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The term conditionality refers to the economic policies suggested or imposed by the IMF to countries that will use its resources, in accordance with the Articles of the Agreement. This paper analyzes the legal scope of IMF conditionality and the level of accomplishment of structural reforms in Colombia, i.e. whether the case of Colombia corresponds to the general trends of compliance with IMF conditionality worldwide, as presented in previous studies, or not. The empirical analysis refers to three consecutive arrangements covering the period 1999-2006: (i) an Extended Fund Facility ((EFF); Dec 1999-2004); a Stand-by arrangement (2002-4), and finally another Stand-by arrangement (2005- Nov.2006). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International aid in conflict-affected countries is based on the liberal assumption that an inverse relationship exists between violent conflict and development. This paper contests this assumption through a study of the Colombian context that demonstrates violent conflict and development can in fact be interconnected as part of the transition to capitalist modes of production and in the process of state formation. It further argues that a failure by aid agencies to comprehend the complex interaction between conflict and development can result in distorted outcomes in their programming that are detrimental to the stated objectives of achieving peace, development, and justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests the relationship between urban labor informality and the process of industrial development using data from the Encuesta Nacional de Hogares, implemented by DANE in the ten major metropolitan areas during the even years of the period between 1988-2000, but 1990. By using this data, I estimate a "fixed effects model of panel data", where the informality rate and the sectorial PIB, as a share of the department PIB, are related. The results obtained show that the informality rate in these metropolitan areas has a local component which is associated to the industrial performance of the region. This local component has a negative correlation with the performance of the productive structure, so the metropolitan areas less industrially developed and with small markets are those with high informal labor rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]