Journal of Economic Literature
ISSN 0022-0515 (Print) | ISSN 2328-8175 (Online)
Structural Reforms and Economic Performance: The Experience of Advanced Economies
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 63,
no. 1, March 2025
(pp. 111–63)
Abstract
This article provides a comprehensive assessment of the theoretical and empirical literature on structural reforms in advanced economies. Structural reforms matter because they entail profound and systematic changes that affect economic welfare, productivity, growth, unemployment, macroeconomic stability, and income inequality. Here we focus on structural reforms in product, labor, and financial markets. After putting forward a set of stylized facts, we take stock of the literature on each of these three key structural reforms, and then assess their business cycle and political economy implications. We underscore various gaps in the literature and articulate a future research agenda that highlights four main areas: measurement, interactions among reforms, political economy considerations, and the timing of the implementation of reforms.Citation
Campos, Nauro F., Paul De Grauwe, and Yuemei Ji. 2025. "Structural Reforms and Economic Performance: The Experience of Advanced Economies." Journal of Economic Literature 63 (1): 111–63. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20231527Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D40 Market Structure, Pricing, and Design: General
- E23 Macroeconomics: Production
- E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
- E25 Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- E44 Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
- P11 Capitalist Systems: Planning, Coordination, and Reform