Engaging with policy makers in emerging markets

Researchers often struggle to identify appropriate solutions for policy challenges in emerging and low-income countries. Many well-established policy recommendations only apply to a select number of advanced economies, characterised by different institutional and political set-ups and facing different shocks, both as regards their nature and their intensity, than emerging markets. Moreover, an appropriate analysis of existing policy challenges typically requires sophisticated statistical techniques for which such countries often fail to provide sufficiently detailed data. The chapter explores the different challenges researchers face when trying to apply their concepts and statistical methods to such countries. Using as a case study the identification of emerging labour market challenges, it presents a comparison of two countries - Colombia and Peru - and discusses lessons learnt in each case, also in comparison with two other country cases, Algeria and Ghana where less ambitious projects were undertaken. The chapter examines not only the technical challenges of analysing relevant labour market issues but also discusses options for sustainable knowledge transfer.