Elena Ianchovichina
Elena Ianchovichina is Senior Economist in the World Bank’s Economic Policy and Debt Department. She manages the Diagnostic Facility for Shared Growth and the programme on sustainable, inclusive growth in the department. Her work focuses on country-specific analysis of economic growth, growth in Emerging Asia, fiscal and trade reform. She has previously worked in the World Bank’s Research Department, and East Asia and Pacific Region. She graduated with a PhD degree from Purdue University in 1998 and has since published more than 25 journal articles and book chapters on a number of special topics including China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession, export processing arrangements, market access for least developed countries, trade and poverty, and subnational fiscal reform. Prior to joining the World Bank, she was Assistant Professor in international trade at Kansas State University.
Papers Published in World Economics:
Combining Growth and Gender Diagnostics for the Benefit of Both
Women’s economic empowerment is not a new issue, but it continues to challenge both governments and development assistance agencies. Progress in closing the gender gap in labor force participation has stalled despite closing the gender gap in education. One reason for this may be that gender advocates and growth devotees are not pursuing both agendas simultaneously when there is a huge space for them to collaborate effectively. Gender-enhanced growth diagnostics offers a ‘win-win’ solution to this problem. It identifies distortions that constrain both economic growth and female labor force participation and can therefore point to efficient welfare-enhancing interventions that close gender gaps. Applied to Turkey, this approach reprioritizes the constraints to economic growth and inclusion.
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How can Korea Raise its Future Potential Growth Rate?
Korea has achieved tremendous economic progress over the last three and a half
decades, but in recent years growth has slowed down, and looking forward, most
forecasters expect potential growth to decline substantially. The authors’ analysis
of the key factors determining potential growth in Korea suggests that only if
Korea implements swift reforms to address the low productivity of its service
sector and prevent the decline in its labour supply, can the Korean economy
achieve a doubling of its per capita income level by 2020. Without a rapid
response this goal will be unachievable and the expected growth slowdown will
be unavoidable. Reforms intended to boost productivity in services and labour
force participation could help Korea sustain growth at double its expected real
growth rate in the business-as-usual scenario in the period 2020–40.
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