The populations of Central and Eastern European (CESEE) countries—with the exception of Turkey—are expected to decrease significantly over the next 30 years, driven by low or negative net birth rates and outward migration. These changes will have significant implications for growth, living standards and fiscal sustainability.

This paper analyses the impact of large and persistent emigration from Eastern European countries over the past 25 years on these countries’ growth and income convergence to advanced Europe. While emigration has likely benefited migrants themselves, the receiving countries and the EU as a whole, its impact on sending countries’ economies has been largely negative. The analysis suggests that labor outflows, particularly of skilled workers, lowered productivity growth, pushed up wages, and slow...

Europe’s banking system is weighed down by high levels of non-performing loans (NPLs), which are holding down credit growth and economic activity. This discussion note uses a new survey of European country authorities and banks to examine the structural obstacles that discourage banks from addressing their problem loans. A three pillared strategy is advocated to remedy the situation, comprising: (i) tightened supervisory policies, (ii) insolvency reforms, and (iii) the development of distress...

This study proposes to make an assessment of the trade-offs emanating from the adoption of the stand-alone subsidiarization (SAS) model of global banking. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority (FSA) proposed SAS as a possible practical avenue to lessen risk of contagion of macro-financial problems by re-organizing internationally active banks into financially self-sufficient, independently management constellations. While SAS exert...

The unprecedented scope and intensity of the global financial crisis and the subsequent large-scale public support of systemically important financial institutions have brought to the fore the moral hazard problems arising when creditors, shareholders, management and customers of such institutions assume that governments stand behind them. The expectation of such government support has become even stronger following the failure of Lehman Brothers, as its failure was seen to have been hugel...

Ideas on how to reform the financial services industry, from experts on the insideIn the wake of the financial crisis of 2008 the practices of the entire global financial services industry have been called into question. From the government, to the media, to the general public, everyone is re-thinking the way forward for the financial sector, but the stakes are high. Should negative trends in the industry continue and financial innovations allow fallout from the ne...

This book's prime audience is government policy-makers. It provides a policy framework for governments to increase micro small and medium enterprises' access to financial services?one which is based on empirical evidence from around the world. Financial sector policies in many developing countries often work against the ability of commercial financial institutions to serve this market segment albeit often unintentionally. The framework guides governments on how to best focus scarce ...

Microfinance is not simply banking; it is a development tool. It has been estimated that there are 500 million economically active poor people in the world operating microenterprises and small businesses. Most of them do not have access to adequate financial services. The purpose of this Handbook is to bring together in a single source guiding principles and tools that will promote sustainable microfinance and create viable institutions. The Handbook takes a global perspective, drawing on les...

Invaluable information regarding one of the biggest worldwide growth areas in investing-infrastructure assetsInfrastructure investing is about to explode on the worldwide scene. The fact is that real money will need to be spent on real projects-which will present real opportunities for stable, long-term returns. But infrastructure assets have unique characteristics and the investments and funds that will likely rise up must be suitably structured to serve investor needs.Aut...

Investment in infrastructure is critical to economic growth, quality of life, poverty reduction, access to education, healthcare, and achieving many of the goals of a robust economy. But infrastructure is difficult for the public sector to get right. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can help; they provide more efficient procurement, focus on consumer satisfaction and life cycle maintenance, and provide new sources of investment, in particular through limited recourse debt. But PPPs prese...

This accompanying document to the Guidelines for Public Debt Management, which the IMF and the World Bank co-published in 2001, contains sample case studies that illustrate how a range of countries from around the world and at different stages of economic and financial development are developing their debt management capacity in a manner consistent with the guidelines. The experience of these countries is discussed in this publication, and should offer some useful and practical suggestions...

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 com...