Productivity growth, a force that has contributed to lifting millions of people out of poverty in developing countries, will need substantial support from policymakers if it is to withstand the severe challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic shock. More in our latest study.
Tag Archives: Productivity
Healthy people drive strong economies
Dieynaba Nioula Kane remembers vividly when, for the first time in her life, she was 
forced to ask friends and family for money. It was out of desperation after the birth of her fifth child, a little boy with a life-threatening condition that needed specialist treatment in the capital. Dieynaba was forced to leave her job teaching French and hurriedly relocate to Dakar, where she was able to find the health services he needed.
forced to ask friends and family for money. It was out of desperation after the birth of her fifth child, a little boy with a life-threatening condition that needed specialist treatment in the capital. Dieynaba was forced to leave her job teaching French and hurriedly relocate to Dakar, where she was able to find the health services he needed.But the expenses quickly piled up. Hospital bills, a tracheostomy, medicines, dressings, fees for nurses and doctors, plus the cost of food and transportation to and from the hospital. As she took a break from paid employment for four years to focus on her son’s health her family’s economic conditions deteriorated. It took the family years to recover.
How Low Human Capital Can Limit Productivity Improvements. Examples from Turkey and Peru
Comparing two middle-income countries is not unusual, but two that are geographically
far and are apparently different is less common. However, both Turkey and Peru have had the highest growth in their respective regions in recent years, aspire to become high-income economies in the next decade, depend on trade. Both countries face downside risks if structural changes—in the education and training system, and the economy more broadly—are not made to ensure that contributions to economic growth come from improvements in productivity. Both countries recognize there is a large gap between their productivity levels and the global productivity frontier, and both have growing populations that are not adequately equipped to meet labor market needs, with average productivity levels. Given these (similar) challenges, both countries have as their development goal, central to their development agenda, to improve productivity to continue growing in a sustainable manner.
