The COVID-19 pandemic is entailing huge costs worldwide. To help developing countries formulate policy responses to minimize negative impacts of the COVID-19, possible size and duration of the shocks on most vulnerable countries, i.e., least developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing...

Studies of the volatility of the U.S. economy suggest a noticeable change in mid 1980s. There is some empirical evidence that the aggregate volatility of the U.S. economy has been decreasing over time. The response of firms to the change of economic volatility and economic fluctuation has been...

Measures of job creation and destruction are now produced regularly by the U.S. statistical agencies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases via the Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on a quarterly basis measures of job creation and destruction for the U.S. nonfarm business sector and related...

Studies of the volatility of the U.S. economy suggest a noticeable change in mid 1980s. There is some empirical evidence that the aggregate volatility of the U.S. economy has been decreasing over time. The response of firms to the change of economic volatility and economic fluctuation has been...

This paper reviews conflict as one of potential factors that could be incorporated in the identification of least developed countries (LDCs). It is not clear whether conflict can be considered as a structurally predetermined handicap as those identified in LDC criteria. More importantly, even if...

We study the impact of growth fluctuation on education and health indicators in Jamaica. Using household surveys between 1989 and 2007, we study the impact by using pseudo-panel regressions at the parish level, instrumenting growth fluctuations with variations in major Jamaican export...

In order to better understand the potential impact of the current global economic crisis on human development, we explore how human development indicators have been affected in past economic shocks. The literature on the human development impacts of short-term economic fluctuations suggest some...

The progress made for enabling LDCs to move toward graduation has not been successful enough. Fourteen countries have been able to meet the criteria for graduation during 2011-2020, only half way to meet the target specified in the IPoA: a half of LDCs meeting the graduation criteria by 2020....