This paper empirically studies how a fixed exchange rate regime (FERR) may promote economic growth by undermining the Balassa-Samuelson effect. When total factor productivity (TFP) is faster in the industrial sector than in the non-tradable sectors, an FERR can suppress the Balassa-Samuelson...

"Can't get ahead for falling behind." The entrapment and powerlessness this phrase evokes applies as much to development policy caught in a vicious circle of vulnerability, crisis and reactive aid as it does to the lives of the very people aid policies are designed to benefit. We consider these...

Progressively targeted cash transfers remain the dominant policy response to chronic poverty in developing countries. But are there alternative social protection policies that might have larger poverty impacts over time for the same public expenditure? To explore this question, this paper...