A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.

As countries large and small, rich and poor are drawn inexorably into the global economy, protectionist policies are proving increasingly inefficient and ineffective for driving growth. The countries of Latin America, which have long pursued agendas of state ownership and heavy regulation of key industries, began to institute a series of reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, designed to promote competition and business creation. However, without the legal and institutional framework to support these policies (and thus guarantee resource-efficient behavior on the part of business owners), the record has been spotty at best. Competition Policies in Emerging Economies features in-depth analysis of two key industries—telecommunications and banking—in several Central American nations to shed light on the dynamics of the transition to deregulation and trade liberalization, and learn from the experiences of these economies. This book has a three-fold purpose: (1) to examine the competition conditions and policies of small developing countries of Central America (and hence cover an area where very little information exists); (2) develop an in-depth analysis of regulation and competition policies in two key industrial sectors with poor competition records (telecommunications and banking); (3) link the former results analysis with other international experiences, in order to derive research and policy recommendations that can be applied to other small, developing, and emerging economies. Featuring discussion of political, legal, economic, financial, cultural, and organization-level issues, the book provides unique perspectives on the forces resisting competitive practices and offers suggestions for overcoming them.

This book explores the relationship between economic adaptation and long-run development, with particluar emphasis on small, low- income economies. It also examines what makes for flexibility within an economy and how policy can affect an economy's ability to adapt to conditions over which it has no control. The premise is that all economies need to adapt to changing circumstances in order to achieve a reasonable pace of development. The author explains the forces to which economies need to respond, the attributes that increase an economy's capacity to adjust, the difficulties of adjustment, and what policy can do to facilitate adjustment. The author illustrates structure and flexibility within an economy and offers a guide to forming policy. Specific policy options are examined, among them using exchange rate fluctuations. The roles of government and markets in setting adjustment policies for industry, agriculture, and finance are explored. The study draws upon a wide range of material and avoids a narrowly economic point of view. The book is intended for use by economists working for or advising government agencies and for teachers and students of development economics. It includes an extensive reference list.

Consideration on the use of fiscal and monetary policies in less developed countries to overcome the three sets of obstacles to development largely because of socio-political constraints. The three major obstacles to development are: inadequate investment; misallocation of investment resources; and internal and external imbalance i.e. inflation and balance of payments deficits.

... contributing scholars consider the impact that government regulations, policies and other forces--including innovation, tax reform, employee disincentives, academic partnerships, the costs of complying with government stipulations--have actually had on small business growth. Based on an examination of policy efforts in the late 1980s, the book attempts to reveal the changing emphasis in the nature of the debate regarding small business in today's economy. Entrepreneurial Economy Review Small Business in a Regulated Economy is the first comprehensive exploration of the impact that government regulations, policies, and other forces have on the formation and growth of small business in the United States. A collection of original essays by distinguished scholars, the book makes an important contribution to business literature by raising fundamental issues related to small business operating in a regulatory economy, identifying the implications of public policies which inhibit or encourage small business growth and development, and defining the nature and character of the policy area. In addition to thoroughly examining the role that government has played in small business regulation, the contributors also make suggestions and recommendations concerning the role government should play in the future to spur small business growth and success.

This is the first comprehensive study in the context of EMDEs that covers, in one consistent framework, the evolution and global and domestic drivers of inflation, the role of expectations, exchange rate pass-through and policy implications. In addition, the report analyzes inflation and monetary policy related challenges in LICs. The report documents three major findings: In First, EMDE disinflation over the past four decades was to a significant degree a result of favorable external developments, pointing to the risk of rising EMDE inflation if global inflation were to increase. In particular, the decline in EMDE inflation has been supported by broad-based global disinflation amid rapid international trade and financial integration and the disruption caused by the global financial crisis. While domestic factors continue to be the main drivers of short-term movements in EMDE inflation, the role of global factors has risen by one-half between the 1970s and the 2000s. On average, global shocks, especially oil price swings and global demand shocks have accounted for more than one-quarter of domestic inflation variatio--and more in countries with stronger global linkages and greater reliance on commodity imports. In LICs, global food and energy price shocks accounted for another 12 percent of core inflation variatio--half more than in advanced economies and one-fifth more than in non-LIC EMDEs. Second, inflation expectations continue to be less well-anchored in EMDEs than in advanced economies, although a move to inflation targeting and better fiscal frameworks has helped strengthen monetary policy credibility. Lower monetary policy credibility and exchange rate flexibility have also been associated with higher pass-through of exchange rate shocks into domestic inflation in the event of global shocks, which have accounted for half of EMDE exchange rate variation. Third, in part because of poorly anchored inflation expectations, the transmission of global commodity price shocks to domestic LIC inflation (combined with unintended consequences of other government policies) can have material implications for poverty: the global food price spikes in 2010-11 tipped roughly 8 million people into poverty.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck the global economy after a decade that featured a broad-based slowdown in productivity growth. Global Productivity: Trends, Drivers, and Policies presents the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution and drivers of productivity growth, examines the effects of COVID-19 on productivity, and discusses a wide range of policies needed to rekindle productivity growth. The book also provides a far-reaching data set of multiple measures of productivity for up to 164 advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies, and it introduces a new sectoral database of productivity. The World Bank has created an extraordinary book on productivity, covering a large group of countries and using a wide variety of data sources. There is an emphasis on emerging and developing economies, whereas the prior literature has concentrated on developed economies. The book seeks to understand growth patterns and quantify the role of (among other things) the reallocation of factors, technological change, and the impact of natural disasters, including the COVID-19 pandemic. This book is must-reading for specialists in emerging economies but also provides deep insights for anyone interested in economic growth and productivity. Martin Neil Baily Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution Former Chair, U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers This is an important book at a critical time. As the book notes, global productivity growth had already been slowing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and collapses with the pandemic. If we want an effective recovery, we have to understand what was driving these long-run trends. The book presents a novel global approach to examining the levels, growth rates, and drivers of productivity growth. For anyone wanting to understand or influence productivity growth, this is an essential read. Nicholas Bloom William D. Eberle Professor of Economics, Stanford University The COVID-19 pandemic hit a global economy that was already struggling with an adverse pre-existing condition—slow productivity growth. This extraordinarily valuable and timely book brings considerable new evidence that shows the broad-based, long-standing nature of the slowdown. It is comprehensive, with an exceptional focus on emerging market and developing economies. Importantly, it shows how severe disasters (of which COVID-19 is just the latest) typically harm productivity. There are no silver bullets, but the book suggests sensible strategies to improve growth prospects. John Fernald Schroders Chaired Professor of European Competitiveness and Reform and Professor of Economics, INSEAD