DEVELOPING A STRUCTURAL REFORM INDEX FOR ARMENIA: METHODOLOGY AND ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

We analyze the impact of structural reform on firm exports. We argue that structural reform generates new opportunities and reduces transaction costs, inducing firms to improve their efficiency and competitiveness to international levels, therefore, helping them to export. However, we propose that not all companies benefit equally, because firms differ in how structural reform affects their competitiveness. We argue that subsidiaries of foreign firms are the main beneficiaries of structural reform, followed by domestic private firms, and finally by domestic state-owned firms. We test these arguments on a sample of the largest companies in Latin America for the period 1990–2005. We find that structural reform induces firms to export. Furthermore, it has the highest positive impact on the exports of subsidiaries of foreign firms, followed by those of domestic private firms. Surprisingly, we find that structural reform has a negative impact on the exports of domestic state-owned firms. The paper contributes to a better understanding of how changes in institutions affect firm behavior by explaining the mechanisms that link structural reform to firm exports and how these vary across firms. Moreover, by indicating that not only foreign but also domestic private firms benefit from structural reform, it counters the arguments of detractors of globalization who claim that foreign firms are the sole beneficiaries of structural reform. The paper also highlights the need to discuss who benefits from structural reform rather than whether structural reform is beneficial or detrimental.

This article assesses the impacts of economic reforms on sectoral variables in Lebanon. The lack of political commitment to long term economic strategies has delayed the implementation of sound policies to tackle chronic problems such as recession, public debt, corruption, trade deficits and to face external shocks suck as military attacks and the inflow of refugees. The International Community has sustainably offered its help to Lebanese authorities in order to trigger reforms by providing them with grants, loans and technical assistance conditioned by the implementation of structural, financial and budgetary reforms. Unfortunately, such reforms have not been seriously launched which is putting in danger the growth potential of the economy. The ambitious reform agenda used as a benchmark in this article was set out during the “International Conference for Support to Lebanon” held in Paris on January 2007, known as the Paris III Conference. The article uses a Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Model with debt constraints (Mehanna and Haykal, 2014; Lucke et al., 2007) to simulate the impacts of Paris III reforms on the economic variables (Value-Added, Investment, Consumption, Government Expenditures, Exports and Imports) of eight major sectors of the Lebanese economy (Agriculture, Energy, Manufacturing, Construction, Transportation and Communication, Services, Trade, and Administration). CGE modeling needs extensive and reliable macroeconomic data which is not easily accessible in Lebanon. Relevant figures have been collected from the National Accounts series and additional surveys compiled by the Ministry of Economy of Lebanon. Using this data, a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) was built for the year 2003 and considered as the base year for the CGE model. The model was calibrated assuming steady state and solved using MPSGE/GAMS. The Lebanese economy is modeled as a dynamic small open economy (Devarajan and Go, 1998) and recreates an Arrow-Debreu general economic equilibrium model. The Paris III projected reforms were simulated according to four different scenarios “Growth-Enhancing Reforms”, “Social Reforms”, “Structural Reforms” and a “Privatization Program”, and compared to a “Status Quo” scenario, in which no reform is undertaken. Simulation results span over a period of 40 years and indicate that, from an overall output perspective, Lebanon needs to urgently conduct reforms. The “Structural Reforms” scenario incurs the highest positive long term effects on all sectors especially in the Trade and Manufacturing sectors, followed by the “Growth-Enhancing Reforms” scenario. However, if no reforms are undertaken, results show that the impact would be detrimental to the Lebanese economy. These reforms should be considered as complementary and conducted by a centralized agency in order to avoid overlapping and squandering of resources.

This study investigates the effects of structural reforms in fiscal, financial, trade, and real sectors on economic growth for 56 countries within the IMF-Supported Program over the 2002-19 period. Using a novel database (IMF Monitoring of Fund Arrangements-MONA), it constructs new structural reform indexes for each sector employing the Z-score approach. The present study highlights that all structural reforms except for real sector reforms in all models, constructed based on the extended Cobb-Douglas production function, have a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth. The robustness of the models is confirmed by using two different structural reform indexes for each sector and two different estimators considering cross-sectional dependence. Empirical findings point to the structural reforms being potentially key factors that provide strong long-term growth performance for countries. Hence, along with the relevant traditional policies and sufficiently developed institutions, policymakers should extend the structural reforms to lift potential growth and provide lasting economic recovery.

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractFiscal structural reforms play a decisive role in strengthening macroeconomic stability, enhancing public sector efficiency, and improving institutional resilience in transition economies. Armenia represents a particularly relevant case, where successive reform waves have been closely linked to external adjustment programs and domestic political cycles. The purpose of this study is to measure the intensity of fiscal reforms in Armenia and to evaluate their dynamics over the period 1995–2024. For this purpose, a Fiscal Structural Reform Index (FSRI) is constructed, integrating revenue, expenditure, and institutional reforms based on IMF MONA benchmark data. Reforms are coded by significance (0.25 = minor, 0.50 = medium, 1.00 = major), adjusted for persistence through a geometric decay factor (0.8), and aggregated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The first principal component explains 71.2% of the total variance, ensuring the robustness of the composite index. The results indicate that reform intensity in Armenia exhibits a cyclical pattern, peaking during IMF-supported programs in 1999–2001, 2009–2011, and 2016–2018, and moderating during periods of political transition. Institutional reforms display the highest persistence, accounting for the largest share of the index, while revenue and expenditure reforms are more episodic. The analysis demonstrates that both external conditionality and internal political shifts strongly influence reform momentum. The FSRI provides a replicable framework for tracking fiscal reform intensity, supporting policy design, and strengthening structural diagnostics in transition and developing economies.

The problematic issues of the development of self-ordering mecha- nisms in the public administration system are determined, with observance of their division into institutional, functional and evolutionary parts.The institutional part includes self-regulation mechanisms implemented in the models of subject-subject interaction at the levels of higher, central and lo- cal government bodies, as well as in models of object-object interaction between them. The most important in the institutional part of self-governing mechanisms are those that ensure: the separation of powers between branches of government; administrative reform of the government structure; separation of public spheres of government between central government bodies; administrative reform of the structure of central executive bodies; delimitation of territorial spheres of go- vernment between local authorities; administrative-territorial reform; formation and implementation of the structure of the power hierarchy; administrative re- form of the structure of the power hierarchy. The functional part includes the mechanisms of self-regulation, realized in the model of object-object interaction “system of state power — social sphere, indus- try and relations”. The most important parts of the mechanisms of self-regulation are those that ensure: the formation and implementation of state policies in vari- ous spheres of society; formation and implementation of national projects; forma- tion and implementation of state target programs; state budgeting.The evolutionary part includes the mechanisms of self-regulation, realized in the model of object-object interaction “system of state power — the creation of conditions for social development”. The most important parts of the evolutionary part of self-governing mechanisms are those that provide: strategic management and planning; realization of state programs of social and economic development; conducting constant economic and social reforms and transformations.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to outline the reasons for the 2011 Arab Spring and why the Arab states failed to achieve sustainability and inclusive growth over the past three decades.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the augmented growth model framework derived from a production function and a dynamic panel LSDCV estimation, which incorporates aggregated economic and political reform indicators generated by principal component analysis. The empirical analysis is a comparative assessment of the Arab region as a whole and the Gulf countries and emerging Arab countries. This study is based on several panel data models for the Arab region’s reform programmes from 1995 to 2018.FindingsThe absence of robust economic and institutional reforms was the main reason for the uprising. Structural reforms in Gulf countries have been insufficient and more difficult to address than macroeconomic stability. By contrast, Arab emerging economies have achieved strong progress in structural reform but with weak progress in economic stability. Critically, governance indicator reforms enhance growth, with different items of governance based on the type of each group of countries. The results of this study confirm that reform is simultaneously political, social and economical.Practical implicationsEconomic reform should not be seen in a vacuum or in isolation from the political and social choices that society makes. Looking forward, the Arab reform agenda must address critical governance issues that hinder the effectiveness of reform policies.Originality/valueTheoretically, this study reappraises governance’s role in economic growth using a unified mathematical model. Methodologically, this study analyses economic, social and political reform components in the Arab region using econometric analysis. Empirically, this study investigates regional socioeconomic reform programmes. Existing studies have failed to recognise the economic and institutional policy reform patterns in the Arab world.

This Chapter reconsiders the notion of and rationale for ‘structural reforms.’ Structural reforms are changes in labor and product markets as well as wider institutional changes that aim to increase the efficiency with which labor and capital are allocated in the economy, ensuring that these resources go where their contribution to national income is largest. If successful, such changes promote productivity, investment, and growth. Structural reforms are often part of the conditionality accompanying financial assistance, and the assistance offered to Greece since 2010 is no exception; in fact, the package of required structural reforms is quite demanding. But their positive effects are often grossly overestimated; they are uncertain, they accrue only in the long run and will affect (if and when) only potential output. Convergence of actual output to potential output is very slow, at best. So, Greece, having already achieved a lot in terms of structural change, can only benefit marginally from more reforms in the near future. From a wider perspective, it is argued that ‘growth accelerations’ (on which the author has worked with Ricardo Hausmann and Lant Pritchett) are the results of selective, targeted reforms that address the ‘binding constraints’ that an economy faces, the key obstacles to growth rather than broad liberalization and economy-wide reforms. With Ricardo Hausmann and Andres Velasco, the author has identified such binding constraints in various economies. In this light, the author argues that the broad reforms required of Greece are misplaced; in contrast, a better prioritized reform strategy should focus on promoting exports.

The impressive technological and institutional changes that occurred during the Nineties (ICT diffusion, UEM creation, privatisation and liberalisation world-wide trends, etc.) have stimulated major strategic and structural adjustments by large firms and banks in the Triad, mostly through an intensive wave of national and international mergers and acquisitions. The paper analyses the evolution of Europe competitiveness within the Triad vis-a-vis North America and Japan, and different growth rates of large firms and banks in each continent. The performance of Europe is showed to be mostly defensive, intermediate between the strong dynamism of North America, and the sharp decline of Japan during the second half of the decade. This was in accordance with the different attitude of social and economic models prevailing in each continent to fully take advantage from new technologies and international integration. A special analysis is dedicated to Italy's poor performance within European countries.

1. Introduction Peter Drysdale 2. What is structural reform? Philippa Dee 3. Possible elements of a reform agenda Philippa Dee 4. The role of institutions in structural reform Philippa Dee 5. Accelerating economic reform in Japan: The role of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy Mitsuo Hosen 6. The policy determinants of structural reform in Australia Gary Banks and Bernard Wonder 7. The policy development process and the agenda for effective institutions in the Philippines Gilberto M. Llanto 8. Economic reforms in Indonesia after the economic crisis Hadi Soesastro, Haryo Aswicahyono and Dionisius A. Narjoko 9. Enhancing institutions and improving regulation: The Malaysian case Shankaran Nambiar 10. Gridlock: Regulatory regimes in the Thai passenger transport sector Pich Nitsmer 11. Institutional changes for private sector development in Vietnam Vo Tri Thanh and Nguyen Tu Anh 12. China's economic reform: Success, problems and challenges He Fan 13. A strategy for regional cooperation to promote structural reform Hadi Soesastro

This study explores the determinants of private investment in Ghana using data from 1980 to 2021, a period marked by economic liberalization policies, structural adjustment programs (SAPs) in the 1980s and 1990s, financial sector reforms, and the discovery of oil in the 2000s, all of which significantly influenced investment patterns, utilizing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression. Data from World Bank and Bank of Ghana databases was used for the analysis. This study is based on the Neoclassical Investment Theory, which posits that private investment is driven by the cost of capital and expected returns. This theory provides a foundation for understanding the determinants of private investment. Employing an explanatory research design and a quantitative approach, the study examines the relationship between key economic factors and private investment in Ghana. The findings reveal that Gross Domestic Product (GDP), external debt, and interest rates positively influence private investment, while inflation and trade openness have negative effects. Specifically, the study concluded that GDP (β = 3.019, p = 0.003), external debt (β = 0.961, p = 0.005), and interest rates (β = 0.595, p = 0.057) positively impact private investment, whereas inflation (β = -0.362, p = 0.004) and trade openness (β = -0.872, p = 0.037) exert negative effects. In terms of sectoral investment, manufacturing ($742.63M), building and construction ($572.30M), and mining ($483.33M) attract the highest levels of investment, whereas liaison ($79.66M) and export trade ($13.94M) receive lower amounts. Additionally, agriculture (β = 0.023, p = 0.065), manufacturing (β = 0.004, p = 0.002), mining (β = 0.018, p = 0.055), and tourism (β = 0.010, p = 0.020) sectors positively contribute to private investment. Furthermore, a conducive investment environment—characterized by a strong regulatory framework (β = 0.035, p = 0.008), political stability (β = 0.028, p = 0.018), and access to finance (β = 0.031, p = 0.006)—plays a crucial role in fostering private investment in Ghana. Policy recommendations include maintaining macroeconomic stability, implementing targeted incentives for the manufacturing and mining sectors, and improving key investment environment factors.

Dans ce travail nous proposons une analyse comparative de la dynamique institutionnelle dans cinq pays du Sud et de l’Est de la Méditerranée (PSEM) et dans six pays d’Europe centrale et orientale (PECO). Nous examinons le profil et l’évolution, entre 2001 et 2006, des systèmes nationaux de gouvernance (SNG) de ces pays, systèmes définis comme la combinaison des caractéristiques du système de gouvernance de leurs firmes (micro-gouvernance) et du système de gouvernance de leur État (macrogouvernance). Nous tentons de repérer statistiquement, à l’aide des indicateurs de profils institutionnels de la base de données du MINEFI, la variété et la transformation des SNG des PSEM et des PECO sur la période d’étude. Nous apportons un éclairage théorique sur les facteurs pouvant être à l’origine de la diversité et des trajectoires spécifiques de ces SNG. Nous mobilisons pour cela la littérature récente qui met en avant des facteurs de nature juridique, politique, socioculturelle ou économique. Nous soulignons le rôle que joue l’absence d’ancrage extérieur européen des PSEM, au contraire des PECO, dans la laborieuse transition des pays méditerranéens vers des systèmes de gouvernance prenant appui sur des mécanismes plus transparents et davantage respectueux des règles de droit.

ABSTRACTAfter the market-oriented reforms executed in Poland under the socialist system in the 1980s and the critical years of the early 1990s, a multilayered programme of dynamic socio-economic development, embedded in the building of social market economy institutions and structural reforms responding to the challenges of globalisation, arose in 1993–94. ‘Strategy for Poland’ was a medium-term programme, although also delineating many tasks for the long-run. The contemporary diagnosis of the conditions of sustainable development and the outlining of its long-term goals was basically correct and much of what a quarter of a century ago was addressed to structural reforms and institutional changes is still valid today. This applies in particular to matters as large as the imperative of creating a social market economy or the competitiveness of enterprises in conditions of wide openness to contacts with the world, through matters as significant as beneficial integration with the European Union or reform of the social security system, to matters as specific as efficient financial supervision or the expansion of an economy based on knowledge. Critical for further sustainable and balanced development is relying economic policies on proper economic theory and to this end, new pragmatism can bring some new thoughts.

Countries adopting a defined benefit pay-as-you-go (DB PAYG) regime have two options to solve the issue of financial unsustainability: (1) a parametric reform, which alters policies within DB PAYG regime, and (2) a structural reform, which changes the regime from DB PAYG to a defined contribution funded (DC) system. In this study, focusing on the structural reform of Mexico in 1997, I investigate whether structural social security reform affects labor supply. The findings suggest that the change in the social security regime increased both labor force participation and work hours per week. However, in the case of the elderly, the intensive margin effect on labor supply was not statistically significant.

We analyze the impact of structural reforms on the multinationalization strategy of developed, developing, and least-developed country firms. Structural reforms are a form of institutional change whereby a country's institutional framework is realigned to improve governance and facilitate market functioning. We argue that structural reforms help firms become multinationals by reforming institutions that support the international competitiveness and multinationalization of firms. However, we propose that structural reforms have a differential impact on the multinationalization strategy of firms depending on the level of institutional voids in the country. Specifically, we argue that structural reforms have the highest positive impact on the multinationalization strategy of developing-country firms, followed by developed-country firms, and then by least-developed country firms. Structural reforms especially accelerate the multinationalization of developing-country firms by reducing institutional voids that constrain their competitiveness, institutional voids that are not prevalent in developed countries. However, this is not the case for firms from the least-developed countries because countries have to be above a threshold of institutional development for their firms to fully benefit from structural reforms. As such, structural reforms reduce the multinationalization gap between developed and developing-country firms, but increase the gap between least-developed country firms and those from more developed countries.

The aim of this paper is to study of Ellen G. White’s social reform activities in the 19th century in America. At this time, the social reform movement was a core agenda in America. The social reforms were developed before and after the Civil War divided. Before the Civil War, the social reforms were vigorously proceeded to focus on emancipation movement. Changing of healthy lifestyle and transforming of social structure are the main issues of social reform. In addition, the moral self-reform, which was influenced from Transcendentalism, was one of the reform issues. Ellen G. White, who grew up in this contemporary situation, was known as a social reformer in the areas of the health reform. Of course she took part in the emancipation movement and the women’s liberation movement. Her reform movement was based on the perspective of the great controversy. So, she focused on the self-reform of morality rather than the reform of social structure. The feature of her social reform movement was to build the Kingdom of God.