Thomas Sargent, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, has made several visits over the past year to the IMF's Research Department. Sargent talked to the IMF Research Bulletin about problems ailing Europe and the United States-and what each could learn from the other's history.

IMF Research Bulletin

The Great Recession of 2007–09 led to a worldwide increase of 30 million in the number of people unemployed, with about half of that increase among advanced countries. In the latest issue of the IMF Research Bulletin, Prakash Loungani answers seven questions about the factors behind this rise in unemployment and other related issues.

Troubled Eurozone countries face the difficult challenge of regaining competitiveness without devaluing their currency. Could a fiscal devaluation, shifting taxes from employers to consumers, help? This paper present evidence it could, though the magnitude of effects remains uncertain, and details matter.

Rising BRIC financing has intensified the debate on aid effectiveness and related policy challenges. This IMF paper examines the philosophies and modalities of BRIC financing, including their emphasis on mutual benefits without attachment of policy conditionality. Investing in high return projects and ensuring debt sustainability are among the key challenges in reaping the benefits of BRIC financing.

A recent IMF paper proposes an index to assess the vulnerability of developing countries to food price shocks and examines the stabilizing effects of aid and remittances flows. The paper shows that a lower remittance ratio is required in order to cope with the shocks in the most vulnerable countries.