Trade Regulation

Recent World Bank research suggests that countries should complement trade openness with greater flexibility of their investment ..... and labor markets.

"Trade ..... growth in flexible economies, but its positive impact is much reduced - and in some cases, even reversed-in excessively regulated economies," says Caroline Freund, Senior Economist in the World Bank's Trade Research Team.

Trade stimulates growth by directing resources into their most productive uses both within and ..... industries.

An excessive regulatory ..... will prevent this reallocation of resources from occurring, reducing the prospects for trade-generated growth.

However, complications can arise because of interest groups that ..... to lose in a more flexible environment.

Some of the steps that ..... regulated economies need to take are easy and inexpensive; for example, it does not cost much to reduce excess procedures for registering a new business.

New technologies can also ..... deregulation, such as implementing online registration systems.

The success of openness depends on whether firms can adjust quickly to the new conditions ..... by international competition.

Doing well in the areas of public infrastructure, governance and ease of firm entry clearly correlates with stronger trade-related growth, suggesting that countries may need to simultaneously ..... reform in several areas in order to benefit from trade openness.

An analysis to help identify the areas requiring reform helps design a policy package tailored for a particular country, as opposed to a(n) '.....' approach.