Structural Reforms and Economic Performance in Advanced and Developing Countries

By: Jonathan D. Ostry and Alessandro Prati and Antonio Spilimbergo

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Synopsis: Drawing on a new dataset covering reforms of domestic product markets, international trade, the domestic financial sector, and the external capital account, this book examines the impact on economic performance in 91 countries of policies designed to increase the role of market forces and competition. Such policies, known as structural reforms, have been broadly pursued by the country groupings analyzed in this study since 1970, but individual country experiences have differed. Real and financial reforms have, for example, boosted income growth widely. Financial reforms have also raised growth through several channels, including lower domestic credit constraints and larger FDI inflows. The growth effects of financial and real reforms reflect a more favorable assessment of the future profitability and solvency of domestic firms in most countries, as embodied in credit ratings. Growth effects, however, differ significantly across countries depending on the reform sequencing strategy adop