The middle income trap is a spectre looming up in front of countries who have performed well to rise up to middle income level from the lower income level, and are hoping for a quick admission to upper income echelons. Unfortunately, the trap seems unavoidable for many middle income nations, as seen poignantly in the case of Argentina and even Brazil. This paper tries to pinpoint the performance parameters that distinguish countries such as Malaysia and Chile who have been successful in avoiding getting mired in the trap – and may be now even viewing it nonchalantly as just a mirage appearing during the development process. The parameters identified as probable positive forces include the pillars of the Global Competitive Index, in addition to the usual suspects appearing in economic growth theory and estimations. Estimation of coefficients was carried by cross-country regressions using a sample of seventy upper and lower income nations. ICT adaptation, innovative capabilities, health standards, and openness as represented by FDI and export ratios to GDP were identified as parameters identified as important in closing the per capita income gap towards high income nations.

The impact of Covid pandemic is inequitable on countries of the world. While some countries have rebounded despite a severe case of pandemic influence, such as the US, some others did not receive as hard a shock of the disease. In this paper, the authors focus on the Covid-19 effects on macroeconomies of the US, Canada and Mexico - three countries that signed the newly adopted Free Trade Agreement after North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It is seen that the Covid effects are drastically different in these economies, with the US getting the worst of it. Policies adopted were precautionary in Mexico, but quite liberal in the US and Canada. The trade agreement clauses had to be either modified or completely discarded. The immigration problem at the southern border of the US has added more burden on the trade agreement. The paper discusses these aspects.

Child labour exists in varying degrees in virtually all countries aspiring to reach high income status. The prevalence of child labour and associated criminal activities have been portrayed in the 19th century novels of Charles Dickens, perhaps most vividly in the character ‘Fagin’ in the novel ‘Oliver Twist’. It seems clear that the early years of the industrial revolution in Britain gave rise to demand for increased child labour and also provided fertile ground for criminal activities. However, it is also evident from the experience of the high-income countries that the hallowed peaks of the development process witness an end to such activities representing the dark side of income creation. This paper examines whether there is a definite relationship between country income per capita and the prevalence of crime and child labour. The presumption is that as incomes grow there is an increase in the use of child labour as well as in crime, with a tapering- off after a certain income level. This paper presents evidence for such an inverted ‘U’ relationship between child labour and income per capita as well as between the crime index and income. These findings may also throw some light on the puzzle of the sudden fall in U.S crime rates in the 1990s.

Global value chain linkages exhibited by high income nations, emerging market nations and the African countries are examined.It is noted that the upper income countries have more global supply chain linkages, which tend to be more of the backward linkagetype, being more active in the downstream part of the production processes. African nations have lower total and backward globalvalue chain linkages, and they are more upstream in production processes, exporting intermediate goods that are used for exportsproduction by trading partners. Examining the regional aspects of global supply chain linkages, it is noted that the EuropeanUnion countries have more global value chain linkages within themselves, thus substantiating the rationale for forming a unionamong themselves. The East and Southeast Asian group of countries have greatest global value chain linkages within the group,while African nations have low global value chain linkages among themselves. This observation raises the question whether theattempts to form monetary unions in Africa have followed the customary sequence of trade liberalization and expansion prior tomonetary integration.

This paper provides a fairly detailed description of  the policies undertaken in Brazil and India, fraternity members in organization of four major nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China popularly called, BRIC, after the pandemic struck in 2020. Both the magnitudes and reach of the fiscal and liquidity-creating policies are discussed, with particular reference to the ameliorating effects on the informal and unorganized sectors of the economy. While ambitious in terms of magnitude even in international comparisons, the steps undertaken to offset the devastating effects of the COVID-19 tsunami on the weaker sections of society seem to have been inadequate or misdirected in both countries, Brazil being relatively more successful in this regard. However, financial markets have responded better to the Indian initiatives, perhaps influenced by the country’s strong growth performance in recent years. In any case, as the pandemic has changed the whole nature of macro-economy both countries have struggled to come back to the normalcy. It still remains to be seen if the road ahead is smother than before. Of course, future events will determine the future performances and it is important that we do not pretend to make strong forecasts.

In this paper we investigate impacts of the pandemic on the US economy in the aggregate, and on various sectors and types of businesses and groups. Noting the theoretical premises that imply varying responses across country types, the developments in a number of some other countries are also touched upon. It is seen that while the “K” type recovery dominates in almost all countries, this similarity hides some differences. A general fiscal expansion is seen not to provide a lifeline out of them crisis as the recession is a mix of the demand and supply type, and different in a number of aspects from the financial crisis of 2007-09 as well as the oil price shock scenarios of the 1970s. Fiscal policies will have to be tailor-made, and can vary according to country needs, depending on the fiscal health of the country. Monetary expansion seems possible, given the low inflation risk. US monetary expansion can come as a boon to other countries opting for monetary expansion, since the risk for depreciation against the dollar is removed. Policies to help small businesses and disadvantaged groups can also help in boosting aggregate demand, but may not be continued indefinitely into the future as the behaviour patterns of economic agents may be then changed permanently.

The paper starts by noting that Turkey in her efforts to join the European Union and the European Monetary Union faces barriers that are non-economic in nature. Turkey is seen to be lagging behind the EU fraternity in providing complete democracy to its people. We find the strictures laid on to be rather unique, as such non-economic factors do not enter in, for instance, in discussions pertaining to regional monetary unions in Africa where a leader in economic performance may be a laggard in meeting non-economic convergence criteria. This paper develops non-economic convergence criteria, using five indices capturing the prevalence of democracy and freedom for the citizens, for regional African monetary unions in Africa, in West Africa and the CFA Franc Zone, and compare the convergence achieved by these nations with that of Turkey relative to the dominant economic player in Europe. It is noted that while Turkey lags behind in achieving convergence to the EU certain noneconomic factors, she does better in some others. Also, some African members of regional monetary unions are seen to fare worse that Turkey in converging to the specified non-economic criteria values.

The Nordic countries top every survey on overall well-being and expressed happiness and satisfaction with living conditions and the environment, and, moreover, emerge on top even in measures of global competitiveness. This book unravels the unique economic and social processes by which these countries have achieved such universally acclaimed success. The authors note that the Nordic success has not been a sudden surge forward, and provide substance to the argument that conditions going back to feudal times, and unique societal relations and a social consensus allowing low power distances and smooth decentralization have played key roles in the Nordic transition into full-fledged knowledge economies. Indeed, as they note, “if there is a Valhalla for Nordic politicians, policy-makers and organization leaders, it will surely provide them an idyllic island under a mellow sun for holding amiable discussions, lowering their guards in a give-and-take spirit, on issues pertaining to the well-being of that Nordic paradise.”

The effects of changes in banking structure on growth and its components have been the subject of a number of studies of a cross-country nature. However, empirical studies linking banking structure to the labor market have been scanty, and the theoretical contributions have been mostly at the individual firm level. In this paper, a sample of 35 developed and emerging market nations is used to investigate the impacts on the labor market, specifically on the unemployment rate, of changes in banking sector concentration. Recognizing that country-specific labor market institutional arrangements and profiles, such as the strength of unionism and employee protection legislation can interact with the financial variables to moderate or exacerbate the impact of structural changes in the banking industry, variables representing the extent of labor market rigidity or flexibility are also included in the analysis. Results indicate that more concentrated banking market structures could have an ameliorating effect on the unemployment rate, at least in very recent periods. Labor market institutional variables capturing difficulties in hiring and firing seems to have had an opposing impact to that of banking sector concentration in the case of industrialized nations, though the variable representing trade union density was found to be insignificant.