We examine the average causal impact of catastrophic natural disasters on economic growth by combining information from comparative case studies. For each country affected by a large disaster, we compute the counterfactual by constructing synthetic controls. We find that only extremely large...

This paper discusses links between policy settings, institutions and economic growth in OECD countries on the basis of cross-country time-series regressions. The econometric approach allows short-term adjustments and convergence speeds to vary across countries, imposing restrictions only on the...

This paper investigates the effect of product market regulations on the international diffusion of productivity shocks. The empirical results indicate that restrictive product market regulations slow the process of adjustment through which best practice production techniques diffuse across...

This paper provides a summary of an OECD workshop on the causes of economic growth, held 6-7 July 2000. The topics covered include the recent growth resurgence in the United States, the potential importance of ICT and the Internet, and the part played by continual reallocation and restructuring....

This paper develops an analytical framework to identify the policies relevant for firm exit and the channels through which they shape aggregate productivity growth. A range of potentially relevant policies are identified, spanning insolvency regimes, regulations affecting product, labour and...

This paper explores the extent to which “zombie” firms – defined as old firms that have persistent problems meeting their interest payments – are stifling labour productivity performance. The results show that the prevalence of and resources sunk in zombie firms have risen since the...

This paper explores cross-country differences in the design of insolvency regimes and their potential links with two inter-related sources of labour productivity weakness: the survival of “zombie” firms (firms that would typically exit in a competitive market) and capital misallocation. New...

This paper explores cross-country differences in the design of insolvency regimes, based on quantitative indicators constructed from countries’ responses to a recent OECD policy questionnaire. The indicators – which are available for 36 countries for 2010 and 2016 – aim to better capture...

Policies that spur more efficient corporate restructuring can revive productivity growth by targeting three inter-related sources of labour productivity weakness: the survival of “zombie” firms (low productivity firms that would typically exit in a competitive market), capital misallocation...

This paper explores the link between the design of insolvency regimes across countries and laggard firms’ multi-factor productivity (MFP) growth, using new OECD indicators of the design of insolvency regimes. Firm-level analysis shows that reforms to insolvency regimes that lower barriers to...