Government procurement is big business, typically accounting for 10 to 20 percent of annual GDP depending on the country and year. Given this scale and the high level of discretion involved, it is hardly surprising that policy makers often view procurement systems as a powerful industrial policy tool to achieve macroeconomic policy objectives.
In this Policy Research Talk delivered on January 28, 2025, World Bank Senior Economist Manuel García-Santana presented findings on the impacts of policies such as "buy small" and "buy local" on the private sector and the broader economy. His talk provided participants with a more nuanced understanding of the trade-offs involved in designing procurement policies.