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This paper addresses an apparent lack of economic theory in the analysis of multilateral development bank (MDB) behavior. A simple comparative statics model that is adapted from the credit union literature is used to predict potential areas of conflict, agreement, and indifference between MDB member countries, analyze lending policies against the background of distributional conflicts, and show how various institutional reforms may improve efficiency and overall member country benefits.

Finance: General --- Industries: Financial Services --- International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions --- International Lending and Debt Problems --- Financial Institutions and Services: General --- Banks --- Depository Institutions --- Micro Finance Institutions --- Mortgages --- General Financial Markets: General (includes Measurement and Data) --- Finance --- Multilateral development institutions --- Loans --- Securities markets --- Capital markets --- Credit bureaus --- Financial institutions --- Financial markets --- Development banks --- Capital market --- Credit ratings --- United States

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This paper argues that the brunt of the reform-induced increase in Polish social expenditures has been borne by social insurance arrangements (mainly pensions and unemployment compensation) rather than by social assistance schemes targeted to the poor or more temporary social safety net schemes. This is largely due to ease of access to social security and its more attractive benefit structure. Much of recent social expenditure reform had an ad-hoc nature and was driven by the need to alleviate looming financial distress. A major policy challenge is to avoid a further burdening of social security by needs that should be addressed by basic income support and emergency assistance policies or by general transfers (e.g., family allowances). Current reform needs are illustrated by using unemployment benefits and pensions as examples.

Labor --- Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Demography --- Social Security and Public Pensions --- Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits --- Private Pensions --- Economics of the Elderly --- Economics of the Handicapped --- Non-labor Market Discrimination --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search --- National Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs --- Unemployment Insurance --- Severance Pay --- Plant Closings --- Pensions --- Population & demography --- Labour --- income economics --- Public finance & taxation --- Pension spending --- Aging --- Income --- Unemployment --- Expenditure --- Social assistance spending --- Population and demographics --- Unemployment benefits --- Population aging --- Expenditures, Public --- Unemployment insurance --- Poland, Republic of

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This paper reviews the role of fiscal policy in a number of stabilization programs in Latin America since the early 1980s. The paper highlights the importance of sustainable fiscal adjustment in stabilization efforts, and discusses the main issues that arise in this context. By reviewing the Latin American experience, it is argued that responsibility for failed stabilization attempts can be traced to four main factors: inconsistent policy mixes; excessive reliance on temporary factors of improvement in the fiscal accounts; failure to implement fundamental fiscal reforms; and lack of complementary structural reforms.

Inflation --- Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook: General --- Fiscal Policy --- Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General --- Price Level --- Deflation --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Public finance & taxation --- Revenue administration --- Fiscal consolidation --- Fiscal policy --- Expenditure --- Prices --- Revenue --- Expenditures, Public --- Argentina

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It is commonly agreed that economic policies, including budgetary policies, can have potentially strong distributional effects. Traditional economic analysis held that economic policies affected the income distribution primarily through their impact on the rate of growth. More recently, it has come to be recognized that qualitative aspects of economic growth are probably more important than the rate of growth itself. While recent research has confirmed the potential role of expenditure policies as a redistributive tool, it has also shown that redistribution does not necessarily have to come at the expense of economic growth and efficiency. Although there are substantial analytical and technical problems to be faced in the design of equitable and cost-effective public expenditure programs, unfavorable distributional outcomes of these programs can usually be traced more to political and institutional pressures than to purely technical factors.

Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Poverty and Homelessness --- Aggregate Factor Income Distribution --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- Macroeconomics: Consumption --- Saving --- Wealth --- Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General --- Public finance & taxation --- Poverty & precarity --- Expenditure --- Personal income --- Income distribution --- Income inequality --- Consumption --- National accounts --- Poverty --- Expenditures, Public --- Income --- Economics --- Colombia

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This paper addresses the problems of defining and measuring government subsidies, examines why and how government subsidies are used as a fiscal policy tool, assesses their economic effects, appraises international empirical evidence on government subsidies, and offers options for their reform. Recent international trends in government subsidy expenditure are analyzed for the 16-year period from 1975 to 1990, using general government subsidy data for 60 countries from the System of National Accounts (SNA) and central government expenditure on subsidies and other current transfers for 68 countries from Government Finance Statistics (GFS). The paper reviews major policy options for subsidy reform, focusing on ways to improve the cost-effectiveness of subsidy programs.

Budgeting --- Macroeconomics --- Public Finance --- Statistics --- Taxation and Subsidies: Incidence --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- General Aggregative Models: General --- Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology --- Computer Programs: Other --- National Budget --- Budget Systems --- Public finance & taxation --- Econometrics & economic statistics --- Budgeting & financial management --- Government subsidies --- National accounts --- Government finance statistics --- Expenditure --- Budget planning and preparation --- Economic and financial statistics --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Subsidies --- National income --- Finance --- Expenditures, Public --- Budget --- United States