Inflation Targeting, Debt, and the Brazilian Experience, 1999 to 2003

Inflation Targeting, Debt, and the Brazilian Experience, 1999 to 2003
Author: Francesco Giavazzi
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780262072595

How Brazil's monetary and fiscal policies survived a series of severe economic shocks and the policy lessons for other countries. Inflation targeting -- when central bank policies set specific inflation rate objectives -- is widely used by both developed and developing countries around the world (although not by the United States or the European Central Bank). This collection of original essays looks at how Brazil's policy of inflation targeting, coupled with a floating exchange rate, survived a series of severe economic shocks and examines the policy lessons that can be drawn from Brazil's experience. After a successful start in early 1999, Brazil's policy regime had to manage mounting difficulties, including a sudden reversal of capital flows and its effects on the exchange rate and public debt, the contagion of Argentina's severe economic problems, a domestic energy crisis, and the political uncertainty of the 2002 presidential campaign. The contributors, prominent Brazilian and international economists, draw important lessons from Brazil's experience, including the necessity of accompanying monetary policy with fiscal improvement, the trade-offs involved in dollar-linked debt, the importance of fiscal institutions in an emerging market economy, and the importance of keeping inflation under control.

Inflation Expectations

Inflation Expectations
Author: Peter J. N. Sinclair
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2009-12-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1135179778

Inflation is regarded by the many as a menace that damages business and can only make life worse for households. Keeping it low depends critically on ensuring that firms and workers expect it to be low. So expectations of inflation are a key influence on national economic welfare. This collection pulls together a galaxy of world experts (including Roy Batchelor, Richard Curtin and Staffan Linden) on inflation expectations to debate different aspects of the issues involved. The main focus of the volume is on likely inflation developments. A number of factors have led practitioners and academic observers of monetary policy to place increasing emphasis recently on inflation expectations. One is the spread of inflation targeting, invented in New Zealand over 15 years ago, but now encompassing many important economies including Brazil, Canada, Israel and Great Britain. Even more significantly, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the United States Federal Bank are the leading members of another group of monetary institutions all considering or implementing moves in the same direction. A second is the large reduction in actual inflation that has been observed in most countries over the past decade or so. These considerations underscore the critical – and largely underrecognized - importance of inflation expectations. They emphasize the importance of the issues, and the great need for a volume that offers a clear, systematic treatment of them. This book, under the steely editorship of Peter Sinclair, should prove very important for policy makers and monetary economists alike.

Macroeconomic Policies for EU Accession

Macroeconomic Policies for EU Accession
Author: Erdem Basci
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781847205230

What macroeconomic requirements must Turkey meet in its quest to accede to the European Union? This book, with its distinguished contributors - well-known economists and policymakers - examines and analyses these macroeconomic challenges confronting Turkey. Although the focus is on the specific situation of Turkey, the lessons are informative for other candidate countries and the findings directly relevant to the process of European integration. The book is divided into four parts: fiscal policies and sustainability of public finances, monetary policy challenges, preconditions for euro adoption, sustainable regimes of capital movements. Each topic is studied in two consecutive papers concentrating first on the challenges faced by the countries of the EU, and then by Turkey. Several papers review the experiences from the previous round of EU accession and the implications of these for Turkey. Macroeconomic Policies for EU Accession will appeal to policymakers, bureaucrats and academics interested in the macroeconomic problems of EU accession and European integration.

The Puzzle of Brazil's High Interest Rates

The Puzzle of Brazil's High Interest Rates
Author: Mr.Alex Segura-Ubiergo
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 20
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1463948263

This paper highlights that real interest rates in Brazil have declined substantially over time, but are still well above the average of emerging market inflation targeting regimes. The adoption of an inflation-targeting regime and better economic fundamentals (reduction in inflation volatility and improvements in the fiscal and external positions) has helped Brazil sustain significantly lower real interest rates than in the past. Going forward, the paper shows that Brazil can converge towards lower equilibrium real interest rates if domestic savings increase to the level of other emerging market countries. The effect is particularly pronounced if the increase in domestic savings is achieved through higher levels of public savings. Still, econometric results suggest that, controlling for everything else in the model, real interest rates in Brazil are about two full percentage points higher than in other countries in the sample, suggesting that there are still Brazil-specific factors that have not been captured by the empirical analysis. Some of these factors may include credit market segmentation and inflation inertia generated by still pervasive indexation practices.

The New Brazilian Economy

The New Brazilian Economy
Author: Elias C. Grivoyannis
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2016-12-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1137462973

This edited collection provides a thorough historical, statistical, and institutional description of the current Brazilian economy and the previous economic structure from which it is emerging. The contributions explore the institutional economic and cultural forces shaping the current development of the Brazilian economy and discuss how they will influence future progress. Together, the chapters form a picture of the international implications of Brazil’s emergence as a major world economic power. Topics covered include the growth and shrinkage of industry, the consumption boom and the financial crisis, sustainable financial growth and public debt management, the evolution of antitrust policy and the privatization of state-owned firms, and more. Academics and researchers of BRICS countries and Latin American and Caribbean studies will find these contributions a valuable addition to their research.

The Impact of Debt Sustainability and the Level of Debt on Emerging Markets Spreads

The Impact of Debt Sustainability and the Level of Debt on Emerging Markets Spreads
Author: Nazim Belhocine
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 31
Release: 2013-05-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1484382765

How do financial markets respond to concerns over debt sustainability and the level of public debt in emerging markets? We introduce a measure of debt sustainability – the difference between the debt stabilizing primary balance and the primary balance–in an otherwise standard spread regression model applied to a panel of 26 emerging market economies. We find that debt sustainability is an important determinant of spreads. In addition, using a panel smooth transition regression model, we find that the sensitivity of spreads to debt sustainability doubles as public debt increases above 45 percent of GDP. These results suggest that market interest rates react more to debt sustainability concerns in a country with a high level of debt compared to a country with a low level of debt.

Keynes and Macroeconomics After 70 Years

Keynes and Macroeconomics After 70 Years
Author: L. Randall Wray
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1848446209

The book is strongly recommended for those interested in the continuing reception of Keynes s thinking. John B. Davis, EH.NET In this substantial new collection, esteemed Post-Keynesian scholars reassess the relevance of Keynes s The General Theory to a broad array of topic areas, ranging from the environment, investment finance, exchange rates, and socialism, as well as inquiries into general Post-Keynesian theory. In response to the current economic crisis, many people looking for new solutions are excitedly re-discovering the Post-Keynesian tradition of money modeling and theory. This book offers a broad array of recent Post-Keynesian scholarship, providing a good contextual understanding of the current state of the field from which innovative money solutions are springing. Topics covered here include: Keynes and heterodox economics, the founding fathers of Post-Keynesian economics, Keynesian models, Keynesian policy, and the modern development and extensions of Keynesian economics. Academics and practitioners eager for a solid heterodox approach to economics and money theory, the environment, finance, and political science will find the book an invaluable addition to their collection.

Handbook of Monetary Economics

Handbook of Monetary Economics
Author: Benjamin M. Friedman
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 971
Release: 2010-11-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0444534547

"What tools are available for setting and analyzing monetary policy? World-renowned contributors examine recent evidence on subjects as varied as price-setting, inflation persistence, the private sector's formation of inflation expectations, and the monetary policy transmission mechanism. Stopping short of advocating conclusions about the ideal conduct of policy, the authors focus instead on analytical methods and the changing interactions among the ingredients and properties that inform monetary models. The influences between economic performance and monetary policy regimes can be both grand and muted, and this volume clarifies the present state of this continually evolving relationship." [source : 4e de couv.].

Handbook of Monetary Economics Vols 3A+3B Set

Handbook of Monetary Economics Vols 3A+3B Set
Author: Benjamin M. Friedman
Publisher: Newnes
Total Pages: 1729
Release: 1990
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0444534709

How have monetary policies matured during the last decade? The recent downturn in economies worldwide have put monetary policies in a new spotlight. In addition to their investigations of new tools, models, and assumptions, they look carefully at recent evidence on subjects as varied as price-setting, inflation persistence, the private sector's formation of inflation expectations, and the monetary policy transmission mechanism. They also reexamine standard presumptions about the rationality of asset markets and other fundamentals. Stopping short of advocating conclusions about the ideal conduct of policy, the authors focus instead on analytical methods and the changing interactions among the ingredients and properties that inform monetary models. The influences between economic performance and monetary policy regimes can be both grand and muted, and this volume clarifies the present state of this continually evolving relationship. Presents extensive coverage of monetary policy theories with an eye toward questions raised by the recent financial crisis Explores the policies and practices used in formulating and transmitting monetary policies Questions fiscal-monetary connnections and encourages new thinking about the business cycle itself Observes changes in the formulation of monetary policies over the last 25 years