The growth literature has had problems explaining the ""sub-Saharan African growth dummy"" in cross-country regressions. Instead of taking the usual approach of focusing on long-run growth and assuming that sub-Saharan countries have homogenous parameters in growth regressions, we concentrate...

The growth literature has had problems explaining the quot;sub-Saharan African growth dummyquot; in cross-country regressions. Instead of taking the usual approach of focusing on long-run growth and assuming that sub-Saharan countries have homogenous parameters in growth regressions, we...

The growth literature has had problems explaining the ""sub-Saharan African growth dummy"" in cross-country regressions. Instead of taking the usual approach of focusing on long-run growth and assuming that sub-Saharan countries have homogenous parameters in growth regressions, we concentrate...

The empirical study of the impact of trade liberalization has not convinced the skeptics about the economic gains after trade reforms. Some have even argued that trade reforms have led to economic collapse and to deindustrialization. Using a sample that excludes countries that were subject to...

This paper identifies factors that contribute to a fast recovery in growth after persistent negative terms of trade shocks, using a sample of 159 countries for 1970-2006. The results suggest that policies matter. Fast recoveries are fairly robustly related to real exchange rate depreciation and...

The rapid growth of Islamic banking has attracted much attention lately in the economic literature. At the same time, a mature body of the literature has shown that financial development is broadly conducive to economic growth, which raises the question as to whether a similar conclusion holds...

After reviewing the economic reform strategy of Mauritius for the past 10 years in the face of several external shocks, we apply a balance sheet analysis (BSA) focusing on currency, maturity, and intersectoral mismatches. In reviewing developments over this decade, we find that the currency and...

This study estimates the impact of corruption on the revenue-generating capacity of different tax categories in the Middle East. We find that the low revenue collection as a share of GDP there compared to other middle-income regions is due in part to corruption, and certain taxes are more...