This paper explores the causes of India's productivity surge around 1980, more than a decade before serious economic reforms were initiated. Trade liberalization, expansionary demand, a favorable external environment, and improved agricultural performance did not play a role. We find evidence...

The stylized fact that there is no correlation between long-run economic growth and financial globalization has spawned a recent literature that purports to provide newer evidence and arguments in favor of financial globalization. We review this literature and find it unconvincing. The...

The popular impression that Africa has not integrated into world trade, as suggested by the evolution in simple indicators, has been called into question recently by more formal analysis. This paper refines and generalizes this analysis and lends support to the popular view of disintegration,...

A dozen countries had weak institutions in 1960 and yet sustained high rates of growth subsequently. This paper uses data on their characteristics early in the growth process to create benchmarks with which to evaluate potential constraints on sustained growth for sub-Saharan Africa. This...

This paper examines the empirical relationship between trade and total factor productivity (TFP) in South Africa. Using data on actual trade protection across different manufacturing sectors, it is shown that trade liberalization had a positive impact on TFP growth during the 1990s. In addition,...

Recognizing that inflation and the macroeconomic policies that affect it can emanate from distributional conflicts in society, we examine the deep determinants of several nominal pathologies and related policy variables from a distributional perspective. We develop new instruments and use...

The popular impression that Africa has not integrated into world trade, as suggested by the evolution in simple indicators, has been called into question recently by more formal analysis. This paper refines and generalizes this analysis and lends support to the popular view of disintegration,...

Globalization can be characterized as the rapid increase in international trade spurred by advances in technology that have decreased the cost of trade. As costs have declined, so too, it would seem, should the estimated distance coefficient in the gravity model of bilateral trade. But a...

This paper examines the empirical relationship between trade and total factor productivity (TFP) in South Africa. Using data on actual trade protection across different manufacturing sectors, it is shown that trade liberalization had a positive impact on TFP growth during the 1990s. In addition,...