This paper provides a review of the available literature on global value chains (GVCs) and employment markets in developing countries. Due to the difficulty of observing intra-GVC transactions, there is very little direct empirical work on GVCs and labour markets. However, it is possible to...

This paper uses a novel dataset on US food import refusals to show that reputation is an important factor in the enforcement of sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures. The strongest reputation effect comes from a country’s own history of compliance in relation to a particular product. The...

Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from trade facilitation—measures to reduce the overall costs of the international movement of goods. From an equity perspective an important question is how those benefits are distributed across and within...

This paper uses firm-level data from 119 developing countries to show that services sector productivity is positively associated with manufacturing productivity. Moreover, the link between productivity in services and manufacturing is particularly strong for manufacturing firms that are more...

This paper uses data on 11 industries in 85 developing countries to show that trade times matter for import and export performance at the firm-level. Firms import more intermediate inputs if import licensing times are shorter. They export more of their production if border clearance times are...

This paper paints the first empirical portrait of services firms in the developing world. Compared with manufacturers, service providers are smaller, but growing faster. They are more productive, pay higher wages, and invest more heavily than manufacturers, but are less likely to export or to...

This paper generalizes recent work for India which shows that the use of imported intermediates is associated with the creation of new product varieties by domestic firms. It uses firm-level data for 17 developing countries and 13 sectors to show that firms that source their inputs...

Extensive research has demonstrated the existence of large potential welfare gains from trade facilitation—measures to reduce the overall costs of the international movement of goods. From an equity perspective an important question is how those benefits are distributed across and within...

This paper uses a novel dataset on US food import refusals to show that reputation is an important factor in the enforcement of sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SPS) measures. The strongest reputation effect comes from a country’s own history of compliance in relation to a particular product. The...