"External exposure can be measured by the sensitivity of first and second moments of economic growth to openness and foreign shocks. This paper provides an empirical evaluation of external exposure using panel data methods for a worldwide sample of countries. Controlling for domestic conditions,...

"Regulation is purportedly enacted to serve specific social purposes. In reality, however, it follows a more complex political economy process, where legitimate social goals are mixed with the objectives of particular interest groups. Whatever its justification and objectives, regulation can...

"Loayza and Rancire study the apparent contradiction between two strands of the literature on the effects of financial intermediation on economic activity. On the one hand, the empirical growth literature finds a positive effect of financial depth as measured by, for instance, private domestic...

Not surprisingly, extreme negative export price shocks reduce growth. But these adverse effects can be mitigated through offsetting increases in aid. Indeed, targeting aid to countries experiencing negative shocks appears to be even more important for aid effectiveness than targeting aid to...

The authors analyze sectoral growth in Ecuador using multivariate cointegration analysis. They find significant long-run relationships between the agricultural industrial and service sectors. Moreover, they are able to derive dynamic sector models that combine the short-run links between the...

Focusing mainly on industry has not been optimal policy in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Zimbabwe. For maximum economywide growth, it would have been better to balance policies to facilitate growth in all three sectors: agriculture, industry, and services