A well developed financial system enhances competition in the industrial sector by allowing easier entry. The impact varies across industries, however. For some, small changes in financial development quickly induce entry and dissipate incumbents'rents, generating strong incentives to oppose...

Gabon is currently one of the richest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, having a GDP per capita of close to $4,000, and is characterized by a stable political climate and rich forestry and mineral resources, aswell as a small population. Oil is the key economic sector, accounting for half of GDP...

World Bank economists routinely undertake projections of national accounts and balance of payments for their countries. These appear as part of the Bank's Country Strategy Papers. This note examines projections done during the 1983 - 85 period, and compares the projected levels of GDP, imports,...

Many policy makers are concerned about dependence on resource exports. This paper examines four changes that reduce this dependence: (i) accumulation of capital and skills; (ii) changes in protection policy, particularly reductions in the burden of protection on exporters; (iii) differential...

This paper provides a critical review of the existing empirical literature that deals with the relationship between trade orientation and economic performance. Using a model that avoids the shortcomings of most current measures of trade orientation, the author finds strong support for the...

Policy formulation in most countries is complicated by the role of the external economic environment, especially during periods of great external shocks. The authors examine how individual countries were affected by, and responded to, external shocks. They apply an enhanced version of an earlier...

Developing countries became full-fledged participants in multilateral trade negotiations only with the Uruguay Round, during which they succeeded in bringing agriculture into the GATT/WTO, reaching agreement on phasing out the Multi-Fibre Arrangement within ten years, and beginning work on...

Trade does not stimulate growth in economies with excessive business and labor regulations. The authors examine the effect of openness on growth using cross-country regressions in both levels and changes. Results from the levels regressions imply that increased openness is associated with a...

Trade, aid, and investment are more inextricably linked in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world, contends the author, whose survey of sub-Saharan Africa's prospects for trade, aid, and investment lead to the following broad conclusions. Developing an outward orientation, improving...

The author investigates the links between trade policy and economic growth using data from a panel of 57 countries from 1970-89. This is the first attempt to empirically evaluate, in a cross-country context, the respective roles of various theories of dynamic gains from trade in explaining the...