## Structural Reforms and Productivity Growth in Emerging Market and Developing Economies

_IMF Working Papers, February 9, 2016_

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**Canonical URL:** [Structural Reforms and Productivity Growth in Emerging Market and Developing Economies](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/structural-reforms-and-productivity-growth-in-emerging-market-and-developing-economies-43686)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Era Dabla-Norris, Giang Ho, Annette J Kyobe
- Published: February 9, 2016
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498306560.001

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### Summary
- Authors: Era Dabla-Norris, Giang Ho, Annette J Kyobe
- Date: February 9, 2016
- Series: Working Paper No. 2016/015
- Issue: 015
- Volume: 2016
- Pages: 35
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498306560.001
- ISBN: 9781498306560
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Core objective: Empirically assess the role of structural and institutional reforms in driving productivity growth across countries at different stages of development using a distance-to-frontier framework.
- Scope: Aggregate and sectoral productivity growth in emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs); examination of time lags between reform implementation and productivity payoffs; analysis of short- and medium-term evolution of productivity gains from various reforms.

### Key analytical focus
- Distance-to-frontier framework used to measure how reforms affect productivity relative to global frontier.
- Assessment of whether particular policies and reforms matter more for increasing productivity growth at the aggregate and sectoral levels for some EMDEs than others.
- Explicit consideration of time lags between reform implementation and reform payoffs, with separate analysis of short- and medium-term productivity gains.

### Sectors and subjects covered
- Agricultural sector
- Industry
- Services
- Labor productivity
- Total factor productivity (TFP)
- National accounts and production
- Personal income

### Keywords and topics emphasized
- Agricultural sector, Agriculture
- Economic Growth
- Emerging Market and Developing Countries
- Global
- impact of reform
- income group
- Industry
- Institutions
- Labor productivity
- payoffs from undertaking banking system reform
- Personal income
- Productivity, productivity driver, productivity gain, productivity gains from banking system reform, productivity growth, productivity impact, productivity levels gap, productivity payoff
- sectoral productivity dynamics
- Services, services productivity
- Structural Reforms
- TFP growth specification
- Total factor productivity
- WP

### Implicit policy-relevant considerations (as framed by the paper)
- Importance of tailoring structural and institutional reforms to country development stage and sectoral composition to maximize productivity payoffs.
- Need to consider time lags when evaluating reform effectiveness—productivity gains may unfold over short- and medium-term horizons.
- Relevance of banking system reform for productivity gains (explicitly flagged in keywords).

*IMF Working Paper No. 2016/015 (February 9, 2016) — Era Dabla-Norris, Giang Ho, Annette J Kyobe.*

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## Content in this bundle

- **Box 1. The Case of Korea**
  - [Box 1. The Case of Korea (Markdown version)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/_wp1615.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [Box 1. The Case of Korea (PDF)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/_wp1615.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/structural-reforms-and-productivity-growth-in-emerging-market-and-developing-economies-43686_