This seminar volume, edited by Richard C. Barth, Alan R. Roe, and Chorng-Huey Wong, presents an overview of the links between structural and macroeconomic policies that were addressed in an IMF Institute seminar held in Washington, D.C., in 1993. The most important areas of structural reform are covered: the price system, tax and expenditure policy, exchange rate management, external trade, public enterprises, the financial sector, and social safety nets. Four case studies are presented: China, Poland, Argentina, and the Gambia.

An overview of the link between structural reform and macroeconomic policies is presented in this publication. The price system, tax expenditure policy, exchange rate management, external trade, public enterprises, financial sector, and social safety nets are all examined. Four case studies illustrate the reform process in diverse economic settings. China and Poland, both transition economies, show the gradual and big bang approaches. Argentina, an upper middle-income developing economy, and The Gambia, a low-income developing economy illustrate structural reform programmes in non-transition settings.

The focus of this study is to identify similarities and differences of monetary policy in Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico following diverging financial liberalization strategies. The evolution of monetary transmission channels, targets and instruments is examined in connection with the timing and sequencing of financial reforms. Money demand functions are analyzed with respect to stability, causality, and structural breaks. It is shown that the gradual (Asian) liberalization strategy affected monetary policy in a different way than the big-bang (Latin American) approach. Constraints on monetary management are imposed by complex monetary transmission channels changing in view of financial sector crises, alterations in exchange rate regimes, and the increasing globalization of financial markets.