This essay reviews what economists have learned about the impact of labor market institutions, defined broadly as government regulations and union activity on labor outcomes in developing countries. It finds that: 1) Labor institutions vary greatly among developing countries but less than they...

This paper deals with the relation between commercial policy and "the" equilibrium real exchange rate. The paper clarifies the meaning of real exchange rate by comparing five different definitions that are currently found in the literature, The analysis focuses on the effects of an economic...

Writings on the macroeconomic impact of capital account liberalization find few, if any, robust effects of liberalization on real variables. In contrast to the prevailing wisdom, I argue that the textbook theory of liberalization holds up quite well to a critical reading of this literature. The...

Despite several theoretical contributions and considerable informal empirical evidence" to the contrary, a notion that trade and investment are substitutes persists in trade policy" analysis. This paper considers the liberalization of commodity trade versus liberalization" allowing direct...

Access to microcredit has been shown to generate only modest average benefits for recipient households. We study whether other financial market frictions--in particular, lack of access to a safe place to save--might limit credit's benefits. Working with Kenyan farmers, we cross-randomize access...

This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis of alternative investment vehicles in private equity, using unexplored custodial data about 112 limited partners over four decades. We differentiate between alternative vehicles that are GP-directed versus those where the LP has some discretion. Of...