The experience of newly-industrialised countries suggests the need for an analysis in which the pattern of comparative advantage is not set in stone but is potentially flexible, and in which less developed countries can develop and converge in both...

After a review of the literature, this paper concludes that there is potential for significant “spillover effects” from FDI into host countries. However, it identifies some limitations of this potential to do with the stock of human capital, the...

For many countries rich in oil, gas and minerals, development remains an elusive goal. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor, inequality rises, economies stagnate, corruption flourishes and conflict deepens. The Extractive Industries Transparency...

Due to the substantial rise in the share of Emerging Markets (EM) in foreigncurrency debt markets during the nineties, country risk in EM has become an issue of increasing concern for both new bond issues and rescheduled non-performing loans....

This paper exploits the information available in the OECD Key Indicators of Informality based on Individuals and their Household (KIIBIH) to shed light on several elements that could help inform national strategies for the extension of social...

This paper studies the development of indigenous insurance institutions set up to help cover the high costs of funerals, using evidence from rural areas in Tanzania and Ethiopia. Many of these institutions tend to co-exist within the same community...

This paper discusses major policy issues related to commodity dependence and export diversification in low-income countries. Contrary to some widely-held view, it argues that natural resources are not necessarily a “curse” — that they do not condemn...

Most low-income countries export mainly unprocessed commodities. Yet, in their pursuit of structural transformation, they also seek a more diversified economic structure, including developing a strong manufacturing sector to create jobs and spur...

This paper presents an overview of the evolution of exchange-rate regimes in Africa and then attempts to assess empirically the impact of exchange-rate policy on manufactured export performance on a panel of major Sub-Saharan Africa countries over...

This paper synthesizes nine in-depth developing country (LDC) studies on the impact of trade upon wages. It is traditionally assumed that in LDCs trade liberalization lowers relative wage dispersion, while raising wage dispersion in DCs. Evidence...

Buoyant oil revenues in the 1970s provided Nigeria with the basis for large but unsustainable increases in incomes and public expenditure. Agriculture was neglected and the economy became heavily dependent on crude oil and more vulnerable to external...

Economic globalization is increasingly challenging traditional, closedeconomy intuition about linkages between demand, supply, and employment. In some parts of the world, substantial employment growth is arising from external demand while, in other...

In principle, the sovereign credit rating industry could help mitigate the congestion externalities common to world capital markets that arise from the failure of market participants to internalise the social cost of external borrowings. This would...

Between 1955 and 1985 world maize production almost doubled. With little new land available, future growth in world production must come from higher yields and, hence, from new technologies. This paper describes some of the emerging maize...

The purpose of this paper is to set out a conceptual framework for policies to promote the diffusion of microelectronics in the context of developing countries. The author bases her discussion on the experience of Venezuela, a medium-sized Latin...

This document presents an exploratory contribution to the understanding of the political economy of poverty alleviation. Usually, governmental decisions to apply macroeconomic measures that minimise the negative effects of adjustment on the poor, or...

This report evaluates the evidence on how migration may promote or hinder development in countries of origin, and explores possible win-win solutions for both sending and receiving countries. The analysis of recent OECD data of foreign-born nationals...

Using household data from 15 countries in Latin America and Africa, this paper explores linkages between informality and education-occupation matching. The paper applies a unified methodology to measuring education-occupation mismatches and...

This paper examines the link between economic globalisation, social protection expenditure, and within-country income inequality. We examine the relationship using income inequality data from both the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) and the...

Trade-policy reform is an essential feature of China’s economic transition to a market economy. On the one hand, the liberalisation and decentralisation of export activities has boosted exports. On the other hand, the reform of China’s import regime...