Covid-19, policy responses, and industrial productivity around the globe

We examine whether the COVID-19-induced policy responses by countries moderated the negative impact of the pandemic on industrial productivity. Using a panel of the 50 most affected countries by the pandemic, we show that the policy responses do not only help reduce the spread of COVID-19, but they also moderate its negative impact on industrial productivity and help steer countries back to their growth paths. We demonstrate that, in the absence of the pandemic, some of the policy responses (i.e., lockdowns, travel restrictions, etc.) would have reduced productivity. We further demonstrate that our estimates are robust when considering alternative specifications of our productivity model. Our study provides strong support for evidence-based policies and emphasizes, consistent with theoretical arguments, that an optimal policy mix is fundamental to steering economies back to their steady productivity growth paths when facing negative shocks

Global Integration and Economic Growth in Emerging Countries: The Case of BRICS and NEXT-11

This paper investigates the impact of global integration on economic growth in a large group—BRICS and NEXT-11—of emerging countries and it tries to verify a possible different relation for the second group. The period of analysis is 1980–2015. Our hypothesis is that the impact of global integration (measured as foreign direct investment and share of trade as percentage of GDP) on economic growth is not only direct but also indirect through various other determinants of economic growth. Thus, by using panel data econometric estimation techniques, multiplicative models are estimated. Results show that global integration—both trade openness and FDI inflow—benefits economic growth. The coefficients are however higher in the BRICS group rather than in the complete sample