This study measures the impact of investment climate factors on total factor productivity (TFP) of firms in Brazil and China. The analysis is conducted in two steps: first an econometric production function is estimated to produce a measure of TFP at the firm level. In the second step, variation...

This paper analyzes the evolution of poverty in Latin America. In 1998, about a third of the population was poor, and one sixth extreme poor. This represents 179 million poor people, of which 89 million lived in extreme poverty. The share of the populatio

Using STAR models, we investigate the nonlinear dynamic properties and the interdependence of CO2 emissions and economic growth for Korea. The estimation results indicate that the growth rate of both CO2 emissions and industrial production exhibit a significant nonlinear asymmetric dynamics....

This paper studies the effect of institutions on trade flows, using a gravity modelapproach. We start from a standard gravity equation that incorporates geographical proximity,language, trade policy and common history. These factors reflect the costs of trade acrossgeographical and cultural...

This paper studies the effect of institutions on trade flows, using a gravity model approach. Standard gravity equations incorporate factors such as geographical proximity, language, trade policy and common history as explanatory factors for variation in bilateral trade that reflect the costs of...

This paper examines opportunities for Sub-Saharan African countries to effectively participate in globalization, particularly given the increasing interest of China and India in Sub-Saharan Africa. How can Sub-Saharan Africa fully engage and gain benefits from global network trade? Over the past...

In developing and industrial countries alike, there is concern that health and safety policy may respond to irrational fears - to the"disaster of the month"- rather than address more fundamental problems. In the United States, for example, some policymakers say the public worries about trivial...