Brazil approaches its 2018 election with an economy that is gradually recovering from the deepest recession in its recent economic history. However, for many Brazilians, the recovery has not yet translated into new and better jobs, or rising incomes. This book explores the drivers of future employment and income growth. Its key finding: Brazil needs to dramatically improve its performance across all industries in terms of productivity if the country is to provide better jobs for its citizens and generate lasting gains in incomes growth for all. This is particularly important as Brazil is aging rapidly and the boost the country has enjoyed thanks to its young and growing labor force in the past decades will disappear in just a few years’ time. The book recommends a change in the relationship between the state and business, from rewarding privileged incumbents to fostering competition and innovation—together with supporting workers and firms to adjust to the demands of the market. The book is addressed to all scholars and students of Brazil’s economy, especially those interested in why the country’s economic performance has not kept up with earlier achievements since the reintroduction of democracy in the mid-1980s. Its conclusions are urgent and pertinent but also optimistic. With the right policy mix, Brazil could enter the third century of its independence in 2022 well on track to join the ranks of high income countries.

Countries worldwide face challenges of high unemployment, unsustainable public finances and lower potential output. It is pertinent therefore to understand future challenges and devise policies accordingly. This document contains the proceedings of a conference co-hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank in 2011. The policy issues highlighted herein include financial development, social policies, innovation, regulation, and political economy issues. The importance of structural reform, and exploiting synergies among policy domains are explored. It is understood that structural reforms can do much to unleash opportunities for investment and to allow countries to tap new sources of growth. They can also address issues of inclusiveness and social cohesion, ensuring that the benefits of sustained growth are shared equitably. Exploiting synergies among policy domains is also essential. For example, innovation calls for investment in human resources and appropriate competition policies to encourage entrepreneurship. Innovation is a key pillar of green growth, which is about greening old activities by harnessing knowledge and new technologies that can also create jobs and promote welfare in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The Productivity Program of the Marshall Plan made a major contribution to the increase in Western European productivity in the 1950s, well before there was significant policy liberalization, competition, or foreign investment in these countries. Prior to the program, European manufacturing and management practice was a generation behind the US, and productivity was one-third of US levels.The cost of this program over ten years was $300 million, or only 1.5% of Marshall Plan capital assistance. Its 1500 study tours brought tens of thousands of people from European and Asian countries to the United States to observe management and production. On returning home, tour members vigorously spread new ideas throughout their countries, which also received a wide variety of follow-up technical services. Europe's leaders supported national productivity drives out of fear of communism and social unrest, not in response to competitive market forces. The drives helped firms achieve almost immediate productivity gains with little new investment. This relatively inexpensive idea could increase incomes and improve the supply and variety of consumer goods in present-day Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Rigorous work-study tours of private businesses in developed countries could expose large numbers of people from ex-communist economies to market-based practices. Such technical assistance, successfully pioneered by the Marshall Plan, could jump-start the lagging economies of Russia and its neighbors.