The relationships between trade and growth have long been a subject of considerable controversy among economists. In the early post-World War II period, many economic leaders concluded that protective trade policies stimulated growth, and import substitution policies were widely adopted by...

This paper discusses the current state of fiscal relations between the federal, state and local governments in the United States and suggests directions for improvement. The significant degree of fiscal autonomy of the states and, to a lesser extent, of local governments has had several...

Urbanisation in China has long been held back by various restrictions on land and internal migration but has taken off since the 1990s, as these impediments started to be gradually relaxed. People have moved in large numbers to richer cities, where productivity is higher and has increased...

This paper discusses the current state of fiscal relations between the federal, state and local governments in the United States and suggests directions for improvement. The significant degree of fiscal autonomy of the states and, to a lesser extent, of local governments has had several...

Indonesia has come a long way in improving its tax system over the last decade, both in terms of revenues raised and administrative efficiency. Nonetheless, the tax take is still low, given the need for more spending on infrastructure and social protection. With the exception of the natural...

The recent crisis has revealed large differences in external competitiveness between euro area member countries. Since nominal exchange rate devaluation is not an option for members of a currency area, governments in troubled member countries have been considering so-called fiscal devaluation,...

The paper set out four types of market structure clusters (based on an OECD benchmark) to assess different entry barriers, both endogenous and policy-induced that may affect the ability of enterprises in emerging countries to penetrate international markets. This framework is then applied to...

With the gradual dismantling of tariffs and the growing integration of markets across countries, non-tariff and non-border barriers to international trade, investment and competition have become more visible, a greater source of trade tensions and costly with regard to the foregone global...

This paper provides new measures of restrictions on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) for OECD countries. Several different types of restrictions are considered: limitations on foreign ownership, screening or notification procedures, and management and operational restrictions. These...

This paper retraces the Communities external liberalisation efforts, and discusses, where relevant, the repercussions of internal liberalisation on foreign competitors. The aim of the paper is to clarify, and when feasible, to quantify the economic effects of the EU’s trade policies. To this...