Macroeconomics and Growth

The following big questions guide the Macroeconomics and Growth Research work program:

1) What are the determinants of macroeconomic outcomes (especially growth)? How are those outcomes linked to institutions and resource allocation at the micro level?

2) What is the role of governments in raising and allocating resources? What should governments do over the long run and in response to shocks?

The work program is organized around the following interrelated areas:

Growth: Macro, regional (local), sectoral, firm growth; labor markets and human capital
Firms and Aggregate Outcomes: Allocation of production and finance; competition
Public economics/public finance: Domestic revenue mobilization, taxation, debt; government spending (fiscal policy, infrastructure, procurement); governance and institutions
International economics: International and domestic financial markets; exchange rates and monetary policy; globalization

FEATURED RESEARCH

Financing Firm Growth: The Role of Capital Markets in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Joint IFC-World Bank Report March 2025

Report Landing Page | Launch Event | Capital Markets Portal

Purchasing Prosperity: The Economics of Government Procurement

Policy Research Talk, January 28, 2025

Event Information | Presentation | More about Manuel García-Santana

2023 Tax Conference on The Political Economy of Public Finances

6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference: Driving Progress: Public Finance and Structural Transformation

Washington, DC and Online, September 26-27, 2024

5th World Bank/IFS/ODI Tax Conference: The Political Economy of Public Finances | 4th World Bank Tax Conference: Global Tax Equity

DaTax: A Lab to Study Taxes, Firms and Jobs using Micro Data

Data Lab, May 2024

Electronic Payment Technology and Tax Compliance | Corporate Taxation and Evasion Responses | Behavioral Insights for Tax Compliance

Two men looking at a document together in a grain storage area

Taxation for Development: Rethinking Fair and Efficient Tax Systems for the Next Decade

Policy Research Talk, May 7, 2024

Event Information | More about Pierre Bachas

Partial view of the Long Term Growth Model book cover. It depicts the Trappen van Strada Reale in Valetta, Malta. 1900-1910

The Long Term Growth Model: Fundamentals, Extensions, and Applications

Policy Research Talk, Mar 21, 2023

Improving the Multilateral Pandemic Response

Policy Research Talk, June 13, 2022

Presentation | Video | Event Information | More about Tristan Reed

The Human Capital Index 2020 Update: Human Capital in the Time of COVID-19

January 2021

Report | Working Paper | Data Download

From Micro to Macro: Entry Barriers, Misallocation, and Aggregate Productivity

Policy Research Talk, February 23, 2021

LATEST WORKING PAPERS

Gender Barriers, Structural Transformation, and Economic Development
Gaurav Chiplunkar, Tatjana Kleineberg
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 11083, March 2025

Exploring the Gender Divide in Real Estate Ownership and Property Tax Compliance
Tatiana Flores, Guillermo Cruces, Jose Carlo Bermúdez, Thiago Scot, Juan Luis Schiavoni, Dario Tortarolo
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 11060, February 2025

Design of Partial Population Experiments with an Application to Spillovers in Tax Compliance
Guillermo Cruces, Dario Tortarolo, Gonzalo Vazquez-Bare
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 11059, February 2025

Crisis Credit, Employment Protection, Indebtedness, and Risk
Federico Huneeus, Joseph P. Kaboski, Mauricio Larrain, Sergio L. Schmukler, Mario Vera
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10958, October 2024

The Financial Premium and Real Cost of Bureaucrats in Businesses
Ana P. Cusolito, Roberto N. Fattal-Jaef, Fausto Patiño, Peña Akshat V. Singh
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10929, September 2024

More Working Papers

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper

LATEST JOURNAL ARTICLES

The seasonality of conflict
Jenny Guardado, Steven Pennings
Conflict Management and Peace Science, vol. 42, January 2025

Export-Led Industrial Policy for Developing Countries: Is There a Way to Pick Winners?
Tristan Reed
Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 38, Fall 2024

Informality, Consumption Taxes, and Redistribution
Pierre Bachas, Lucie Gadenne, Anders Jensen
The Review of Economic Studies, vol. 91, October 2024

Tax Equity in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
Pierre Bachas, Anders Jensen, Lucie Gadenne
Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 38, Winter 2024

Media's Influence on Citizen Demand for Public Goods
Philip Keefer, Stuti Khemani
Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 72, July 2024

BOOKS AND REPORTS

Trust in institutions - a representative image with a school in Maseru, Africa.

How Steinbeck Speaks to Institutions in Economics
Book Chapter by Stuti Khemani in Economics and Literature: A Novel Approach, June 2025

nighttime city view with digital lines connecting buildings and lighted highway

Realizing the Promise of (Partial) Decentralization
Shanta Devarajan, Stuti Khemani, September 2023

Aerial view of Bargny. Inhabitants say in the last couple of decades, the water eroded more than 200 meters of coast.

Strengthening Personal Income Taxation in Senegal - Case Study

Pierre Bachas, Leo Czajka, Aissatou Diallo, Justine Knebelmann, Anaelle Toure, June 2023

The Economics of Water Scarcity in The Midde East and North Africa: Institutional Solutions

Dominick de Waal, Stuti Khemani, Andrea Barone, Edoardo Borgomeo, Amal Talbi, Rajesh Advani, Sally Zgheib, Mili Varughese, Mohamad Hamid, Luke Gates, Elvira Broeks Motta, April 2023

Going Viral: COVID-19 and the Accelerated Transformation of Jobs in Latin America and the Caribbean
Guillermo Beylis, Roberto Fattal Jaef, Michael Morris, Ashwini Rekha Sebastian, and Rishabh Sinha, Washington, DC: World Bank, September 2020

The Rise of Domestic Capital Markets for Corporate Financing

Facundo Abraham, Juan J. Cortina, and Sergio L. Schmukler, Washington, DC: World Bank, June 2019

Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement

Stuti Khemani, Ernesto Dal Bó, Claudio Ferraz, Frederico Finan, Corinne Stephenson, Adesinaola Odugbemi, Dikshya Thapa, and Scott Abrahams, Policy Research Report, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016

More Books and Reports »

Last Updated: Mar 17, 2025