Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts

Download Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1451848951
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (518 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts by : Mr.Charles Frederick Kramer

Download or read book Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts written by Mr.Charles Frederick Kramer and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1995-07-01 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper argues that recent movements in closed-end emerging markets funds present a strong challenge to the leading explanations of the behavior of closed-end country fund prices. In particular, closed-end funds dedicated to Mexico and other Latin American stock markets developed large premia after the December 1994 devaluation of the Mexican peso and the subsequent financial crisis. The so-called “investor sentiment hypothesis” could explain these events only by suggesting that investors became very optimistic about emerging markets stocks, and especially Mexican stocks; this possibility seems unlikely given the facts surrounding the devaluation. We argue instead that a sensible explanation for recent dynamics of closed-end country funds is that investors in these funds are loss-averse, implying that they do not want to realize paper losses on their closed-end fund shares. This works to put a drag on the downward movement in closed-end fund prices.

Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts

Download Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 30 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (129 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts by : Charles Kramer

Download or read book Recent Turmoil in Emerging Markets and the Behavior of Country-Fund Discounts written by Charles Kramer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper argues that recent movements in closed-end emerging markets funds present a strong challenge to the leading explanations of the behavior of closed-end country fund prices. In particular, closed-end funds dedicated to Mexico and other Latin American stock markets developed large premia after the December 1994 devaluation of the Mexican peso and the subsequent financial crisis. The so-called quot;investor sentiment hypothesisquot; could explain these events only by suggesting that investors became very optimistic about emerging markets stocks, and especially Mexican stocks; this possibility seems unlikely given the facts surrounding the devaluation. We argue instead that a sensible explanation for recent dynamics of closed-end country funds is that investors in these funds are loss-averse, implying that they do not want to realize paper losses on their closed-end fund shares. This works to put a drag on the downward movement in closed-end fund prices.

Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies

Download Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226241106
Total Pages : 541 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies by : Martin Feldstein

Download or read book Economic and Financial Crises in Emerging Market Economies written by Martin Feldstein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 541 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 1990s, economic and financial crises raged through East Asia, devastating economies that had previously been considered among the strongest in the developing world. The crises eventually spread to Russia, Turkey, and Latin America, and impacted the economies of many industrialized nations as well. In today's increasingly interdependent world, finding ways to reduce the risk of future crises—and to improve the management of crises when they occur—has become an international policy challenge of paramount importance. This book rises to that challenge, presenting accessible papers and commentaries on the topic not only from leading academic economists, but also from high-ranking government officials (in both industrial and developing nations), senior policymakers at international institutions, and major financial investors. Six non-technical papers, each written by a specialist in the topic, provide essential economic background, introducing sections on exchange rate regimes, financial policies, industrial country policies, IMF stabilization policies, IMF structural programs, and creditor relations. Next, personal statements from the major players give firsthand accounts of what really went on behind the scenes during the crises, giving us a rare glimpse into how international economic policy decisions are actually made. Finally, wide-ranging discussions and debates sparked by these papers and statements are summarized at the end of each section. The result is an indispensable overview of the key issues at work in these crises, written by the people who move markets and reshape economies, and accessible to not just economists and policymakers, but also to educated general readers. Contributors: Montek S. Ahluwalia, Domingo F. Cavallo, William R. Cline, Andrew Crockett, Michael P. Dooley, Sebastian Edwards, Stanley Fischer, Arminio Fraga, Jeffrey Frankel, Jacob Frenkel, Timothy F. Geithner, Morris Goldstein, Paul Keating, Mervyn King, Anne O. Krueger, Roberto Mendoza, Frederic S. Mishkin, Guillermo Ortiz, Yung Chul Park, Nouriel Roubini, Robert Rubin, Jeffrey Sachs, Ammar Siamwalla, George Soros

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report

Download The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1616405414
Total Pages : 692 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (164 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report by : Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission

Download or read book The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report written by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and published by Cosimo, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-05-01 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.

Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994

Download Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 60 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994 by : Jeffrey A. Frankel

Download or read book Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994 written by Jeffrey A. Frankel and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It has been suggested that Mexican investors were the front-runners in the peso crisis of December 1994, turning pessimistic before international investors. Different expectations about their own economy, perhaps due to asymmetric information, prompted Mexican investors to be the first ones to leave the country. This paper uses data from three Mexican country funds to investigate the hypothesis of divergent expectations. We find that, right before the devaluation, Mexican fund Net Asset Values (mainly driven by Mexican investors) dropped faster than Mexican country fund prices (mainly driven by foreign investors). Moreover, we find that Mexican NAVs tend to Granger-cause the country fund prices. This suggests that causality, in some sense, flows from the Mexico City investor community to the Wall Street investor community. More generally, the paper proposes an asymmetric information approach that differs from the existing explanations of country fund discounts.

Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Download Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1589069277
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds by : Mr.Udaibir S. Das

Download or read book Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds written by Mr.Udaibir S. Das and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book covers a wide range of topics of relevance to policymakers in countries that have sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) and those that receive SWF investments. Renowned experts in the field have contributed chapters. The book is organized around four themes: (1) the role and macrofinancial linkages of SWFs, (2) institutional factors, (3) investment approaches and financial markets, and (4) the postcrisis outlook. The book also discusses the challenges facing sovereign wealth funds in the coming years, from an inside perspective on countries, including Canada, Chile, China, Norway, Russia, and New Zealand. Economics of Sovereign Wealth Funds will contribute to a further understanding of the nature, strategies and behavior of SWFs and the environment in which they operate, as their importance is likely to grow in the coming years.

IMF Staff Papers, Volume 47, No. 1

Download IMF Staff Papers, Volume 47, No. 1 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1451974582
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (519 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis IMF Staff Papers, Volume 47, No. 1 by : International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.

Download or read book IMF Staff Papers, Volume 47, No. 1 written by International Monetary Fund. Research Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses the origins of the pyramid schemes and the way the authorities handled them. The paper analyzes the economic effects of the pyramid schemes, concluding that despite the descent into anarchy triggered by the schemes’ collapse, their direct effects on the economy are difficult to specify and appear to have been limited. The paper also argues that prevention of pyramid schemes is better than cure and that government and international financial institutions should be vigilant in clamping down on frauds.

Institutional Investors and Asset Pricing in Emerging Markets

Download Institutional Investors and Asset Pricing in Emerging Markets PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 145184171X
Total Pages : 25 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (518 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Institutional Investors and Asset Pricing in Emerging Markets by : Ms.Elaine Karen Buckberg

Download or read book Institutional Investors and Asset Pricing in Emerging Markets written by Ms.Elaine Karen Buckberg and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper presents a new theory of asset pricing intended to address why other developing country equity markets responded so strongly to the Mexican devaluation, while the world’s major stock markets were unmoved. This phenomenon can be explained if investors follow a two-step portfolio allocation process, first determining what share of their portfolio to invest in developing countries, then allocating those funds across the emerging markets. For 12 of 13 markets studied, the one-factor CAPM is rejected in favor of a two-factor asset pricing model, including both a broad emerging markets portfolio and the global market portfolio.

IMF Staff papers, Volume 42 No. 4

Download IMF Staff papers, Volume 42 No. 4 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1451930909
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (519 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis IMF Staff papers, Volume 42 No. 4 by : International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.

Download or read book IMF Staff papers, Volume 42 No. 4 written by International Monetary Fund. Research Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper describes early contributions of Staff Papers to international economics. The paper highlights that Staff Papers has, since its inception in 1950, been an important vehicle for the dissemination of research done by the IMF staff. This paper discusses three areas in which articles published in Staff Papers up until the 1970s made major contributions to the literature in international economics. The areas covered are: the absorption approach and the monetary theory of the balance of payments; the Mundell-Fleming model; and foreign trade modeling.

Country Fund Discounts and the Mexican Crisis of December 1994

Download Country Fund Discounts and the Mexican Crisis of December 1994 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 54 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Country Fund Discounts and the Mexican Crisis of December 1994 by : Jeffrey A. Frankel

Download or read book Country Fund Discounts and the Mexican Crisis of December 1994 written by Jeffrey A. Frankel and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Crises, Contagion, and the Closed

Download Crises, Contagion, and the Closed PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 1451856318
Total Pages : 55 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (518 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Crises, Contagion, and the Closed by : Mr.Angel J. Ubide

Download or read book Crises, Contagion, and the Closed written by Mr.Angel J. Ubide and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 1998-09-01 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes the behavior of closed-end country fund discounts, including evidence from the Mexican and East Asian crises. We find that the ratio of fund prices to their fundamental value increases dramatically during a crisis, an anomaly that we denote the “closed-end country fund puzzle.” Our results show that the puzzle relates directly to the fact that international investors are less (more) sensitive to changes in local (global) market conditions than domestic investors. This asymmetry implies that foreign participation in local markets can both help dampen a crisis in the originating country, and amplify the contagion to noncrisis countries.

Stock Market Liquidity

Download Stock Market Liquidity PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470181699
Total Pages : 502 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Stock Market Liquidity by : François-Serge Lhabitant

Download or read book Stock Market Liquidity written by François-Serge Lhabitant and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-01-09 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brings together today's best financial minds across the world to discuss the issue of liquidity in today's markets. It is often proxied by trade-based measures (such as trading volume, frequency of trading, dollar value of shares trade, etc), order based measures and price impact measures.

The Collapse of Exchange Rate Regimes

Download The Collapse of Exchange Rate Regimes PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461562899
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (615 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Collapse of Exchange Rate Regimes by : George S. Tavlas

Download or read book The Collapse of Exchange Rate Regimes written by George S. Tavlas and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ical) and to self-fulfilling currency crisis, respectively. Research stressing the former approach was pioneered by Krugman (1979) and Flood and Garber (1984). According to this line of research, the failure of governments to adopt domestic monetary and fiscal policies consistent with their stated exchange rate targets leads to a gradual diminution of reserves and eventually a stock adjustment that depletes reserves suddenly in one attack (Sachs, Tornell, and Velasco, 1996, page 47). The result is either a devaluation of the exchange rate or a switch to floating. Subsequent work of this genre has specified a number of other channels, in addition to that involving inconsistent and unsustainable monetary and fiscal policies, that can precipitate an attack: 1. Inconsistency between external and internal objectives. The stances of monetary and fiscal policies may be consistent with the authorities' exchange rate target, but domestic economic indicators (such as the unemployment rate) may be inconsistent with internal balance, resulting in pressures on the authorities to relax macroeconomic policies. Private agents, aware of this inconsistency, perceive an opportunity for profits from a currency devaluation and precipitate an attack. 2. Contagion effects. Prior to an attack on another currency (say that of country B), the market may view a country's (say, country A's) exchange rate as consistent with economic fundamentals and, thus, sustainable.

International Financial Contagion

Download International Financial Contagion PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1475733143
Total Pages : 461 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (757 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis International Financial Contagion by : Stijn Claessens

Download or read book International Financial Contagion written by Stijn Claessens and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No sooner had the Asian crisis broken out in 1997 than the witch-hunt started. With great indignation every Asian economy pointed fingers. They were innocent bystanders. The fundamental reason for the crisis was this or that - most prominently contagion - but also the decline in exports of the new commodities (high-tech goods), the steep rise of the dollar, speculators, etc. The prominent question, of course, is whether contagion could really have been the key factor and, if so, what are the channels and mechanisms through which it operated in such a powerful manner. The question is obvious because until 1997, Asia's economies were generally believed to be immensely successful, stable and well managed. This question is of great importance not only in understanding just what happened, but also in shaping policies. In a world of pure contagion, i.e. when innocent bystanders are caught up and trampled by events not of their making and when consequences go far beyond ordinary international shocks, countries will need to look for better protective policies in the future. In such a world, the international financial system will need to change in order to offer better preventive and reactive policy measures to help avoid, or at least contain, financial crises.

From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities

Download From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9401716137
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities by : J. Barkley Rosser

Download or read book From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities written by J. Barkley Rosser and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Catastrophe to Chaos: A General Theory of Economic Discontinuities presents and unusual perspective on economics and economic analysis. Current economic theory largely depends upon assuming that the world is fundamentally continuous. However, an increasing amount of economic research has been done using approaches that allow for discontinuities such as catastrophe theory, chaos theory, synergetics, and fractal geometry. The spread of such approaches across a variety of disciplines of thought has constituted a virtual intellectual revolution in recent years. This book reviews the applications of these approaches in various subdisciplines of economics and draws upon past economic thinkers to develop an integrated view of economics as a whole from the perspective of inherent discontinuity.

Risk Management and Value

Download Risk Management and Value PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9812770747
Total Pages : 645 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (127 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Risk Management and Value by : Mondher Bellalah

Download or read book Risk Management and Value written by Mondher Bellalah and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2008 with total page 645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a comprehensive discussion of the issues related to risk, volatility, value and risk management. It includes a selection of the best papers presented at the Fourth International Finance Conference 2007, qualified by Professor James Heckman, the 2000 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics, as a high level one. The first half of the book examines ways to manage risk and compute value-at-risk for exchange risk associated to debt portfolios and portfolios of equity. It also covers the Basel II framework implementation and securitisation. The effects of volatility and risk on the valuation of financial assets are further studied in detail. The second half of the book is dedicated to the banking industry, banking competition on the credit market, banking risk and distress, market valuation, managerial risk taking, and value in the ICT activity. With its inclusion of new concepts and recent literature, academics and risk managers will want to read this book. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction (40 KB). Chapter 1: Managing Derivatives in the Presence of a Smile Effect and Incomplete Information (97 KB). Contents: Managing Derivatives in the Presence of a Smile Effect and Incomplete Information (M Bellalah); A Value-at-Risk Approach to Assess Exchange Risk Associated to a Public Debt Portfolio: The Case of a Small Developing Economy (W Ajili); A Method to Find Historical VaR for Portfolio that Follows S&P CNX Nifty Index by Estimating the Index Value (K V N M Ramesh); Some Considerations on the Relationship between Corruption and Economic Growth (V Dragota et al.); Financial Risk Management by Derivatives Caused from Weather Conditions: Its Applicability for Trkiye (T uzkan); The Basel II Framework Implementation and Securitization (M-F Lamy); Stochastic Time Change, Volatility, and Normality of Returns: A High-Frequency Data Analysis with a Sample of LSE Stocks (O Borsali & A Zenaidi); The Behavior of the Implied Volatility Surface: Evidence from Crude Oil Futures Options (A Bouden); Procyclical Behavior of Loan Loss Provisions and Banking Strategies: An Application to the European Banks (D D Dinamona); Market Power and Banking Competition on the Credit Market (I Lapteacru); Early Warning Detection of Banking Distress OCo Is Failure Possible for European Banks? (A Naouar); Portfolio Diversification and Market Share Analysis for Romanian Insurance Companies (M Dragota et al.); On the Closed-End Funds Discounts/Premiums in the Context of the Investor Sentiment Theory (A P C do Monte & M J da Rocha Armada); Why has Idiosyncratic Volatility Increased in Europe? (J-E Palard); Debt Valuation, Enterprise Assessment and Applications (D Vanoverberghe); Does The Tunisian Stock Market Overreact? (F Hammami & E Abaoub); Investor-Venture Capitalist Relationship: Asymmetric Information, Uncertainty, and Monitoring (M Cherif & S Sraieb); Threshold Mean Reversion in Stock Prices (F Jawadi); Households'' Expectations of Unemployment: New Evidence from French Microdata (S Ghabri); Corporate Governance and Managerial Risk Taking: Empirical Study in the Tunisian Context (A B Aroui & F W B M Douagi); Nonlinearity and Genetic Algorithms in the Decision-Making Process (N Hachicha & A Bouri); ICT and Performance of the Companies: The Case of the Tunisian Companies (J Ziadi); Option Market Microstructure (J-M Sahut); Does the Standardization of Business Processes Improve Management? The Case of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (T Chtioui); Does Macroeconomic Transparency Help Governments be Solvent? Evidence from Recent Data (R Mallat & D K Nguyen). Readership: Academics and risk managers."

Research Activities of the IMF, January 1991-December 1999

Download Research Activities of the IMF, January 1991-December 1999 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 9781557759801
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (598 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Research Activities of the IMF, January 1991-December 1999 by : International Monetary Fund

Download or read book Research Activities of the IMF, January 1991-December 1999 written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Research activity in the IMF emphasizes the links between the organization's policy and operational concerns. The main objectives of research is IMF staff understanding of policy and operational issues relevant to the institution, and to improve the analytical quality of the work prepared for management and the Executive Board and the advice provided to member countries. The scope of research in the IMF is defined by the purposes and functions of the institution. In order to foster innovation and ensure quality control, the IMF makes much of its research available outside the institution and encourages staff to interact with academia and other research organizations through conferences, seminars, and occasional joint research projects. The visiting scholar’s program has also enhanced the quality of research done in the IMF. This program brings in leading members of the economics profession from around the world to assist in the preparation of papers for the Executive Board and to conduct research on IMF-related issues.