To help policy makers make practical programmatic design choices, this series summarizes recent literature on cash transfers and explains how the design of cash transfer programs can affect outcomes. The...
This note introduces the 12th edition of the Global Database of Shared Prosperity (GDSP). Shared prosperity, defined as the growth in per capita household income or consumption of the poorest 40 percent...
It is critical to ensure that the World Bank portfolio is well targeted to areas with the greatest needs and with greatest potential to maximize development benefits. The Project Targeting Index (PTI)...
Across the globe, both cyclical downturns and structural changes episodically eliminate substantial numbers of jobs and in the process create serious dislocations. For instance, the rise in joblessness...
Traditional customary land tenure systems often limit women’s land rights in Sub-Saharan Africa.In an ongoing experiment in rural Uganda, we offered households fully-subsidized land titles and basic information...
With an estimated 724 million extreme poor people living in developing countries, and the world’s demographics bifurcating into an older north and a younger south, there are substantial economic incentives...
The Republic of Korea achieved universal health coverage in 1989, twelve years after the introduction of mandatory health insurance for employees in large corporations. Political legitimization of the...
The World Bank Group’s engagement in Turkey’s power sector, which began in the 1990s and continues today, has helped to expand independent power production and privatize electricity distribution in the...
Board assessment is a governance practice established to ensure that a board effectively performs its duties. Over the past decade, knowledge about board assessment and what it can and cannot do for boards...
Over the past decade, Bangladesh has achieved strong economic growth and impressive poverty reduction. The country’s great strides in human development, reflected in the lowered fertility rate, improved...
It is often forgotten today that in the aftermath of the Second World War the Bank undertook a considerable lending program in what are now very prosperous countries in Western Europe. In this excerpted...
Using survey data on informal firms in Myanmar, a number of issues related to firm-size,productivity, business environment, gender disparity and registration costs and benefits arediscussed. The findings...
The youth enterprise with innovation (YouWiN) in Nigeria program is a business plan competition for young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. It has the stated objective of encouraging innovation and job creation...
In Turkey, female employment and education are still relatively low, while fertility levels are high compared with other European countries. However, Turkey stands just at the edge of an important social...
Russia's economy experienced two shocks in 2014. On top of the structural crisis that began in 2012, Russia had to deal with cyclical and idiosyncratic challenges to the economy. One of the new shocks...
Board assessment is a governance practice established to ensure that a board effectively performs its duties. Over the past decade, knowledge about board assessment and what it can and cannot do for boards...
The Second Nam Theun (NT2) hydroelectric project is an industrial and development investment owned by private shareholders and the Lao Government, backed by commercial lenders and international financial...
One approach to improve the trade environment for food staples that has gained considerable momentum and widespread support in recent years has been to harmonize quality standards across countries and...
One approach to improve the trade environment for food staples that has gained considerable momentum and widespread support in recent years has been to harmonize quality standards across countries and...
The significance of secondary education emerges from its critical role in promoting economic growth by determining the quality of those who enter labor market after schooling as well as those who pursue...