01902cas a2200253 a 4500 AALejournalIMF011873 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781475503678 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Pouvelle, Cyril. Productivity Growth and Structural Reform in Bulgaria : Restarting the Convergence Engine / Cyril Pouvelle, Pritha Mitra. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2012. 1 online resource (20 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students Labor productivity levels in Bulgaria lag well behind that in the EU, weighing on the convergence process. Stronger productivity growth would allow Bulgaria to close the income gap with the EU average more quickly and to alleviate the structural problems in its labor market, reflected in its high long-term and youth unemployment. Our analysis of the drivers of labor productivity suggest that for Bulgaria closing the gap with EU standards in the areas of institutional and infrastructure quality, goods market efficiency, higher education, and innovation would permanently boost productivity growth by a total of 1 percentage point a year. This would be enough to close the income gap with the EU average by 2040, compared to the status quo where it would take an additional 10 years. Mode of access: Internet Mitra, Pritha. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2012/131 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2012/131/001.2012.issue-131-en.xml IMF e-Library