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Blog post
Revisiting the balance of payments and the fiscal deficit
Countries left-and-right are battling fiscal crises. Have we been too stringent, or not enough? This last blog in a series thinks about how fiscal policy might look different in unorthodox times. A prudent fiscal stance and a healthy balance of payments have been standard prescriptions for emerging economies. Manageable debts and a slim deficit keep macroeconomic crises...
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Blog post
Rethinking traditional structural transformation
How much will the old patterns of economic growth explain the experience of tomorrow’s growing economies? While the evolution of an economy into different sectors is a natural process of development, the fourth blog in this series examines how the composition of growth could look very different in the future. The shift of labour from the countryside into higher...
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Blog post
Adjusting the export-for-growth model
Trade brings numerous benefits, chief among them competition, yet today’s outlook for trade remains uncertain. Is it time to re-think the primacy of exporting for growth? This third blog in a series explores the issue. A successful development model in the last few decades has been for developing countries with low labour costs to jump on the lowest rung of the value...
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Blog post
Are we living in unorthodox times?
How different is today’s environment for developing countries compared to a few decades ago? The second blog in this series examines four trends that will shape how countries grow and develop in the future. The most admired development strategies of the last few decades were deployed at a time of historically unprecedented global integration. Driven by both increasingly...
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Op-ed: Unorthodox policies for unorthodox times
From protectionism to automation to climate change, today’s global context is changing. What does this mean for the development strategies countries choose to pursue? This blog, the first in a series of five, looks at how today’s context should influence our thinking. New political forces, embracing economic ideologies that had been dormant for decades, are on the...
Blog post
Ideas Matter: What is stopping developing countries from taxing more?
Public finance – government revenue and expenditure – is crucial for redistribution and inclusive growth. The information scarce environment and a large informal sector make it difficult for developing countries to raise revenue through taxation. Virtually every country in the world taxes their populations. But, some do so more successfully than others. Most developing...