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The paper uses a unique database covering 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries between 2000 and 2007 to study the determinants of the allocation and composition of flows across countries, as well as channels through which private capital flows could affect growth. In our sample, the degree of financial market development is an important determinant of the distribution of capital flows across countries as opposed to property rights institutions. The fairly consistent positive association between net capital flows and growth for SSA countries contrasts with the more pessimistic results of recent studies, though our data do not allow us to make conclusive inferences about a causality relationship.

Analysis of the economic impact of military expenditures and arms trade is frequently hampered by the limited amount of transparent, comprehensive data. Country-specific information can be supplemented, however, by data from multicountry statistical sources. This paper describes seven publications which provide multicountry statistics on military expenditure and trade - the information each source conveys, as well as the differences in coverage and definition - to assist the analyst in understanding how to use this data. Comparisons of the data reported by the various sources reveal numerous, significant differences, particularly in data on military expenditures.

The paper uses a unique database covering 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries between 2000 and 2007 to study the determinants of the allocation and composition of flows across countries, as well as channels through which private capital flows could affect growth. In our sample, the degree of financial market development is an important determinant of the distribution of capital flows across countries as opposed to property rights institutions. The fairly consistent positive association between net capital flows and growth for SSA countries contrasts with the more pessimistic results of recent studies, though our data do not allow us to make conclusive inferences about a causality relationship

Sub-Saharan Africa's most formidable economic asset could soon be its people. As the region's demographics change, it can enjoy significant growth if policies are tailored to tap into this potential. Declines in infant mortality and longer life expectancy are contributing to an increase both in the overall population and, more important, in the share of the population that is of working age. The demographic developments are significant from every angle. Put simply, the region will be the world's key demographic player this century. While the rest of the world is aging, sub-Saharan Africa will become the main source of growth for the global labor force. Beyond the simple increase in the number and share of working-age population, the policies accompanying the demographic transition in sub-Saharan Africa can contribute to a dividend. The experiences of east Asia and Latin America suggest that each transition is different. Those two regions started their demographic shift at about the same time in the 1960s.

A conflict exists between the incentives offered to students and the institutional goal of increased science and math education. Students make their course choices in response to a powerful set of incentives: grades. These incentives have been systematically distorted by the grade inflation of the past 25 years. As a consequence of inflation, many universities have split into high- and low-grading departments. Economics, along with Chemistry and Math, tends to be low-grading. Art, English, Philosophy, Psychology, and Political Science tend to be high-grading. This paper presents evidence from nine colleges and universities that grade inflation has led to a divergence among departments in grading policies. We then discuss the results of an econometric study we conducted at Williams College of the influence of grading policies on course choice. The impact that differences in grading policies across departments have on the distribution of enrollments was also estimated, and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

This paper uses a unique database covering 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2000 and 2007 to study the determinants of the allocation and composition of private capital flows across countries, as well as channels through which these flows could affect growth. In the sample, the degree of financial market development is an important determinant of the distribution of capital flows across countries, as opposed to property rights institutions. The fairly consistent positive association between net capital flows and growth for sub-Saharan African countries is encouraging, though the data do not allow for making conclusive inferences about a causality relationship. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

There are two problems in the market for developing country debt: one is the immediate crisis. What do we do about the large volume of outstanding debt? A more subtle but no less important problem is that because contracts are un-enforceable and lenders have incomplete information about risk, capital is mis-allocated. This article examines the latter problem and reviews the nature and causes of the unenforceability. It shows that unenforceability results in higher interest rates on smaller and shorter-term loans than would otherwise be available and discourages investment in developing countries. Similarly, unenforce-ability can explain the perverse timing of capital flows to developing countries, causing credit to flow into the country when income is high, and out when income is low. The article then analyzes the risk associated with three types of information asymmetries: information about the borrowers' ability to repay, willingness to repay, and use of the loan proceeds. These asymmetries, the author argues, reinforce the effects of unenforceability. The prospects for remedying the immediate crisis are discussed, as is the need to be certain that the proposed solutions do not aggravate these problems.