Digital Currencies: Transforming Global Markets

Along with phosphorus and nitrogen, potash constitutes one of the three nutrients used in the production of fertilizers. Although the factors that influence its demand are mostly common to other fertilizers and in large part determined by the agricultural market conditions, its supply depends on specific factors. Long known to be controlled by two production and export cartels, the potash market experienced a major change in 2013 with the end of the RussianBelarusian agreement. In a ...

Discrepancies in output fluctuations between emerging and developed economies are well documented in the literature. Differences however within developing economies have not been sufficiently scrutinised. This paper argues that global and regional shocks primarily drive the business cycle in emerging economies, and provides estimated results for cycle variance decomposition. The paper also offers a theoretical framework to check on the set of stylized facts common and specific to em ...

If one opens the newspapers nowadays, Brazil will come out as a melting opportunity. The country is currently facing its largest economic crisis, mostly resulting from a negative political environment where the current Administration has been deeply swollen by Brazil´s largest corruption scandal, the so-called Lava Jato (Car Wash) Operations, whose investigations have brought to light the fact that billions of US$ dollars were being used for campaign financing, illicit enrichment an ...

Brazil is in a good position to serve as a bridge to Africa and to reignite more cooperation between both sides of the South Atlantic. Brazil has increased its presence in Africa in recent years in terms of trade, investment, development cooperation, and political alliances with the goal to secure a greater say for the global South in the new world order that has been under construction since the of the Cold War. This has been pursued through financial support and proactive economic ...

Industrial policy is a controversial, even taboo, subject in policy circles. Yet it is widely practiced by advanced and developing countries alike2 . This note tries to make sense of this paradox. It argues that industrial policy can be a useful weapon in the development policy arsenal. However, the effectiveness of industrial policy is more circumscribed than many of its practitioners think, and there are significant risks associated with getting it wrong, especially in a poor gove ...

Q: The U.S. Federal Reserve on Dec. 16 raised interest rates, ending what Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen called an “extraordinary seven-year period” during which policymakers kept the federal funds rate near zero in an effort to support the economy. How will the Fed’s action affect Latin American economies, many of which are struggling with anemic growth and low prices for their commodity exports? How will the interest rate hike affect Latin American countries’ ability to pay off their ...