On March 22, 2022, Maty Konte, a research scholar in Barnard’s Economics Department, co-authored an article titled “Structural Reforms and Labor Productivity Growth in Developing Countries: Intra or Inter-Reallocation Channel?” The research, published by The World Bank Economic Review, examines the degree to which structural reforms enacted from 1975 to 2005 impacted aggregate labor productivity growth in developing countries.
An analysis of sectoral data by Konte and her co-authors shows that product market, trade, and financial sector reforms have all positively impacted labor growth, causing them to conclude that the intra-allocative efficiency channel, rather than the interallocative channel, is largely responsible for the positive effects of the reforms. Their study findings also suggest that the level of rigidity of the labor market is relevant in determining how reforms induce reallocation within and across economic sectors.