Economists are trained to think about trade policy reform in terms of changes in the levels of tariffs and quantitative restrictions and the shifts in relative prices brought about by these alterations.

The Uruguayan economy is recovering from the 2002 financial crisis that disrupted its banking system, caused a collapse of its currency and seriously affected its fiscal solvency. The crisis was clearly associated with the collapse of the Argentine economy and its concomitant currency, banking...

The global financial crisis has demonstrated that a financially open economy has many areas of vulnerability. Even when a country keeps its own house in order, it remains at the mercy of developments in external financial markets. So, one lesson to bear in mind is that policymakers need to guard...

Expanding access to financial services holds the promise to help reduce poverty and spur economic development. But, as a practical matter, commercial banks have faced challenges expanding access to poor and low-income households in developing economies, and nonprofits have had limited reach. We...

The global financial crisis serves as a reminder of the risks of financial globalization. After grappling with surges of capital inflows earlier in this decade, many emerging market and developing economies experienced a sharp reversal of those inflows in late 2008 as a result of the crisis....

In this chapter, we discuss whether or not governance is an important source of variation in development experiences. We draw four main conclusions. First, governance is best thought of a subset of institutions and as such emphasis on governance is consistent with much recent academic work....

This chapter reviews what economists have learned about the impact of labor market institutions, defined broadly as government regulations and union activity on labor outcomes in developing countries. It finds that:(1)Labor institutions vary greatly among developing countries but less than they...

From the point of view of economic development, education is the acquisition of knowledge and skills through experiences from conception onwards over the life cycle that increase productivity broadly defined. Education can occur through, but is not limited to, formal educational activities such...

The program evaluation literature for population and health policies is in flux, with many disciplines documenting biological and behavioral linkages from fetal development to late life mortality, chronic disease, and disability, though their implications for policy remain uncertain. Both macro-...