product market reforms

Structural Reforms Give Biggest Help To Lagging Countries

IMFBlog2019-03-15T15:56:53-04:00September 22, 2017|

September 22, 2017

Structural reforms can jumpstart productivity in countries with weaker initial productivity, and help them catch up with their peers (photo: The Palmer/iStock).

Labor and product market reforms, which make economies more efficient, can benefit all countries. But they are especially helpful in jumpstarting productivity in countries where productivity is weaker. This is good news as it implies that reforms are one route through which countries with lower per capita incomes can catch up with richer countries instead of persistently lagging behind: economic hardship is not destiny. Our new paper provides fresh arguments in favor of the often-difficult structural reforms. […]

The Case for Fiscal Policy to Support Structural Reforms

IMFBlog2019-03-26T11:06:19-04:00March 13, 2017|

By Angana Banerji, Era Dabla-Norris, Romain Duval, and Davide Furceri

Versions in 中文 (Chinese), Français (French),Deutsch (German), Русский (Russian), and Español (Spanish)

Many advanced countries need structural reforms to make their economies more productive and raise long-term living standards. Our new research shows that provided countries can afford it, fiscal policy, through spending or tax incentives, can help governments overcome some obstacles to the reforms, particularly in the early stages. […]