This paper contains further work by the Fund staff on trade issues and developments following the pattern of the surveys prepared in 1978 and 1981, mainly focusing on commercial policies of the major trading nations. It also includes a discussion of agricultural protection and issues relating to international trade in agricultural products.

This book edited by Chorng-Huey Wong and Naheed Kirmani, examines a wide range of trade policy issues relevant in the 1990s that were the subject of a seminar organized by the IMF in 1996. The topics include the design and implementation of trade reform, trade liberalization in industrial and transition economies, regional trading arrangements, the impact of the Uruguay Round, the role of the World Trade Organization, and post Uruguay Round issues.

The consumer price index (CPI) measures the rate at which the prices of consumer goods and services are changing over time. It is a key statistic for economic and social policymaking and has substantial and wide-ranging implications for governments, businesses, and households. This important and comprehensive Manual provides guidelines for statistical offices and other agencies responsible for constructing CPIs, and explains in-depth the methods that are used to calculate a CPI. It also exami...

This book suggests that drastic reforms are required to reverse the ever-increasing size of the state, a trend experienced in most western nations. The report proposes a reassessment of the scale of government to achieve a reduction in taxation and spending.

In The Political Economy of Public Sector Governance, Anthony Michael Bertelli introduces core ideas in positive political theory as they apply to public management and policy. Though recent literature that mathematically models relationships between politicians and public managers provides insight into contemporary public administration, the technical way these works present information limits their appeal. This book helps readers understand public-sector governance arrangements and the i...

The Federal Reserve System--the central bank of the United States, better known as The Fed--has never been more controversial. Criticism has reached such levels that Congressman Ron Paul, contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, published End the Fed, with blurbs from musician Arlo Guthrie and actor Vince Vaughn. And yet, amid a slow economy and partisan gridlock, the Fed has never been more important. Stephen H. Axilrod explains this influential agency-its po...

A handy, clear, easy-to-use reference guide to the most important charts in technical analysis; charts only, virtually no text to bog down the user in getting what he wants when he wants itThe book will feature one chart per page that will be clearly labelled as to the pattern being illustrated.The author provides an introduction explaining what the book does, how to use the book, and how it is organized.

Over the past few decades, economists have witnessed with growing uneasiness their failure to explain the ballooning of public debt in most countries. Using methodological individualism and micro-economics, this book overcomes flaws inherent in the standard macro approach, according to which governments manipulate public debt to promote systemic stability. This unique analysis is grounded in the writings of Antonio de Viti de Marco, injecting current analytical contributions and formulatio...

In response to a clear need by low-income people to gain access to the full range of financial services including savings, a growing number of microfinance NGOs are seeking guidelines to transform from credit-focused microfinance organizations to regulated deposit-taking financial intermediaries. In response to this trend, this book presents a practical 'how-to" manual for MFIs to develop the capacity to become licensed and regulated to mobilize deposits from the public. "Transforming Mi...

This book expands on issues like fiscal sustainability, state enterprises and the variety of subsidies, with a multi-country focus. Drawing examples from numerous countries, it presents issues in contemporary finance and especially fiscal policy that can benefit researchers and civil servants from both developed, as well as developing worlds and emerging market economies.Written in a simple and accessible manner, this book will be of interest to civil servants and practitioners. It also se...

News and Views do they matter? Public affairs is fundamentally about communications. Communications move and change. They are reshaped, redirected, and repositioned as politics and events change. Each communication is vital observation that captures the essence of the politics and events of that time and provides a route to understanding them. Public Affairs : News, Views and Hullabaloos is a unique and compelling collection of author Stuart Thomson’s personal picks from his popular series...