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e develop a toolkit to assess the consistency between real sector and financial sector forecasts. The toolkit draws upon empirical regularities on real sector and financial sector outcomes for 182 economies from 1980 to 2015. We show that credit growth is positively correlated with real sector performance, in particular when credit growth is unusually high or low. However, the relationship between credit growth and inflation is weak. These results hold for different country groups, including advanced economies, emerging markets and low-income countries. Combining credit growth with other variables such as house prices and the output gap helps to understand real sector outcomes. But including the financial account balance does not make a difference.
The maturity structure of debt can have financial and real consequences. Short-term debt exposes borrowers to rollover risk (where the terms of financing are renegotiated to the detriment of the borrower) and is associated with financial crises. Moreover, debt maturity can have an impact on the ability of firms to undertake long-term productive investments and, as a result, affect economic activity. The aim of this paper is to examine the evolution and determinants of debt maturity and to characterize differences across countries.
Covid-19 has exacerbated economic and social vulnerabilities across Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). There is a risk that growth could be lower for longer, with a setback to development. Post-pandemic reforms thus become even more important, especially with constrained scope for fiscal and monetary stimuli. Reforms could boost per capita growth by an additional 0.3-1.3 percentage points, relative to the 1.9 percent average since 2010. Such growth would reduce per capita income doubling time from 37 years to about 22 years. Low-income countries stand to gain the most from reforms. The largest gains come from governance, products markets, and factor accumulation. Importantly, these reforms can be implemented in the post-pandemic environment characterized by weaker social and distributional outcomes.
Despite some progress, poverty remains elevated and education and health outcomes are lagging. This paper finds evidence of inefficiencies in education, health, and social protection spending in Niger. Programs are typically not well-targeted, some are regressive, and there are significant coverage gaps. Improving the living standards of the Nigerien as well as education and health systems, a priority of the government, would require not only scaling up social spending but also strenghtening social protection programs through better targeting, supporting girls’ education, and moving away from general subsidies. Moreover, social assistance should focus more on enhancing productivity and resilience to shocks.
"An excellent overview of spiritual movements throughout the last few centuries . . . a superb panorama" (The Book Reader), this book covers esoterica from its ancient beginnings through the alchemists to Gurdijeff and Jung.
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China in comparative perspective -- Empire and bureaucracy -- The great divergence; industrial revolution -- Demographic transition -- Religion and civilisation -- Statehood and national independence -- Revolution and Maoism -- Socialism -- Post-socialism -- Property relations and China's contemporary economy -- The countryside and migration -- The city -- The family and gender -- Schooling -- Civil society -- Rule of law -- Democracy
This paper reviews empirical and theoretical work on the links between banks and their governments (the bank-sovereign nexus). How significant is this nexus? What do we know about it? To what extent is it a source of concern? What is the role of policy intervention? The paper concludes with a review of recent policy proposals.
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