About the Author

Mario I.Blejer is Senior Adviser at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He holds an economics Ph.D from Chicago and has taught at Hebrew, Boston and New York universities. He has published extensively on monetary and fiscal issues and transition economies. Teresa Ter-Minassian holds degrees in law and economics from Rome and Harvard. She reached the grade of Division Chief at the Bank of Italy before taking a permanent position at the IMF, where she is currently Deputy Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department.