Despite fiscal and administrative reforms pursued by the Government of Madagascar since the mid 1980s, to prod economic and financial liberalization, contributing to steady GDP growth rates, manufacturing production however, still represents a relatively small share of value added. And, the...

As a result of the extensive security restrictions, growth in the West Bank and Gaza in the past has become dependent on aid contributions through the Palestinian Authority (PA). However, sustainable and inclusive growth requires a strong private sector capable of absorbing a growing labor...

Bastos and Nasir explore the links between the investment climate and firm-level productivity and attempt to identify which dimensions of the investment climate matter most for productivity. Their analysis is based on data collected in a recent investment climate survey of garment and food...

The authors explore the links between the investment climate and firm-level productivity and attempt to identify which dimensions of the investment climate matter most for productivity. Their analysis is based on data collected in a recent investment climate survey of garment and food processing...

This paper explores the evolution of OECD imports over time, measuring their concentration across origin countries at the product level. The authors find evidence of diversification followed, in the very last years of the sample period (post-2000), by a slight re-concentration. This...

Using a novel dataset with transactions level exports data from four African countries (Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper uncovers evidence of a high degree of experimentation at the extensive margin associated with low survival rates, consistent with high and middle income country...

The focus of trade policy has shifted in recent years from economy-wide reductions in tariffs and trade restrictions toward targeted interventions to facilitate trade and promote exports. Most of these latter interventions are based on the new mantra of "aid-for-trade" rather than on hard...

This paper evaluates the effects of the FAMEX export promotion program in Tunisia on the performance of beneficiary firms. While much of the literature assesses only the short-term impact of such programs, the paper considers also the longer-term impact. Propensity-score matching,...