When India became independent in 1947 after two centuries of colonial rule, it immediately adopted a firmly democratic political system, with multiple parties, freedom of speech, and extensive political rights. Maintaining rapid as well as environmentally sustainable growth remains an important...

In this paper, we analyze the joint effect of persistency in innovation and export on firms' total factor productivity (measured in accordance with Levinsohn and Petrin, 2003). For this purpose, we use data on Italian manufacturing firms covering an eight-year time span (1998-2006) which allow...

This paper focuses on concerns over wages, jobs, and future prospects are real and pressing for those who are not well equipped to thrive in this new world. History clearly tells us that closing borders or increasing protectionism is not the way to go. Many countries have tried this route, and...

The Global Financial Crisis has been a watershed event not only for many advanced economies but also emerging markets around the world. This book brings together research and policy work over the last nine years from staff at the IMF. It covers a wide range of issues such as the origins of the...

A survey of the complex and intertwined set of forces behind the various commodity markets and the interplay between these markets and the global economy. Summarizes a rich set of facts combined with in-depth analyses distillated in a nontechnical manner. Includes discussion of structural trends...

Activity is slowing down temporarily, and downside risks have increased again. The global expansion remains unbalanced. Growth in many advanced economies is still weak, considering the depth of the recession. In addition, the mild slowdown observed in the second quarter of 2011 is not reassuring

After a lackluster outturn in 2016, economic activity is projected to pick up pace in 2017 and 2018, especially in emerging market and developing economies. However, there is a wide dispersion of possible outcomes around the projections, given uncertainty surrounding the policy stance of the...