Contemporary Economic Issues Trade Payments And Debt

A comprehensive overview of current research in the field of trade, payments and debt. Grossman and Helpman provide a non-technical review of the literature on technological deteminants of trade. Thisse and Fujita discuss current work on the spatial configuration of economic activities. Robert Findlay tracks world trade from 1000 to 1750, while Robert Baldwin surveys the impact of international trading alliances. In his Presidential paper, the World Bank Vice-President Michael Bruno looks at the pattern of debt crises and economic recovery. The sustainability of external debt in Africa is examined by Daniel Cohen. Alberto Giovannini's argues the case for flexible exchange rates.

A comprehensive overview of current research in the field of trade, payments and debt. Grossman and Helpman provide a non-technical review of the literature on technological deteminants of trade. Thisse and Fujita discuss current work on the spatial configuration of economic activities. Robert Findlay tracks world trade from 1000 to 1750, while Robert Baldwin surveys the impact of international trading alliances. In his Presidential paper, the World Bank Vice-President Michael Bruno looks at the pattern of debt crises and economic recovery. The sustainability of external debt in Africa is examined by Daniel Cohen. Alberto Giovannini's argues the case for flexible exchange rates.

At first sight, this volume, which contains chapters covering topics ranging from economic methodology through central bank independence to pension systems, might be viewed as a potpourri of largely unrelated issues. Yet these chapters, written by leading researchers in their respective fields, dispel this notion, illustrating the ongoing merger process between hitherto quite separate economic sub-disciplines.

The past approach to the international debt crisis has been traditionally based on conventional banking principle in which debt had to be paid back in fuH and in time. International lending was a function of the perceived credit standing of debtor country and the return on investment (ROI). If debtor country run into difficulties and had problems with service payments - it was generally assumed that the debt-related expenditures were mismanaged. With economic stability and firm financial rules - the debt crisis was supposed to disappear after application of appropriate adjustment measures. However in the world of inconsistent lending criteria greater uncertainty and increased volatility of expectations - the problem has continued to get worse. At the beginning of the 1990s a number of countries are more indebted than at any other time in the past. Until mid 1980s extern al debt economics has been rather a disembodied concept for most economists and business leaders. The main reason for this neglect of one of the most important macroeconomic categories was difficulty of distinguishing terminologically and methodologically the domestic determinants of national expenditures from the external ones. Then there were conceptual problems in distinguishing the functional determinants of macroeconomic liquidity from external and domestic determinants of macro-economic solvency. Moreover many studies of the debt crisis were one-sided. Usually debt was seen as a 'white-black' phenomenon with debtor countries accusing creditor countries for causing the crisis and vice versa.

This collection of essays provides background information on U.S. economic policy and reviews the effects of the Reagan economic program. Jacob Dreyer, Gottfried Haberler, and Kenneth Brown believe that budget deficit creates the trade deficit, as foreigners export to the U.S. to acquire dollars for the capital flow that finances U.S. debt. Phillip Cagan finds that the recent disinflation is the result of restrained economic growth amid ample productive capacity. Other contributors review the incentive improvements from the Tax Reform Act of 1986; the dramatic redistribution of fiscal responsibility to state and local government; and the emphasis on the elderly and poor. ISBN 0-8447-3621-X : $27.50.