Recent empirical research has focused on the role of institutions in overall economic performance. This paper examines the impact of institutions on the relative performance of the service sector. Through cross-country level and growth regressions it establishes the following stylized fact:...

The choice between temporary and permanent migration is today central to the design of migration policies. The authors draw a distinction between the two types of migration on the basis of the associated social cost and the dynamics of learning by migrants. They find that unilateral migration...

The paper analyzes migration from Zambia in order to understand how migration policy can support development in the least developed countries. Overall emigration from Zambia is not high by regional standards, but the pattern of migration is skewed toward the skilled and away from the unskilled....

The authors analyze recent efforts at international cooperation to limit illegal migration, particularly through the use of legal migration avenues like guest worker schemes. They show that while guest worker schemes may be desirable as an avenue of international migration, they are an...

This paper analyzes the relationship between the number of documents required to export and import and the time it takes to complete all procedures to trade. It shows that an increase in the number of documents required for export and import tends to increase the time cost of shipments. However,...

Repeated attempts at uncovering the relevance of country size for various economic factors have produced discouraging results. The present paper sheds new light on the relevance of country size using micro or firm-level data on firms' experience with the quality of tax administration, an...

For a representative sample of manufacturing firms in 26 countries, the article shows that changes in the cost of importing over time is significantly and negatively correlated with changes in the percentage of firm’s material inputs that are of foreign origin. Furthermore, we show that there...

This study explores the relationship between mandating a nondiscrimination clause in hiring practices along gender lines and the employment of women versus men in fifty-eight developing countries. Using data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys (2006–10), the study finds a strong positive...

The authors use a sample of 147 countries to investigate the link between democracy and reforms. Democracy may be conducive to reforms, because politicians have the incentive to embrace growth-enhancing reforms to win elections. By contrast, authoritarian regimes do not have to worry as much...

It is argued that compared with large countries, small countries rely more on trade and therefore they are more likely to adopt liberal trading policies. The present paper extends this idea beyond the conventional trade openness measures by analyzing the relationship between country size and the...