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Policies on Managing Risk in Agricultural MarketsOver the past dozen years, policymakers
 have largely abandoned long-standing popular approaches for
 addressing risk in agriculture without fully resolving the
 question of how best to manage the negative consequences of
 volatile agricultural markets. The article reviews the
 transition from past policies and describes current
 approaches that distinguish between the trade-related fiscal
 consequences of commodity market volatility and the
 consequences of price and production risks for vulnerable
 rural households and communities. Current policies rely more
 heavily on markets, even though markets for risk are
 incomplete in numerous ways. The benefits and limitations of
 market-based instruments are examined in the context of risk
 management strategies, and innovative approaches to extend
 the reach of risk markets are discussed.
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Ukraine - Country Economic Memorandum : Strategic Choices to Accelerate and Sustain GrowthThis report undertakes a comprehensive
 assessment of Ukraine's growth experience over the past
 decade. It shows how vulnerabilities were allowed to
 accumulate during the economic boom. And how growth,
 averaging seven percent annually between 2000 and 2008, was
 achieved without tackling Ukraine's well known
 weaknesses in the investment climate and public sector
 governance. The report also traces the emergence of large
 structural fiscal deficits and fiscal pressures since 2004,
 as buoyant revenues and terms of trade gains masked an
 increasingly unsustainable fiscal position. It shows how
 international excess liquidity allowed Ukraine to attract
 vast capital flows, intermediated through the banking
 system, while financial sector regulation remained
 inadequate. And it analyzes how a poor investment climate,
 low competitive pressures, limited innovation and slow
 structural transformation of the economy are all interlinked
 and perpetuate Ukraine's dependence on a few commodity
 based exports. Consequently, the report argues, the route to
 sustained recovery in Ukraine lies in deepening key reforms.
 The report carries out an in-depth diagnostic of
 Ukraine's growth drivers at the macro, sector and
 firm-level and derives key constraints to sustained growth
 from this analysis. The recommendations point to three main
 challenges that deserve priority attention if Ukraine is to
 re-launch its economy on a sustained growth path. First,
 Ukraine has to tackle its fiscal crisis to restore
 macroeconomic credibility and create fiscal space for
 investments needed to support private sector growth. Second,
 Ukraine needs to improve its investment climate and fix the
 financial system to attract private sector investment.
 Third, Ukraine needs to tackle the problems with public
 sector governance through deep public sector, judicial and
 administrative reforms. Since this is a large agenda, the
 analysis identifies short and medium term priorities. The
 report also argues that the key reforms highlighted above
 are closely interlinked and that cosmetic and halfway
 measures will not do.
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Taking Stock, June 2011In the last few years, Vietnam's
 macroeconomic situation has followed a predictable pattern.
 When faced with external shocks the authorities have opted
 to protect the country's rapid growth rate, even if it
 meant tolerating higher levels of macroeconomic instability.
 This has meant modest growth slowdowns and frequent episodes
 of overheating. So when the economy started to overheat in
 late 2010 following the delayed withdrawal of the fiscal and
 monetary stimulus put in place in 2009, few expected a
 determined response from the government to stem the ensuing
 macroeconomic volatility. The current episode of
 macroeconomic instability has been as severe as the previous
 overheating episode of mid-2008. The author constructed a
 summary measure of macroeconomic instability, Vietnam Index
 of Macroeconomic Stability (VIMS), based on the movement of
 four variables, namely nominal exchange rate, international
 reserves, inflation rate and nominal interest rate. Our
 measure shows that the degree of macroeconomic instability
 during the current episode did come quite close to mid-2008,
 but has not surpassed it yet. But unlike 2008, when the
 level of instability increased sharply and fell immediately,
 instability has persisted over a longer period of time
 during the current episode, from November 2010 to February
 2011, exposing Vietnam's economy to a prolonged period
 of nervousness and uncertainty.