This paper discusses the shortcomings of the narrow Egypt and Saudi Arabia Visions 2030 and argues for a comprehensive framework for regional economic integration, wherein each country’s vision is harmonized with those of its neighbors.

A new “Make in India” campaign to “transform India into a global manufacturing hub” aims to use manufacturing as a vehicle for job growth. Is this strategy realistic? This paper helps answer the question by describing the job growth potential of the Indian economy. Formal-sector manufacturing demonstrates the most potential for job growth under a more supportive policy regime. The paper models future employment paths for India for the next 20 years. Assuming sufficient reforms to generate East Asia-style manufacturing growth, the impact on employment and output is substantial, even if the campaign target of 100 million new manufacturing jobs remains difficult to achieve. The paper then describes a set of reforms sufficient to unleash such a manufacturing growth boom.

By Mahmoud El-Gamal, Mohamed El-Komi, Dean Karlan and Adam Osman

Abstract

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have…