"This paper surveys the recent literature which examines the impact of business climate variables on productivity and growth in developing countries using enterprise surveys. Comparable enterprise surveys today cover some 70,000 firms in over 100 countries around the world. The literature that...

"Preliminary evidence suggests that the rates of return to education in Venezuela have been declining since the 1970s. Patrinos and Sakellariou rigorously estimate the returns to education in Venezuela for the period 1992-2002 and link them to earlier available estimates from the 1980s. They use...

The objective of the Ugandan government is to make Uganda an upper - middle income country within thirty years. Economic diversification is a key component of that strategy. The country economic memorandum (CEM) report discusses how the emergence of oil and mineral production can contribute to...

Guinea-Bissau is highly dependent on international trade even when compared to other nations of its size and income level. However, it is equally clear that the country could derive far more benefit from its international trade opportunities than it does at the present time. This study examines...

The Lao economy is projected to grow at 8 percent in 2013. The hydropower sector (both completed projects in operation and projects in the construction or development phase), construction, food processing, and services sectors remain the major contributors to this growth. Overall inflation has...

Malaysia is emerging from one of the worst export slumps in its economic history as manufacturing and exports have started growing again. With East Asia leading the recovery and advanced economies showing progressive improvement, the Malaysian economy is projected to grow at 4.1 percent in 2010,...