The authors investigate the optimal boundary between the public and private production sectors. They use a model in which government and private production coexist -in which a range of production activities can be carried out by either the government or the private sector. In effect, the...

Tariffs on imports protect domestic producers and raise public revenue. The World Development Report 1987 finds that effective rates of protection to manufacturing in developing countries typically exceed 40 percent; while the World Development Report 1988 estimates that the importance of import...

In a closed economy, a commodity tax drives a wedge between the producer price and the consumer price. In open economies, intercountry differences in commodity taxation can induce two additional distortions: (1) Cross-country differences in consumer marginal rates of substitution (which result...

Multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, have advocated free trade policies for developing countries, including free trade in commodities. But although free trade in commodities maximizes world welfare, it does not maximize income or welfare for countries with power on the world...

Using data collected during several missions, the author finds that the principal reasons for low revenue mobilization are (1) the adverse fiscal impact of trade liberalization, (2) the defiscalization of agriculture in the 1970s, (3) the collapse of the uranium boom in the 1980s, and (4) the...

This report proposes an action plan for the rationalization of tax structures for Central America. To harmonize tax policies among Central American nations, the report recommends the following: (a) continuing trade liberalization, by reducing thelevel and dispersion of effective trade...

The authors use data on 27,000 firms from 50 countries, half of which are transition economies, together with the case of Serbia to examine the relationship between productivity, the investment climate, and private ownership of firms. As government capacity to address investment climate...

There is a close, if imperfect, relationship between the effectiveness of an economy's capital markets and its level (or rate of growth) of real development. This may be because financial markets provide liquidity, promote the sharing of information, or permit agents to specialize. There is...

Greater trade integration has often been viewed as requiring greater standardization in institutions, without which the benefits of trade do not materialize. There are many current debates concerning the degree and area of standardization needed and these debates are likely to continue for the...

This study reviews trends in the process of India's integration into the world economy in the context of the experience of developing countries as a whole, and evaluates the main factors which may hamper the pace at which integration occurs in the future. Based on a consideration of prospects...