Download or read book Sharp Instrument A Stab at Identifying the Causes of Economic Growth written by Reda Cherif and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-05-21 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We shed new light on the determinants of growth by tackling the blunt and weak instrument problems in the empirical growth literature. As an instrument for each endogenous variable, we propose average values of the same variable in neighboring countries. This method has the advantage of producing variable-specific and time-varying—namely, “sharp”—and strong instruments. We find that export sophistication is the only robust determinant of growth among standard growth determinants such as human capital, trade, financial development, and institutions. Our results suggest that other growth determinants may be important to the extent they help improve export sophistication.
Download or read book Do Fiscal Rules Cause Better Fiscal Balances A New Instrumental Variable Strategy written by Francesca G Caselli and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper estimates the causal effect of fiscal rules on fiscal balances in a panel of 142 countries over the period 1985-2015. Our instrumental variable strategy exploits the geographical diffusion of fiscal rules across countries. The intuition is that reforms in neighboring countries may affect the adoption of domestic reforms through peer pressure and imitational effects. We find that fiscal rules correlate with lower deficits, but the positive link disappears when endogeneity is correctly addressed. However, when considering an index of fiscal rules’ design, we show that well-designed rules have a statistically significant impact on fiscal balances. We conduct several robustness tests and show that our results are not affected by weak instrument problems.
Download or read book South Asia s Path to Resilient Growth written by Mr. Ranil M Salgado and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2022-12-23 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: South Asia’s Path to Sustainable and Inclusive Growth highlights the remarkable development progress in South Asia and how the region can advance in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Steps include a renewed push toward greater trade and financial openness, while responding proactively to the distributional impact and dislocation associated with this structural transformation. Promoting a green and digital recovery remains important. The book explores ways to accelerate the income convergence process in the region, leveraging on the still-large potential demographic dividend in most of the countries. These include greater economic diversification and export sophistication, trade and foreign direct investment liberalization and participation in global value chains amid shifting regional and global conditions, financial development, and investment in human capital.
Download or read book Regional Economic Outlook April 2019 Sub Saharan Africa written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-04-12 with total page 69 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The economic recovery in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to continue, but at a slower pace than envisaged in October 2018. This weaker outlook reflects domestic and external challenges. On the external side, the global expansion is losing momentum, including in China and the euro area, trade tensions remain elevated, global financial conditions have tightened, and commodity prices are expected to remain low. On the domestic front, security challenges, climate shocks, and policy uncertainty are hampering investment and weighing on economic prospects in several countries. Under current policies, medium-term average growth for the region is expected to continue to fall well short of what is needed to absorb the new entrants to the labor force and to deliver limited gains in living standards.
Download or read book The Return of the Policy That Shall Not Be Named Principles of Industrial Policy written by Reda Cherif and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2019-03-26 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrial policy is tainted with bad reputation among policymakers and academics and is often viewed as the road to perdition for developing economies. Yet the success of the Asian Miracles with industrial policy stands as an uncomfortable story that many ignore or claim it cannot be replicated. Using a theory and empirical evidence, we argue that one can learn more from miracles than failures. We suggest three key principles behind their success: (i) the support of domestic producers in sophisticated industries, beyond the initial comparative advantage; (ii) export orientation; and (iii) the pursuit of fierce competition with strict accountability.
Download or read book The Handbook of Global Shadow Banking Volume I written by Luc Nijs and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This global handbook provides an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of shadow banking, or market-based finance as it has been recently coined. Engaging in financial intermediary services outside of normal regulatory parameters, the shadow banking sector was arguably a critical factor in causing the 2007-2009 financial crisis. This volume focuses specifically on shadow banking activities, risk, policy and regulatory issues. It evaluates the nexus between policy design and regulatory output around the world, paying attention to the concept of risk in all its dimensions—the legal, financial, market, economic and monetary perspectives. Particular attention is given to spillover risk, contagion risk and systemic risk and their positioning and relevance in shadow banking activities. Newly introduced and incoming policies are evaluated in detail, as well as how risk is managed, observed and assessed, and how new regulation can potentially create new sources of risk. Volume I concludes with analysis of what will and still needs to happen in the event of another crisis. Proposing innovative suggestions for improvement, including a novel Pigovian tax to tame financial and systemic risks, this handbook is a must-read for professionals and policy-makers within the banking sector, as well as those researching economics and finance.
Download or read book The Pitfalls of Protectionism Import Substitution Vs Export Oriented Industrial Policy written by Reda Cherif and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-04-26 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrial policies pursued in many developing countries in the 1950s-1970s largely failed while the industrial policies of the Asian Miracles succeeded. We argue that a key factor of success is industrial policy with export orientation in contrast to import substitution. Exporting encouraged competition, economies of scale, innovation, and local integration and provided market signals to policymakers. Even in a large market such as India, import substitution policies in the automotive industry failed because of micromanagement and misaligned incentives. We also analyze the risk tradeoffs involved in various industrial policy strategies and their implications on the 21st century industrial policies. While state interventions may be needed to develop some new capabilities and industries, trade protectionism is neither a necessary nor a sufficient tool and will most likely be counterproductive.
Download or read book A Diversification Strategy for South Asia written by Weicheng Lian and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While South Asia has gone a long way in diversifying their economies, there is substantial scope to do more. Some countries – India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka – can build on their existing production capabilities; others – Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Maldives – would need to undertake a more concerted push. We identify key policies from a large set of potential determinants that explain the variation in export diversification and complexity across 189 countries from 1962 to 2018. Our analysis suggests that South Asia needs to invest in infrastructure, education, and R&D, facilitate bank credit to productive companies, and open to trade in order to diversify and move up the value chains. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, investing in digital technologies as part of the infrastructure push and improving education are of even greater importance to facilitate the ability to work remotely and assist resource reallocation away from the less viable sectors.
Download or read book Trade and Integration Monitor 2018 Flying to Quality written by Paolo Giordano and published by Inter-American Development Bank. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Trade and Integration Monitor 2018 analyzes the ongoing trade recovery in the region and tracks its competitiveness in global markets, with a particular focus on the capacity for positioning itself in higher-quality, sophisticated, and technology-dense sectors. This edition is the latest in a series of reports of the Integration and Trade Sector of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that study the evolution of the position of Latin America and the Caribbean in the global trading system, drawing on available data from INTrade, the IDB trade and integration information system.
Download or read book Gulf Cooperation Council written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Diversification of the GCC economies, supported by greater openness to trade and higher foreign investment, can have a large impact on growth. Such measures can support higher, sustained, and more inclusive growth by improving the allocation of resources across sectors and producers, creating jobs, triggering technology spillovers, promoting knowledge, creating a more competitive business environment, and enhancing productivity. The GCC countries are open to trade, but much less so to foreign direct investment (FDI). GCC foreign trade has been expanding robustly, but FDI inflows have stalled in recent years despite policy efforts taken to reduce administrative barriers and provide incentives to attract FDI. Tariffs are relatively low; however, a number of non-tariff barriers to trade persist and there are substantial restrictions on foreign ownership of businesses and real estate. The growth impact of closing export and FDI gaps could be significant. In most countries, the biggest boost to growth would come from closing the FDI gap—up to one percentage point increase in real non-oil per capita GDP growth. Closing export gaps could provide an additional growth dividend in the range of 0.2-0.5 percentage point. Boosting non-oil exports and attracting more FDI requires a supportive policy environment. Policy priorities are to upgrade human capital, increase productivity and competitiveness, improve the business climate, and reduce remaining barriers to foreign trade and investment. Specifically, continued reforms in the following areas will be important: • Human capital development: continue with investments made to raise educational quality to provide knowledge and skills upgrade. • Labor market reforms: aim to improve productivity and boost competitiveness of the non-oil economy. • Legal frameworks: ensure predictability and protection; efforts should include enhancing minority investor protection and dispute resolution; implementing anti-bribery and integrity measures. • Business climate reforms: focus on further liberalizing foreign ownership regulations and strengthening corporate governance; and on further reducing non-tariff trade barriers by streamlining and automating border procedures and streamlining administrative processes for issuing permits."
Download or read book Nigeria written by International Monetary Fund. African Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-02-08 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selected Issues
Download or read book Macro Structural Obstacles to Firm Performance Evidence from 2 640 Firms in Nigeria written by Amr Hosny and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2020-05-22 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A recent World Bank enterprise survey identified access to finance as the top constraint to Doing Business in Nigeria. In this context, the objective of this paper is two-fold: (i) study firm characteristics associated with more access to finance and export diversification; and (ii) quantify the impact of these structural obstacles on firm performance. Results suggest that (i) larger and export-oriented firms are about 40 percentage points less likely to report access to finance as a business obstacle, while firms perceiving access to finance as a constraint are, on average, about 10-40 percentage points less likely to be export-oriented diversified firms; and (ii) better access to finance and export diversification can help firm employment —as much as 80 percent higher— and capacity utilization. Results are largely robust to different specifications and estimation methods.
Download or read book OECD Economic Surveys Colombia 2019 written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-12-21 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colombia has made good economic and social progress over the last two decades. Macroeconomic policies are solid and have sustained growth and smooth adjustments to shocks over the years. Maintaining and strengthening the policy framework is key to sustainable macroeconomic policies and setting the basis for higher productivity and inclusiveness. Putting Colombia on a path to stronger and more inclusive growth, and reducing dependence on natural resources, requires boosting productivity by adopting structural reforms in competition, regulations, trade policy, infrastructure, innovation, and skills.
Download or read book China Africa and an Economic Transformation written by Arkebe Oqubay and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume considers China-Africa relations in the context of a global division of labour and power, and through the history and experiences of both China and Africa. It examines the core ideas of structural transformation, productive investment and industrialization, international trade, infrastructure development, and financing.
Download or read book Gender Equality and Economic Development in Sub Saharan Africa written by Ms. Lisa L Kolovich and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-04-11 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Efforts to achieve gender equality will not only help sub-Saharan Africa revive its inclusive growth engine but also will ensure progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals and help address the main disruptive challenges of this century. This book explores the progress made in gender equality in the region, highlighting both the challenges and successes in areas such as legal reforms; education; health; gender-based violence; harmful practices, such as child marriage; and financial inclusion. It takes stock of initiatives towards integrating gender into core macroeconomic and structural reforms, such as through implementing gender budgeting and examines the role that fiscal and other policies can play in closing gender gaps when they are mindful of distributional impacts. Drawing from extensive research across different institutions, the book underscores the macroeconomic significance of gender equality, emphasizing its potential to drive GDP growth, enhance economic stability, reduce income inequality, and foster sustainable development. It lays out how gender gaps interact with emerging challenges, such as digitalization, and explores the impact of global megatrends, such as climate change, on gender inequality, offering strategies for inclusive policy responses—including in a context where women and girls are still carrying a disproportionate care burden that is often not captured in economic measurement. The book aims to serve as a roadmap for policymakers, stakeholders, and advocates seeking to harness the untapped potential of gender equality—for its own sake and for the region's inclusive, sustainable, and green development. It calls for concerted efforts to dismantle structural barriers, transform social norms, and prioritize gender-responsive policies to unlock the full economic potential of sub-Saharan Africa.
Download or read book A Time to Build Does TA Matter for Revenue Mobilization written by Mr.Ralph Chami and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-02-12 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We use a unique data set for 115 countries, from 2000–18, and 5-year non-overlapping averages to explore the impact of technical assitance on revenue mobilization. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first such effort to determine a direct relationship between technical assistance and the improvement in tax revenues. The paper finds that technical assistance significantly and positively increases tax revenues. Both income per capita and openness were found to positively improve the tax ratio in line with findings in the literature. Dynamic estimations also uncovered a long-run relationship among technical assistance, income per capita, openness, and tax revenues. This result further underscores that it takes time to build capacity and institutional resilience.
Download or read book The Heavy Economic Toll of Gender based Violence Evidence from Sub Saharan Africa written by Rasmane Ouedraogo and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-11-19 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns have led to a rise in gender-based violence. In this paper, we explore the economic consequences of violence against women in sub-Saharan Africa using large demographic and health survey data collected pre-pandemic. Relying on a two-stage least square method to address endogeneity, we find that an increase in the share of women subject to violence by 1 percentage point can reduce economic activities (as proxied by nightlights) by up to 8 percent. This economic cost results from a significant drop in female employment. Our results also show that violence against women is more detrimental to economic development in countries without protective laws against domestic violence, in natural resource rich countries, in countries where women are deprived of decision-making power and during economic downturns. Beyond the moral imperative, the findings highlight the importance of combating violence against women from an economic standpoint, particularly by reinforcing laws against domestic violence and strengthening women’s decision-making power.
