Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries

This paper assesses the effects of selected structural reforms on labor productivity growth for 37 developing countries over 2006-14. It combines newly constructed reform indexes using the International Monetary Fund's Monitoring of Fund Arran...

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Main Authors:	Kouame, Wilfried A., Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A.
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:	STRUCTURAL REFORM FIRM PRODUCTIVITY LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ACCESS TO FINANCE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586181516299611059/Structural-reforms-and-firms-productivity-evidence-from-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29218

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spelling	okr-10986-292182021-06-08T14:42:48Z Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries Kouame, Wilfried A. Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A. STRUCTURAL REFORM FIRM PRODUCTIVITY LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ACCESS TO FINANCE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT This paper assesses the effects of selected structural reforms on labor productivity growth for 37 developing countries over 2006-14. It combines newly constructed reform indexes using the International Monetary Fund's Monitoring of Fund Arrangements data set and firm-level productivity from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. The paper highlights the following results. Structural reforms under consideration in this study -- financial, fiscal, real sector, and trade reforms -- significantly improve productivity at the firm level. Interestingly, real sector reforms have the most sizable effects on firms' productivity. The relationship between reforms and productivity is nonlinear and shaped by certain characteristics of firms, including financial access, a distortionary environment, and firms' size. The pace of reforms matters, since being a “strong reformer” is associated with a clear productivity dividend for firms. Finally, except for financial and trade reforms, all the macroeconomic reforms considered are bilaterally complementary in improving firms' productivity. These findings are robust to several sensitivity checks, including alternative methodologies and measures of productivity, and a counterfactual experiment based on unsuccessful reforms. 2018-01-23T17:10:14Z 2018-01-23T17:10:14Z 2018-01 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586181516299611059/Structural-reforms-and-firms-productivity-evidence-from-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29218 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8308 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	STRUCTURAL REFORM FIRM PRODUCTIVITY LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ACCESS TO FINANCE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
spellingShingle	STRUCTURAL REFORM FIRM PRODUCTIVITY LABOR PRODUCTIVITY ENTERPRISE SURVEYS ACCESS TO FINANCE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Kouame, Wilfried A. Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A. Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8308
description	This paper assesses the effects of selected structural reforms on labor productivity growth for 37 developing countries over 2006-14. It combines newly constructed reform indexes using the International Monetary Fund's Monitoring of Fund Arrangements data set and firm-level productivity from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys. The paper highlights the following results. Structural reforms under consideration in this study -- financial, fiscal, real sector, and trade reforms -- significantly improve productivity at the firm level. Interestingly, real sector reforms have the most sizable effects on firms' productivity. The relationship between reforms and productivity is nonlinear and shaped by certain characteristics of firms, including financial access, a distortionary environment, and firms' size. The pace of reforms matters, since being a “strong reformer” is associated with a clear productivity dividend for firms. Finally, except for financial and trade reforms, all the macroeconomic reforms considered are bilaterally complementary in improving firms' productivity. These findings are robust to several sensitivity checks, including alternative methodologies and measures of productivity, and a counterfactual experiment based on unsuccessful reforms.
format	Working Paper
author	Kouame, Wilfried A. Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A.
author_facet	Kouame, Wilfried A. Tapsoba, Sampawende J.-A.
author_sort	Kouame, Wilfried A.
title	Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
title_short	Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
title_full	Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
title_fullStr	Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
title_full_unstemmed	Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries
title_sort	structural reforms and firms' productivity : evidence from developing countries
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2018
url	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/586181516299611059/Structural-reforms-and-firms-productivity-evidence-from-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29218
_version_	1764468791067017216

Structural Reforms and Firms' Productivity : Evidence from Developing Countries

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