In this paper, we examine whether, and if so how, an economy's deliberate policy choices of regional cooperation and integration influence underlying determinants of economic growth. Building on models of growth and innovation, we analyze the role of regional integration on labor productivity...

In developing economies, foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a crucial role by providing resources that facilitate participation in international trade and support economic development. Focusing on Viet Nam as a case study, this research aims to quantify the distributional effects of the...

This paper uses value-added models and panel data from a comprehensive set of highstakes secondary school exams to assess determinants of student performance during the coronavirus pandemic in Bhutan. Gender gaps, urban-rural gaps, and socioeconomic gaps do not appear to have widened...

We examine the relationship between oil price windfalls and labor market regulation empirically through panel regressions in a sample of 83 countries spanning 1970-2014. We find that oil price windfall gains lead to a deregulation of the labor market in autocracies but have no effects in...

While global value chains (GVCs) are considered an important development escalator, concerns over their environmental consequences have been increasing. By providing opportunities to shift production to developing economies, GVCs risk carbon leakage. Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have...

This paper investigates behavioral adaptation to local improvements in environmental quality. Using exogenous variation in village sanitation coverage generated by the randomized allocation of financial incentives to latrine construction in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, we find that the...

In this paper, we study the implications of climate change on fiscal sustainability and inequality. First, using rich panel data, we show that rising climate-related disaster risks increase government debt and harm fiscal sustainability. We also find that the adverse effect of disaster risks is...

This paper empirically investigates how the level of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending affects monetary policy transmission in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Using statedependent local projection methods, we find that the macroeconomic effects of unanticipated changes in monetary policy are...

We analyze the relationship between climate risk and fiscal space in a systematic and rigorous way. To do so, we use panel local projections to examine the role of political stability and financial development in the relationship. For a sample of 199 economies in 1990-2022, we first empirically...

We investigate the impact of marriage and childbirth on women's labor market participation in rural India. In the absence of panel data, we employ a novel approach using Life History Calendar data to analyze women's labor market trajectories from age 15 onward. Our event study models reveal that...