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This paper surveys the empirical literature on the growth effects of education & social capital. The main focus is on the cross-country evidence for the OECD countries, but the paper also briefly reviews evidence from labor economics, to clarify where empirical work on education using macro data may be relatively useful. It is argued that on balance, the recent cross-country evidence points to productivity benefits of education that are at least as large as those identified by labor economists. The paper also discusses the implications of this finding. Finally, the paper reviews the emerging literature on the benefits of social capital. Since this literature is still in its early days, policy conclusions are accordingly harder to find.

The main objective of this book is to develop a strategy and policy measures to enhance the formalization of the shadow economy in order to improve the competitiveness of the economy and contribute to economic growth; it explores these issues with special reference to Serbia. The size and development of the shadow economy in Serbia and other Central and Eastern European countries are estimated using two different methods (the MIMIC method and household-tax-compliance method). Micro-estimates are based on a special survey of business entities in Serbia, which for the first time allows us to explore the shadow economy from the perspective of enterprises and entrepreneurs. The authors identify the types of shadow economy at work in business entities, the determinants of shadow economy participation, and the impact of competition from the informal sector on businesses. Readers will learn both about the potential fiscal effects of reducing the shadow economy to the levels observed in more developed countries and the effects that formalization of the shadow economy can have on economic growth.

This paper investigates the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on economic growth across developing countries. It documents the evolution and co-movement of COVID-19 infections with government responses (including health containment measures) across developing countries. It then estimates the impact of the different channels of transmission of COVID-19 on economic growth—thus, identifying factors that contribute to the economic resilience of countries during the pandemic shocks. The findings show that the pandemic's impact on the decline in growth was substantive across the different developing country groups—although at different rates. The estimates show that a deeper downturn in economic activity due to the pandemic can be averted in countries with higher levels of human capital, well-targeted containment measures, and improved global health security. Diversifying trade patterns (across products and markets) is also crucial, and so is strengthening intraregional trade, as higher commerce across borders within the different developing regions may help secure the supply chains of essential goods in times of crisis—and particularly during pandemics. Finally, having fiscal space and a less risky public debt profile can make these economies more resilient against crisis.

Economic Policy; Public Economics; Economic Growth; Econometrics; Development Economics; Macroeconomics/Monetary Economics//Financial Economics

We run a standard income convergence analysis for the last decade and confirm an already established finding in the growth economics literature. EU countries are converging. Regions in Europe are also converging. But, within countries, regional disparities are on the rise. At the same time, there is probably no reason for EU Cohesion Policy to be concerned with what happens inside countries. Ultimately, our data shows that national governments redistribute well across regions, whether they are fiscally centralised or decentralised. It is difficult to establish if Structural and Cohesion Funds play any role in recent growth convergence patterns in Europe. Generally, macroeconomic simulations produce better results than empirical tests. It is thus possible that Structural Funds do not fully realise their potential either because they are not efficiently allocated or are badly managed or are used for the wrong investments, or a combination of all three. The approach to assess the effectiveness of EU funds should be consistent with the rationale behind the post-1988 EU Cohesion Policy. Standard income convergence analysis is certainly not sufficient and should be accompanied by an assessment of the changes in the efficiency of the capital stock in the recipient countries or regions as well as by a more qualitative assessment. EU funds for competitiveness and employment should be allocated by looking at each region's capital efficiency to maximise growth-generating effects or on a pure competitive.

This paper examines the methodology to investigate differences in productivity between exporters and non-exporters. After that, calculation methods` pros and cons, used in this study, are presented. Analysing the relationship between export status and productivity growth, Latvian manufacturing companies' data for the period 2000-2009 are used as an example. We expect that companies export activities are decent for labor productivity growth. The main hypothesis point is concerned about more productive firms involved into export markets. In the present research, using company-level data from Latvian manufacturing industry, we attempt to provide a new information into the modern research on export-productivity correlation in the Latvian manufacturing industry. In the post-recession period Latvian government policy have shown solid interest in the export-led growth through various export promotions policies. In the empirical investigation data from local production branch, from cross sectional data collected in regular surveys by the Central Statistical Bureau are used.

Annual data on Kenya from 1950 to 2014 are used to analyze the determinants of the level and composition of government expenditures and estimate the agricultural-output returns to the different types of government expenditures. The paper analyzes expenditures for six functions (general administration, defense, education, health, agriculture, and other economic functions—transport, communications, etc.) as well as the capital-to-recurrent expenditure ratios within each of the six functions. Simultaneous equations modeling methods are employed, and different diagnostic tests are used to check for and address issues with stationarity, causality, and autocorrelation. Different model specifications are used to assess the sensitivity of the results to using different measures and combinations of the conceptual variables that are hypothesized to affect the composition of government expenditures and agricultural production. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; ReSAKSS ECA ; AFR