A long tradition sees the small firm sector as a holding pattern for workers queuing for jobs in the formal sector of a segmented labor market. An alternative"entrepreneurial"view suggests that many workers prefer self-employment to salaried jobs. These competing views can be resolved if the...

How tightly are trade negotiators held to winning a dollar of concession for each dollar of concession granted? The outcome of the Uruguay Round tariff negotiations suggests that such constraints were not tight. None of the delegations interviewed by the authors had tried to calculate for...

Should countries such as Poland or the USSR move toward more flexible prices gradually or in a"big bang?"Why is it that governments committed to eventual price flexibility so often seem to be unable to let go of"temporary"controls? Why, after price increases early in a program of price controls,...

The problem of financing health care in poor countries has become increasingly acute. In the context of health financing, hospitals are viewed with skepticism as facilities are not cost-effective in the provision of primary health care services. Given this view, it is increasingly thought that...

Kenya has long had a reputation of being politically risky, manifested in corruption, uncertainty about policies, and the importance of political connections in doing business. Kenya began its economic liberalization in 1993. Reform picked up speed after a tightening of aid by donors on...

The asset-based approach considers links between households'productive, social, and locational assets; the policy, institutional, and risk context; household behavior as expressed in livelihood strategies; and well-being outcomes. For sustainable poverty reducing growth, it is critical to...

How rich would resource-abundant countries be if they had actually followed the Hartwick Rule (invest resource rents in other assets) over the past 30 years? The authors use time series data on investments and rents onexhaustible resource extraction for 70 countries to answer this question. The...

HIV prevalence in Southern Africa is the highest in the world and the impact of HIV/AIDS in the region are devastating at all levels of society, including the wider economy. Government response has lagged behind the pace of the epidemic, but programs are now beginning to focus on a broad range...

Using global data for the period 1960-99, the authors estimate neighborhood arms races. They find that the level of military expenditure is strongly influenced by the expenditure of neighbors. The authors estimate an"arms race multiplier,"finding that an initial exogenous increase in military...

This paper examines the export performance of 99 countries over 1995-2004 to understand the relative roles of export growth through"discovery"of new products and growth during post-discovery phases of the export product cycle -- acceleration and maturation -- in existing markets and expansion...