This report draws out the many lessons that can be learned from this policy shift. First and foremost, it shows the considerable policy innovation among the over 140 emerging economies and low-income countries which are examined. The measures range from employment guarantee schemes to cash benefits for vulnerable groups and policies to promote formal enterprises. Some of these are being replicated throughout the developing world and have even had some attraction for a number of the advanced economies most affected by the financial crisis.
Second, a key finding emerging from the report is that good quality jobs matter for development. While it has long been argued that developing countries should concentrate efforts on trade and investment liberalization and infrastructure spending, supported by external aid if needed, evidence presented in the report shows that such policies will not yield development unless accompanied by dedicated efforts to boost employment and decent work opportunities and tackle working poverty. In countries where it was implemented, such a policy shift not only helped development but also played a counter-cyclical role that helped attenuate the impacts of the financial crisis.
Third, governments in developing countries have gained confidence and therefore policy space. They have realized that there is no one size fits all solution to their problems and that remedies that used to be advocated (though not always applied) in industrialized countries are not necessarily what is required in a developing country context. Renewed interest among developing countries in well-designed….