its beauty lies in the dynamic model of the business system and its management decision framework."Stanley Press CMC, Book review in C2...

'The Money Bomb' was launched on the morning of the Chancellor's Budget in April 1983 and although it was featured in the 1st Edition of the London Evening Standard, by the time the second edition was on the streets, the article on the 'Money Bomb' had been pulled. Similarly, orders taken earlier that day from retailers were mysteriously then cancelled.Clearly 'The Money Bomb' had hit a raw nerve with the authorities and the assumption is that the powers that be, must have felt it ...

One area that has not been reviewed in developing countries is the growing focus on different segments of the taxpayer population-including the large taxpayers-as a way to encourage greater stability in public revenue flows, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of tax administration, and introduce innovations in the public sector. Based on a sample of about 40 countries, this paper provides an overview of country practices in terms of the organization, systems, and procedures used by t...

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 sheet approach to surveillance by taking advantage of new data sets that provide detailed, frequent, and timely financial statistics.

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the frequency of currency and balance of payments crises in developing countries. More important, the crises have become more virulent, have caused widespread disruption to other developing countries, and have even had repercussions on advanced economies. To predict crises, their causes must be clearly understood. Two competing strands of theories are reviewed in this paper. The first focuses on the consequences of such policies as excessive credit g...

Economic development and social welfare depend on the existence of effective and efficient infrastructure systems, particularly in health, energy, transportation and water, many of which are developed and managed through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). However, empirical evidence suggests some pitfalls in the use of these PPP arrangements.This book addresses these issues, focusing on mostly three key questions: How to improve the robustness of the decision-making process leadin...

Security concerns, the AIDS epidemic, environmental degradation, and financial contagion are salient features of today's landscape of threats to global stability. A characteristic of these challenges is that they cannot be solved by individual nations acting alone. Enlightened cooperation is needed.This book focuses on actions in the international arena to complement domestic efforts in addressing a set of policy challenges that has become more prominent in the age of globalization...

This contributed volume explores the political economy and socioeconomic aspects of the Greek Financial Crisis both within the country's borders and as part of the global economy. With chapters authored by international experts, this book examines and explicitly deals with specific and important issues that have been ignored by the dominant socioeconomic theory and practice, which have largely focused on the causes and broad economic consequences of the crisis. Discussions include the effi...

Justice, Sustainability, and Security not only enhances our knowledge of these issues, but it teases out our moral dimensions and offer prescriptions for how governments and global actors might craft their policies to better consider their effects on the global human condition.

As a collection of alternative views on societies, methodologies, policies and assessment of the current elements of the society, Alternative Perspectives on a Good Society brings together different authors answering different questions all within the context of visions of a good society.

The IMF's work on data dissemination standards consists of two tiers: the General Data Dissemination System (GDDS), which applies to all IMF member countries, and the Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), for those members having or seeking access to international capital markets. The GDDS framework provide governments with guidance on the overall development of the macroeconomic, financial, and sociodemographic data that are essential for policymaking and analysis in an environment tha...