Venezuela could use market- based risk management instruments to reduce short- run risk on oil prices and to complement an oil stabilization fund. Using such instruments would decrease the probability that the stabilization fund would run out of funds, and the fund could be significantly smaller.

Climate change brings about a new set of major economic risks arising from changing weather patterns, extreme weather events and rising sea levels. Most at risk are developing countries who, despite considerable post-disaster donor aid, have been bearing the major brunt of disaster-related losses. One adaptation solution that is rapidly gaining the support of countries and international donors is a risk transfer to the global reinsurance and capital markets. This volume, a special issue of the journal Climate Policy, explores the role that insurance-based mechanisms can play in helping developing countries prepare for climate change. It offers a unique and comprehensive perspective on the potential role of insurance solutions in global adaptation to climate change and attempts to engender debate on the role of insurance in reducing global emissions and encouraging climate-friendly corporate behaviour.

The Guide, which is a companion document to the IMF’s Code of Good Practices on Fiscal Transparency (2007), has been revised to reflect the new Code and to provide more recent examples of good practice by individual countries The Guide applies the good practices of the Code to the unique set of transparency issues faced by countries that derive a significant share of revenues from natural resources. It addresses issues arising both from the sheer size and volatility of such resources and the technical complexity of the transaction flows. The Guide supplements the Manual on Fiscal Transparency (2007).

This book, first published in 1995, looks at the East Asian economies' post-war development and assesses the possibilities of transferring East Asian development elsewhere. Written and edited by economists, Sustaining Export-Oriented Development traces the changes in the thinking of policy makers and advisers about the policies required for economic development - especially the changed emphasis from import-substitution to outward-orientation which coincided with the East Asian economies' success. Several contributors focus on identifying the key factors in the growth of these dynamic economies. Others look at future constraints such as the environmental limits to growth and the sustainability of export growth in China. This book makes a significant contribution to the discussion of economic growth and development issues and will be of interest to those in economics, trade and aid, and others concerned with public policy.