"Loayza and Soto present policy and outcome-based ways of measuring the progress of market-oriented reforms in both traditional areas of first-generation reform and the areas of institutional reform that have been emphasized lately. These policy areas are the domestic financial system, international financial markets, international trade, the labor market, the tax system, public infrastructure and public firms, the legal and regulatory framework, and governance. For each of them, the authors first discuss the general principles underlying market-oriented reform. Second, they present various indicators of the policy stance in the area in question. And third, they present various outcome indicators of the policy stance. This paper is a product of Investment Climate Team, Development Research Group is part of a larger effort in the group to understand the process of economic reform"--World Bank web site.