Person:
Iootty, Mariana

Markets and Competition Policy Team, Macroeconomics Trade and Investment Global Practice

Fields of Specialization

Competition, Development

Departments

Markets and Competition Policy Team, Macroeconomics Trade and Investment Global Practice

Last updated January 31, 2023

Biography

Mariana Iootty is a Senior Economist at the World Bank working in the Macroeconomics Trade and Investment Global Practice, Markets and Competition Policy team. Mariana is a Brazilian national and has been with the World Bank for 6 years, during which time she led projects on innovation financing, regulatory impact assessment, global value chain analysis, trade competitiveness assessment and productivity analysis in several countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Her main area of research is microeconomic analysis of economic development and firm performance.  Prior to joining the Bank, Mariana was a tenured assistant professor in Brazil, and a visiting fellow in the University of Reading, UK.

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 18

Georgia Competitive Industries Preliminary Sector Diagnostic

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Onugha, Ifeyinwa ; Iootty, Mariana ; Kilroy, Austin ; Palmade, Vincent

As a small and open economy, Georgia's growth prospects are directly linked to its ability to produce and sell goods and services competitively in the global marketplace. The World Bank Georgia Competitive Industries Technical Assistance Project has been launched in February 2013 in response to the December 19, 2012 letter of the Ministry of economy and sustainable development of Georgia with the request to get the Bank's support in diagnoses of trade competitiveness and identification of a road map for reform to enhance Georgia's export growth and competitiveness. The project is envisioned as a three phase program, that comprises: February-June 2013 analytical and technical assistance support, including diagnostic of trade competitiveness and constraints to export growth, and competitive industries sector diagnostic report, supported by extensive discussions through a series of workshops, private and public sector interviews, discussions and a large 2-day seminar on February 28-March 1, 2013; July-December 2013-deep dive analysis of selected competitive industries and development of a reform road map to support Georgia's competiveness strategy; and from January 2013-reform implementation, supported by the Bank's technical assistance, policy advice and lending operations. The report is prepared on the basis of the competitive industries sector prioritisation framework. The report incorporates ideas and recommendations received during February 28-March 1, 2013 seminar and several smaller workshops and brainstorming sessions held in March-May 2013. Export led growth provides also a strong motivation to reform the domestic industries which will continue to account for the vast majority of employment. Georgia's main domestic industries include agriculture, retail/wholesale, construction, transportation, health and education. Since economic growth is accounted for by productivity improvements by workers in all industries, export-led growth can play a key role in raising these productivity levels.
Regulation, Trade and Productivity in Romania : An Empirical Assessment

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) De Rosa, Donato ; Iootty, Mariana ; Pirlea, Ana Florina

Inappropriate regulation can influence productivity performance by affecting incentives to invest and adopt new technologies, as well as by directly curbing competitive pressures. Results of a labor productivity growth model for European countries suggest that improving the regulatory environment -- proxied by the Worldwide Governance Indicators regulatory quality indicator -- and boosting effective exposure to competition through increasing trade integration -- expressed as the ratio of exports plus imports to gross domestic product -- have positive effects on productivity growth. In Romania a 10 percent increase in openness to global trade over 1995-2010 would have boosted productivity growth by 9.7 percent per year. A 10 percent increase in openness to European Union trade, in particular, would have led to an annual increase in productivity of 7 percent. Realizing the benefits from trade integration depends to some extent on regulation. In this regard, the effects of regulation on productivity growth are found to be positive, regardless of the indicator used to measure regulation, and both through direct and indirect channels (by increasing the speed at which a country catches up with productivity leaders). Simulation results also show how countries with different levels of regulatory quality would benefit from a regulatory improvement: had Romania improved its regulatory environment to the same level as Denmark in 2010, its annual productivity growth would have been 14 percent higher over 1995-2010.
Product Market Policies in Romania : A Comparison with EU Partners

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-11) De Rosa, Donato ; Iootty, Mariana ; Pirlea, Florina ; Aprahamian, Arabela ; Stanescu, Alexandru

Romania's European Union accession in 2007 has resulted in a substantial reduction of the formal barriers to integration with the European Union Single Market. This study takes stock of the progress by benchmarking product market policies in Romania to those of European Union countries, as measured by the OECD indicators of Product Market Regulation. These indicators allow for a comprehensive mapping of policies affecting competition in product markets. Comparison with European Union countries reveals that, for half of the policy areas covered by the study, Romania's product market policies are more restrictive of competition than most direct comparators in the region, whereas for other indicators Romania is on a par with the European Union average or has achieved best practice. Nonetheless, these results should be interpreted in light of the fact that the Product Market Regulation approach measures officially adopted policies and does not capture implementation. Future reforms should be directed both at improving official regulation and, where policies that favor competition are already in place, toward effective enforcement.
Are Natural Resources Cursed? An Investigation of the Dynamic Effects of Resource Dependence on Institutional Quality

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-07) De Rosa, Donato ; Iootty, Mariana

This paper examines whether natural resource dependence has a negative influence on various indicators of institutional quality when controlling for the potential effects of other geographic, economic and cultural initial conditions. Analysis of a panel of countries from 1996 to 2010 indicates that a high degree of resource dependence, measured as the share of mineral fuel exports in a country's total exports, is associated with worse government effectiveness, as well as with reduced levels of competition across the economy. Furthermore, estimation of long-run elasticities suggests that government effectiveness and the intensity of domestic competition decrease over time as the dependence on natural resources increases. An illustration of the Russian case shows that the negative effects accumulate in the long run, leading to a worse deterioration of government effectiveness in Russia than in Canada, a country with a comparable resource endowment but far better overall institutional quality. This result is corroborated by a significant negative correlation found between regional resource dependence and an indicator of regulatory capture in Russian regions, which indicates that the regulatory environment is more likely to be subverted in regions that are more dependent on extractive industries. Overall, the findings would be consistent with a situation in which a generally weak institutional environment would allow resource interests to wield the bidding power accruing from export revenues to subvert the content of laws and regulations, as well as their enforcement. The fact that this is associated with negative externalities for the rest of the economy, notably by undermining a level playing field across non-resource sectors, sheds light on a potential channel for the resource curse.
Stylized Facts on Productivity Growth : Evidence from Firm-level Data in Croatia

(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-07) Iootty, Mariana ; Correa, Paulo ; Radas, Sonja ; Skrinjaric, Bruno

Drawing on a representative sample of firms, this paper presents some microeconomic evidence on the productivity growth process in Croatia since the onset of recession (2008-12). Four types of results are highlighted. First, there is a persistent (and increasing) heterogeneity in the performance of Croatian firms along outcome measures. Second, Croatia lags behind regional peers in entrepreneurship measures, which suggests a comparatively lower economic dynamism. Third, the lack of dynamism displayed by the Croatian economy is confirmed when looking at the firm entry and exit process: the analytical results point to reduced firm dynamism compared with Croatia's peers in Europe and Central Asia. Fourth, the contribution of net entry to overall productivity growth in Croatia is surprisingly negative. This is contrary to what would be expected based on the literature and suggests that the process of "destructive creation" in Croatia has not been efficient, as the market might be eliminating firms that are potentially productive. Policies that foster market contestability should be pursued, especially policies aiming at better product market regulation (such as liberalization of entry into the service sector, particularly retail and infrastructure). Measures to help finance entrepreneurship (in promising sectors) should be used to support enhancements in firm productivity. In addition, appropriate bankruptcy rules play a key role by easing the exit process and allowing low-productive units to leave the market and free resources that can be better used by other, more efficient, firms.
Export Performance and Geography in Croatia

(World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2014-08) Artuc, Erhan ; Iootty, Mariana ; Pirlea, Ana Florina

This paper uses the gravity model to analyze whether the varying export performance of Croatian counties can be explained by their proximity to border gates, ports, and other county-specific characteristics. The analysis finds that longer distances to border gates increase trade frictions significantly for many product categories, although these frictions have been decreasing between 2007 and 2012. The paper analyzes the county specific factors that are associated with variation in export performance, net of distance. Results show that exports are strongly and positively correlated with motorway and road density, the size of the labor force, low-skill ratio, and the number of patents. These variables are also associated with a greater diversity of exports in terms of products and destinations. Several general policy implications are highlighted. The significant association between motorway and road density and export volume, number of destinations, as well as the diversity of exported products may indicate that improvements in connectivity and facilitation of transport could still play a significant role in enhancing regional trade outcomes. Similarly, good performance in research and development may significantly help to spur competitiveness and allow local producers to enter new markets in products and destinations, which in turn can increase the level of diversification and boost resilience to global economic shocks.
Productivity Growth in Europe

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04) Dall'Olio, Andrea ; Iootty, Mariana ; Kanehira, Naoto ; Saliola, Federica

This paper tests whether structural or firm-specific characteristics contributed more to (labor) productivity growth in the European Union between 2003 and 2008. It combines the Amadeus firm-level data on productivity and firm characteristics with country-level data describing regulatory environments from the World Bank's Doing Business surveys, foreign direct investment data from Eurostat, infrastructure quality assessments from the Global Competitiveness Report, and credit availability from the World Development Indicators. It finds that among the 12 newest members of the European Union, country characteristics are most important for firm productivity growth, particularly the stock of inward foreign direct investment and the availability of credit. By contrast, among the more developed 15 elder European Union member countries, firm-level characteristics, such as industry, size, and international affiliation, are most important for growth. The quality of the regulatory environment, measured by Doing Business indicators, is importantly correlated with productivity growth in all cases. This finding suggests that European Union nations can realize significant benefits from improving regulations and encouraging inward and outward foreign direct investment.
Strengthening Argentina's Integration into the Global Economy: Policy Proposals for Trade, Investment, and Competition

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2018-04-09) Martínez Licetti, Martha ; Iootty, Mariana ; Goodwin, Tanja ; Signoret, José

Integration into global markets can improve the efficiency of the Argentinian economy, providing opportunities for private investment to flourish and for the associated benefits to accrue to consumers. Among many policies that are important for integrating into the global economy, particularly relevant are trade, investment, and competition policies. They all share a common attribute: the capacity to shape the incentives of firms to improve resource allocation and to strengthen productivity while integrating into international markets. Once properly combined, investment, trade, and competition polices have mutually reinforcing relationships in the sense that growth dividends stemming from reforms in one policy area are reinforced when properly combined with reforms in the other two. Against this backdrop, this report follows a three-pronged approach. It presents a set of robust empirical analyses – drawing from both general and partial equilibrium exercises - to assess the potential impacts from trade, competition, and investment policy reforms. It offers a new comparative review of international experience with structural microeconomic reform programs to bring insights for Argentina’s design and sequencing of such reforms. Finally, it presents individual reform recommendations for each institution in charge of the three respective policy areas in an integrated step-by-step framework from the firm perspective to illustrate the critical challenges to investment and internationalization for Argentinian firms.
Productivity and Innovation in the Czech Republic: A Firm-Level Perspective

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-10) Davies, Elwyn ; Iootty, Mariana ; Zouhar, Jan

Convergence of productivity of Czech firms towards peer countries is slow, especially for smaller firms. Czech labor productivity was 68.3 of that in Germany and the productivity gap is in particular large for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). MSMEs (defined as having less than 250 employees) form the backbone of the Czech economy, accounting for 67.3percent of total employment and 55.2 percent of value added (at factor cost) but face weak innovation demand and an unfavorable position in global value chains. The Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) is developing a new Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Strategy and Implementation Plan for the period 2021-202no7 to boost firm productivity and competitiveness of domestic SMEs. MIT has requested support from the European Commission under Regulation (EU) 2017/825 on the establishment of the Structural Reform Support Programme ("SRSP Regulation"). The request has been analyzed by the European Commission in accordance with the criteria and principles referred to in Article 7(2) of the SRSP Regulation, following which the European Commission has agreed to provide technical support to the Czech Republic, together with the World Bank, to conduct analytical work on the status of SMEs.
Assessing Innovation Patterns and Constraints in Developing East Asia: An Introductory Analysis

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-01) Iootty, Mariana

This paper sheds light on key innovation patterns and constraints within a selected set of developing East Asian countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam). It follows a comprehensive approach about national innovation systems while highlighting the supply and demand dimensions of innovation as well as the markets where firms make accumulation decisions for different forms of capital (knowledge capital, human capital. and physical capital). The paper presents a set of empirical exercises drawing from various data sets. The results corroborate the idea of the importance of adopting a broad view of innovation policy and investing in missing complementary factors. Although investment in research and development is key to boost innovation, it is also crucial to have business and regulatory environments that are conducive to overall firm performance and capital accumulation (not only knowledge capital), as they are expected to improve innovation returns. In addition, the results suggest that other innovation inputs aside from research and development matter for innovation activities, such as training for innovative activities, acquisition/licensing of technology, and managerial practices.