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"The authors study how the effect of trade openness on economic growth depends on complementary reforms that help a country take advantage of international competition. This issue is illustrated with a simple Harris-Todaro model where output gains after trade liberalization depend on the degree of labor market flexibility. In that model, trade protection may ameliorate the problem of underemployment (and underproduction) in sectors affected by labor market distortions. Hence, trade liberalization unambiguously increases per capita income only when labor markets are sufficiently flexible. The authors then present some panel evidence on how the growth effect of openness depends on a variety of structural characteristics. For this purpose, they use a non-linear growth regression specification that interacts a proxy of trade openness with proxies of educational investment, financial depth, inflation stabilization, public infrastructure, governance, labor-market flexibility, ease of firm entry, and ease of firm exit. They find that the growth effects of openness are positive and economically significant if certain complementary reforms are undertaken. "--World Bank web site.

Policy Objectives • Policy Designs and Consistency • Policy Coordination --- Trade Policy • International Trade Organizations --- Economic Growth of Open Economies --- General

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The effect of the exchange rate regime on inflation and growth is examined. The 30-year data set includes over 100 countries and nine regime types. Pegged regimes are associated with lower inflation than intermediate or flexible regimes. This anti-inflationary benefit reflects lower money supply growth (a discipline effect) and higher money demand growth (a credibility effect). Output growth does not vary significantly across regimes: Countries with pegged regimes invest more and are more open to international trade than those with flexible rates, but they experience lower residual productivity growth. Output and employment are more variable under pegged rates than under flexible rates.

Conventional peg --- Currency --- Deflation --- Economic Growth of Open Economies --- Exchange rate arrangements --- Exchange rate flexibility --- Exchange rates --- Foreign Exchange --- Foreign exchange --- Inflation --- International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions --- Macroeconomics --- Price Level --- Prices

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This paper examines the policy challenges a country faces when it wants to both reduce inflation and maintain a sustainable external position. Mundell’s (1962) policy assignment framework suggests that these two goals may be mutually incompatible unless monetary and fiscal policies are properly coordinated. Unfortunately, if the fiscal authority is unwilling to cooperate—a case of fiscal intransigence—central banks that pursue a disinflation on a ‘go it alone’ basis will cause the country’s external position to further deteriorate. A dynamic analysis shows that if the central bank itself lacks credibility in its inflation goal, it must rely even more on cooperation from the fiscal authority than otherwise. Echoing Sargent and Wallace’s (1981) ‘unpleasant monetarist arithmetic,’ in these circumstances, a ‘go it alone’ policy may successfully stabilize prices and output, but only on a short-term basis.

Exports and Imports --- Foreign Exchange --- Inflation --- Macroeconomics --- Money and Monetary Policy --- Open Economy Macroeconomics --- Economic Growth of Open Economies --- Fiscal Policy --- Price Level --- Deflation --- International Lending and Debt Problems --- Monetary Policy --- Currency --- Foreign exchange --- International economics --- Monetary economics --- Fiscal consolidation --- Real exchange rates --- External debt --- Inflation targeting --- Fiscal policy --- Prices --- Monetary policy --- Debts, External --- South Africa

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Using a newly constructed dataset on trade in services for 192 countries from 1970 to 2014, this paper shows that services currently constitute one-fourth of world trade and an increasingly important component of global production. A detailed analysis of patterns and stylized facts reveals that exports of services are not only gaining strong momentum and catching up with exports of goods in many countries, but they could also trigger a new wave of trade globalization. Research applications of the trade in service dataset on structural transformation, resilience, labor reallocation, and income distribution are outlined.

Service industries. --- Free trade. --- Free trade and protection --- Trade, Free --- Trade liberalization --- International trade --- Industries --- Service industries --- Free trade --- E-books --- Exports and Imports --- Industries: Service --- Empirical Studies of Trade --- Economic Growth of Open Economies --- Trade: General --- Industry Studies: Services: General --- International economics --- Service exports --- Exports --- Trade in services --- Export performance --- Services sector --- Economic sectors --- Balance of trade --- China, People's Republic of

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The links between trade and growth are examined in a neoclassical model of an open economy in which domestic production requires both domestic and imported inputs. The model shows that trade distortions induced by such government policies as tariffs and exchange controls generate cross-country divergences in growth rates and in per capita income over a long transitional period. The empirical results confirm that tariff rates and black market premia, interacting with an estimate of the share of free trade imports, have significant negative effects on the growth rate of per capita income across countries in the orders of magnitude predicted by the model.

Exports and Imports --- Macroeconomics --- Taxation --- Economic Growth of Open Economies --- Trade Policy --- International Trade Organizations --- Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions --- International economics --- Public finance & taxation --- Tariffs --- Trade liberalization --- Trade policy --- Trade barriers --- Personal income --- Taxes --- International trade --- National accounts --- Commercial policy --- Tariff --- Income --- Greece