This note introduces an evolutionary approach to economic and governance reform. It lays out two especially prevalent trajectories that differ starkly from one another in how they prioritize and sequence economic growth, state building, and the development of civil society and political...

Can service be a growth escalator? The world is experiencing its third industrial revolution, and services are at the forefront of this revolution. Services have already surpassed industry as a source of economic growth and job creation, in both developed and developing economies. In the...

Reduction of large and persistent external imbalances is currently a key focus of G-20 discussions. The paper argues that in a progressively multipolar world economy, the goals of global rebalancing, growth, and development are increasingly inter-linked. Growth-oriented rebalancing calls for...

In recent decades, as integration of global trade and investment has accelerated, many countries—both developing and developed—have experienced widening disparities of output and income across regions within their borders. The emergence of entrenched “leading” and “lagging” regions...

The recovery in advanced economies is now exhibiting several signs of fragility and the medium-term growth prospects for these economies also look difficult. Could developing economies “switch over” to become locomotives in the global economy, providing a countervailing force against...

Africa’s precrisis growth and poverty reduction was the result of increased external resources, a buoyant global economy and—crucially—improved economic policies. Although it is still the world’s poorest region, the prospects for resuming growth are good. Additional resources and further...

Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is an example of successful diversification within the oil and gas sector and the country is now a global player in the energy industry. Diversifying its asset base so that the nonresource sector can continue to grow and generate jobs once the country’s oil reserves...

Sustained growth in emerging markets and developing economies requires long-term, reliable capital to finance productive investment, including in basic infrastructure. However, the availability and composition of long-term financing is constrained, partly due to fragile market conditions and...

What role does public policy play in helping countries accelerate the industrialization process? This note aims to answer this question by applying a framework to analyze the process of transitioning from imitation to innovation. Based on a dynamic model of growth, simulations suggest that...

As a low-middle-income country with a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$1,715 and a population of 30 million (nearly half of all of the Central Asian population), Uzbekistan has seen stable economic progress since the mid-2000s, both in terms of growth and poverty reduction. Growth...