As per the balance of payments constraint hypothesis, in an open economy, achieving a high long-run rate of growth would require a country to reduce its balance of payments constraint through an improved export performance, and the production of import substitutes, which would lower the income...

Kosovo growth dynamics are encouraging but the level of economic activity is very low. Mass unemployment hints at macro-imbalances. Net transfers from migrants are pivotal for covering the huge trade balance deficit, as manufacturing exports are almost non-existent. Wages are low but increasing...

The European Commission has set a target date of 2025 for Western Balkan EU accession, while also outlining a broader new strategy which includes Brussels taking a more active role in solving political disputes in the region, and upgrading infrastructure as part of the Berlin Process. We welcome...

This paper deals with a classic development question: how can the process of economic development - transition from stagnation in a traditional technology to industrialization and prosperity with a modern technology - be accelerated? Lewis (1954) and Rostow (1956) argue that the pace of...

The movement of workers from the farm sector to a more productive nonfarm sector has failed to generate significant gains in labor productivity in recent decades in many developing countries. This paper offers a new perspective into the barriers to growth-enhancing structural transformation,...

Intersectoral linkages can act as shock propagation channels and shape the pattern of structural transformation. To our knowledge, no research has examined how subnational differences in intersectoral linkages impact such spillover effects. We hypothesize that regional differences in local...

The economic slowdown experienced in Colombia since 1980 is explained by the structural stagnation of the national economy and the escalation of violence associated with the expansion of drug trafficking. The available data do not reject this hypothesis. The article sustains that...

Countries enjoy the benefits of industrialization for economic growth after surpassing a certainthreshold of technological integration in manufacturing. Some available data do not reject thishypothesis. This feature of development is consistent with the observed gaps in long-run growthrates...

In this article we investigate the effect of product market regulation on the international diffusion of productivity shocks. The results indicate that regulations that restrict competition slow the process of adjustment through which best practice production techniques diffuse across borders...

Las sendas entrelazadas de la transformación industrial y la autonomía tecnológica han incidido en el crecimiento económico de Colombia. La leve aceleración económica del período 1925-1979 se relaciona con la industrialización nacional. Y la desaceleración económica a partir de 1980,...