The note questions whether economic analyses, and country experiences allow generalizations, such as those from supporters of labor unions, who see these as a collective voice which enhance productivity...
The note addresses the immediate gains of trade liberalization to workers' welfare, allowing cheaper imports, and enabling most workers to become more productive, as their products increase in value. One...
The note questions whether the twenty first century will be able to usher in, an era of converging incomes; the stakes are high, but the risks of progress may leave some out, namely from as much as the...
The note focuses on the results of transition, particularly from failed development strategies, and, regardless of whether benefits will occur in the long run. It is the poor, and workers who are especially...
Pushing responsibility, and taxing power down to regional governments, and municipalities, can increase efficiency, and accountability. But to achieve these gains, the necessary social, and institutional...
Investments in infrastructure can return major benefits - increasing growth, and decreasing poverty. But only when they work, and many don't - wasting time, and money, dashing hopes, fueling cynicism...
Government of all types conclude that improvident citizens leave them no choice - they must get involved in pension schemes. That leads to debate over what sort of plan is best. The answer is that no single...
The note examines gender issues, as a term indispensable in discussions of economic development, and, explores research focused on the causes, and cures of gender bias. It identifies the approach that...
If private companies in developing countries, cannot get a reliable supply of power, water, telephone service, or transport, they will provide it themselves. In Nigeria, an inefficient public monopoly...
The note reviews the different, and sometimes conflicting, answers to the question of what works to stimulate exports. It reveals that some researchers have concluded that the effect of changes in markets...
As developing countries increasingly become part of the global economy, they benefit not just themselves, but also industrial countries, and these gains to industrial countries from reverse linkages, are...
The worldwide liberalization of agricultural trade, intended by last year's Uruguay Round agreement, may not be as great as expected. The aim of the Uruguay Round - to reverse protectionism, and remove...
The note reviews the banana world trade, specifying the European Union (EU) consumes almost forty percent of the bananas in the world market; interestingly, Latin America, as the most efficient, lowest-cost...
The note addresses the impending needs of indigenous populations in Latin America, where even small improvements in their education would yield large gains in relative wealth. Inequities remain, with the...
The note spells out the fact that public accountability is eroding in developing countries, and, addresses the seemingly, lack of alternatives to accepting the poor, and declining effectiveness. It explores...
The note focuses on privatization, as one of the bright spots on the, generally bleak, Russian economic landscape. Reformers have been able to implement a "corporatization" program; persuade "insider"...
Many of the leading causes of death, and disability among women in developing countries, can be prevented or treated through highly cost-effective interventions, and special attention is warranted to reaching...
Estimates of air pollution abatement costs based on comprehensive U.S. census data, provide a practical basis for decisions by developing countries, on which industries to target, and which emissions charges...
Evidence from Africa - especially Ethiopia and Uganda - sheds light on why, when a civil war ends, it takes time to claim a peace dividend. The note suggests there is rarely a substantial peace dividend...
As the resources of fewer workers are stretched to support a larger old population, pay-as-you-go schemes will inevitably yield rapidly diminishing payoffs to future generations, unless productivity rises...