This paper establishes a simple theory-based real exchange rate (RER) Misalignment Index for countries around the world from 1950-2014, and shows that South Africa's RER has been undervalued over the last decade. For the most recent year of 2014, depending on the proxy for productivity, it is...

This paper documents the existence of a "middle-income trap" for the Middle East and North Africa region. It argues that the economic woes of the Middle East and North Africa offer new insights into the debate on the trap which has thus far focused on the East Asia and Pacific region. The...

The reallocation of resources from low- to high-productivity firms can generate large aggregate productivity gains. The paper uses data from the Malaysian manufacturing census to measure the country's hypothetical productivity gains when moving toward the level of within-sector allocative...