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Benjamin, Nancy Claire

Poverty Reduct & Econ. Mgmt Dept, Middle East & North Africa Region, World Bank
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Public Sector; International Trade; Regulation
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Poverty Reduct & Econ. Mgmt Dept, Middle East & North Africa Region, World Bank
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Last updated: January 31, 2023
Biography
I am a native of California and received my PhD in economics from UC Berkeley. I worked as an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, in the Asia Department of the IMF and in the Research Department of the US International Trade Commission. I have published widely on resource-rich countries, the impact of trade policy on productivity and growth, nontariff barriers, and on trade in services. Since joining the World Bank, I have worked on West African and Middle Eastern countries, focusing on public expenditures, growth and governance. I also worked on mutli-country projects in Africa and the regulation of multi-country infrastructure. My greatest pleasure is working closely with our client countries.
Citations 13 Scopus

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2010 - 20192
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    The Informal Sector in Francophone Africa : Firm Size, Productivity, and Institutions
    (Washington, DC: World Bank and Agence Française de Développement, 2012) Mbaye, Ahmadou Aly; Benjamin, Nancy; Diop, Ibrahima Thione; Golub, Stephen S.; Haughton, Dominique; Niang, Birahim Bouna
    This book is a major step towards improving the understanding of the complex reality of informal sector firms in francophone West Africa. It innovates by concentrating on informal firms rather than informal employment (as other studies do), and identifying 'large informal' sector firms whose sales rival those of large formal-sector firms but operate in ways that are similar to small informal operators. Not only is the regulatory environment facing these two types of informal firms distinct, but policies aimed at improving their productivity need to be differentiated. This study focuses on the urban informal sector in three capital cities: Dakar (Senegal), Cotonou (Benin), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). The study also breaks new ground with an eclectic methodology and primary data collection. Quantitative and qualitative firm-level data were collected involving a unique and fruitful collaboration among academic researchers, government officials, the West African economic and monetary union commission, informal and formal sector business associations, and labor unions. This volume represents the culmination of a long collaboration between the Centre de Recherches Economiques Appliquees (CREA) at the University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar and the World Bank.
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    Regionalizing Infrastructure for Deepening Market Integration : The Case of East Africa
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06) Kessides, Ioannis N.; Benjamin, Nancy C.
    The East African Community has long recognized that regional economic integration can yield significant welfare gains to its member states. To that end, the community has been making steady progress towards the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions to trade. Moreover, in recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that: (a) even greater welfare gains could be realized through deeper forms of regional integration which entail harmonization of legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks; and (b) reforms that reduce cross-border transaction costs and improve the performance of "backbone" infrastructure services are arguably even more important for the creation of an open, unified regional economic space than trade policy reforms narrowly defined. Disparities of regulatory treatment across borders can introduce distortions that hinder both cross-border trade and the aggregate flows of investment on a regional basis. Regulatory harmonization and infrastructure regionalization could make a significant contribution to the region's economic development by promoting a more efficient utilization of its human and physical resources, enhancing connectivity, reducing the costs of trade, and facilitating the integration of the continent with the global economy.