Main description: In light of the increasing global competition among both multinational companies and national economies, Barbara Samuels examines a source of economic tension that has broad social implications: as multinational companies (MNCs) strive for cheaper labor and new markets,...

In this paper, we study the impact of government's budget constraint on the optimal industrial policy in industries with increasing returns to scale. We show that privatization is preferred to regulation for intermediate values of the shadow cost of public funds (i.e., the Lagrange multiplier of...

The debate on trade and growth increasingly focuses on the composition of exports. Exports of more “sophisticated” products appear to be positively correlated with growth, and upgrading the quality of exports is high on the policy agenda of many countries. This study presents evidence...