When competition from abroad inflicts severe shocks on a country's firms, the headlines are often about failing businesses and job losses. The shocks may come from different sources: trade reforms, competition from a foreign manufacturing powerhouse, or the entry of big retail chains from abroad. Although the trade shock is likely to bring a number of positive effects, … [Read more...] about How Labor Markets Adjust to Import Competition
Three-Generation Households Can Boost Female Employment
Living in an extended family has become more common around the globe, including in the United States, where the number of people living in multigenerational households has quadrupled in the last five decades. But Latin America, along with Northern Africa, is the region where multigenerational living is most common. This has important policy implications, not least because … [Read more...] about Three-Generation Households Can Boost Female Employment
Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition
Much has been written — much of it in alarm — about the observed increase in market concentration at the economy-wide level over the past 30 years. The evidence for this is uncontroversial: From 1997 to 2014, concentration increased in 75% of industries in the United States. It isn’t a big leap from there to conclude that this trend is reducing competition and increasing … [Read more...] about Global Giants and Local Stars: How Changes in Brand Ownership Affect Competition
Multinationals and the Structural Transformations of Economies
Recent decades have seen large structural transformations, with many agricultural economies moving towards more productive manufacturing activities and manufacturing-based economies evolving to more productive service-based ones. At the same time, global integration has grown in importance due to an extraordinary increase in the cross-border movement of goods, services, and … [Read more...] about Multinationals and the Structural Transformations of Economies
How Digital Technology Can Deliver Government Services More Cost Effectively
From the issuing of ID cards and permits, to the dispensing of subsidies and the collection of taxes, Latin American and Caribbean governments manage between five and 20 transactional services per person each year. These services are often slow and cumbersome, requiring citizens to make multiple trips to government offices and using up large amounts of their time. As a result, … [Read more...] about How Digital Technology Can Deliver Government Services More Cost Effectively