Do political connections affect firm dynamics, innovation, and creative destruction? We study Italian firms and their workers to answer this question. Our analysis uses a brand-new dataset, spanning the period from 1993 to 2014, where we merge: (i) firm-level balance sheet data; (ii) social...

The staff report for the 2008 Article IV Consultation of the Syrian Arab Republic on economic developments and policies is discussed. The impact of adverse global and regional developments currently under way on the Syrian economy is expected to be relatively moderate in the short term. The...

The economic recovery since 2004 has been accompanied by a steady rise in inflation. Several factors have contributed, including an expansionary monetary stance (with credit to the private sector growing by some 45 percent). Although pleased with the recent improvement of the economy, the...

The Syrian Arab Republic’s 2005 Article IV Consultation reports that progress had been made on structural reforms, including a simplification of the exchange rate system, and the adoption of a new income tax law. Rising international oil prices starting in mid-1999 helped maintain financial...