On Macroeconomic Reforms and Macroeconomic Resiliency: Lessons from the Great Recession

What are the payoffs from macroeconomic reforms? Whether such reforms yield higher long-term growth has long been controversial. However, the experience of the Great Recession suggests that other important benefits may have been neglected in the controversy over the growth benefits of reform. Specifically, in contrast with previous international recessions, recovery from the Great Recession has been led by emerging and developing economies, many of which have implemented significant reforms over the past two decades. How much of the resilience of these economies can be attributed to these reforms, and what do these lessons suggest for the desirability of further reforms? This paper is intended to provide some preliminary answers to these questions.