Policy Dialogue and Outreach
Economic policy and governance experts continuously further USAID’s economic knowledge through rigorous research activities and disseminate this information through targeted reporting and training for field-based staff and host-country officials.
USAID’s Chief Economic Advisor
USAID’s Chief Economic Advisor provides overall economic policy guidance to USAID and USAID-assisted countries. In this role, the advisor counsels USAID field staff and senior host government officials, trains incoming staff on technical economic tools like cost-benefit analysis, and produces economic policy papers on issues pertinent to the work of USAID.
Policy papers from USAID’s Chief Economic Advisor:
- On the Process of Growth and Economic Policy in Developing Countries (PDF, 466KB)
- Central Bank Policy in the Foreign Exchange Market (PDF, 52KB)
- Economic Policy and the Real Exchange Rate (PDF, 166KB)
- Sourcebook of Helpful Hints for Training Future Practitioners of Development Economics and Policy (PDF, 54KB)
- Improving Economics Training in and for Developing Countries: Proposal for a Conference (PDF, 46KB)
- On Growth, Investment, Capital and the Rate of Return (PDF, 105KB)
- Can We Identify the Basic Tools Needed for Policy Analysis in Developing Countries? (PDF, 103KB)
- The Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax Revisited (PDF, 66KB)
- Some Real Exchange Rate Anomalies (PDF, 93KB)
- Introduction to Cost Benefit Analysis (PDF, 292KB)
Economic technical briefs
USAID’s economic technical briefs regularly inform USAID economists and economic growth officers, as well as the broader public, of policy and institutional developments in the field. The briefs provide concise analyses of a broad range of economic policy-related problems, exciting new ideas and solutions, the latest publications, and electronically accessible data relevant to the work of promoting economic growth in USAID-assisted countries.
Selected briefs:
- Potential Impacts of the Financial Crisis on Natural Resources and Biodiversity (PDF, 54KB)
- A Primer on Building Capacity in Tax Policy and Administration (PDF, 247KB)
- Enterprise Growth Initiatives (PDF, 91KB)
- The Cluster-Based Initiative Approach to Competitiveness and Economic Growth (PDF, 106KB)
- Global Trade Rules for Textiles and Apparel: Implications for Developing Countries (PDF, 91KB)
- Review of the Growth and Development Commission's "Growth Report" (PDF, 92KB)
- Economic Growth in the 1990's: Learning from a Decade of Reform (PDF, 74KB)
- A Brief Look at Making Finance Work for Africa (PDF, 78KB)
- Central Bank Independence: Theory & Empirical Results (PDF, 81KB)
- The Real Exchange Rate, Dutch Disease, and Overvaluation (PDF, 72KB)
- Technical Briefing on the USAID Resource Guide on Foreign Direct Investment (PDF, 141KB)
 Country Analytic Support
The Country Analytic Support project provides individual country reports that present a broad set of indicators to help USAID officials identify trends, constraints, and opportunities for strengthening growth and reducing poverty in those countries. The indicators cover 15 topics under three broad headings: an overview of the economy; the private sector enabling environment; and the pro-poor growth environment. A fourth heading, conflict and the economy, is included for countries where conflict is a major issue. Subject to data availability, the country’s performance for each indicator is gauged against comparable countries, regional averages, and global highs and lows.
The companion Country Compass project offers users interactive, web-based tools to assess and compare economic performance of countries around the globe with the click of a button. The site conveniently gathers a wide array of resources to provide snapshot views of economic indicators.
Economic training and policy dialogue
USAID organizes regular seminars on issues of interest to USAID development economists and economic growth officers. Outside experts present their views and lead discussions on topics such as implementation of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, updated poverty line estimates from the World Bank, management of economic Dutch disease, and gender issues within equality, poverty, and economic growth. USAID also provides intense training to appropriate developing country government staff on topics ranging from economic growth in post-conflict environments to trade and investment to cost-benefit analysis.
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