##6 - 968. however, it is important to emphasize that the design and implementation of structural reforms face a number of challenges. first, as the international experience evidences, efforts in this direction are often undertaken within the context of episodes of severe economic distress, with the risk of higher implementation costs, of a less carefully planned set of reform measures, and of turning what should be regarded as a strategic action into a desperate search for immediate relief. a second complication arises from the multiplicity of idiosyncratic factors that must be taken into account to maximize the potential of reform success on a case - by - case basis, such as the stage of development and institutional setup of the subject economy ; the careful identification of a sensible order of priorities, sequencing and intensity of reforms ; and the nonlinearities, interactions and complementarities that may exist among them. third, the adequate implementation of structural reform faces important difficulties of its own. among these, the required political support may prove elusive and costly to achieve, while the possibility of implementation mistakes affecting the beneficial impact of the reform effort cannot be disregarded. lastly, in addition to being feasible, structural reform must also be sustainable in the long - term, which in turn requires a strong and broad sense of ownership by the societies implementing them, aided too by a balanced mix of short - and long - term benefits. trade policy represents another key component of the policy toolkit nowadays. in my opinion, a crucial issue here is to keep in mind that openness to trade flows has unquestionable advantages. in addition to the benefits arising from greater competition and the reallocation of resources across sectors on efficiency, technological development and innovation, the wider variety and better quality of raw and intermediate inputs available to domestic producers at a lower cost also constitutes an important channel through which significant productivity and output gains can be obtained. motivated by these and other beneficial effects, important strides towards trade liberalization have been made at a global scale. however, the pace of progress in this direction seems to have declined, and there remains an ample margin for further trade liberalization. according to recent estimations by the oecd, 8 a broad - based convergence of trade policy towards a stance such as the one currently observed in some of the most open economies would yield, over the long term, a world trade intensity ( that is, the sum of world imports and exports as share of gdp ) about 22 percentage points higher than in a baseline scenario in which protectionism remains

financial conditions derived mainly from the normalization of monetary policy in the united states, the vulnerable situation of several major advanced and emerging market economies, and the potential for geopolitical problems in a number of regions of the world, among other factors. third, even though the us dollar has depreciated somewhat during the course of this year, a number of elements point towards a prolonged strengthening of this currency. one of the most important among them is the perspective of higher interest rates in the united states and the likely increasing divergence of monetary policy stances among the main advanced economies, a trend that may be accentuated by the fiscal - monetary policy mix anticipated for the united states in coming years. the implementation of corporate tax reform measures geared towards subsidizing exports and taxing imports, or a trade policy aimed at increasing import tariffs in this country, should they materialize, would also give a boost to the valuation of the dollar. fourth, the rise of nationalist sentiment across a broad range of economies could result in in an increase of protectionism worldwide, in a context in which new trade restrictions returned in 2016 to the trend levels observed since 20094 and a shift towards more opaque measures of protection is taking place. world trade organization ( 2016 ) : “ report on g20 trade measures ”, 10 november. according to some recent studies, even an increase in tariffs by wto members within accepted rules would have a significant impact on world trade and welfare. 5 naturally, the consequences of an environment of retaliatory trade restrictions would be far more severe. lastly, the increasing barriers to the flow of labor between economies embodied in recent anti - immigration policy proposals, would represent a missed opportunity to mitigate some of the challenges faced by the global economy. in particular, the aging and low growth of the labor force in some of the main economies would continue to be a major drag on both realized and potential global growth. recent research by the imf finds that a 1 percentage point increase of the migrant share in the adult population of aes, can lead up to a 2 percent increase in the level of their gdp per capita in the long run. 6 what are the policy options for emes under such a scenario? although specific circumstances will vary from one country to another, some principles of a general nature can be underscored. a first one is to fight external uncertainty with policies aimed at enhancing domestic assurance. the priority here of course is to preserve macroeconomic and financial stability. under