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Business Ready (B-READY) 2024

What does the world need to do to become “Business Ready”? A healthy business environment and strong private sector are foundations of economic growth: generating jobs, boosting investment and increasing output. The Business Ready (B-READY) 2024 report assesses the regulatory framework and public services directed at firms, and the efficiency with which regulatory framework and public services are combined in practice.

World Development Report 2024: The Middle-Income Trap

Drawing on the development experience and advances in economic analysis since the 1950s, World Development Report 2024 identifies what developing economies can do to avoid the “middle-income trap.” Lower-middle-income countries must go beyond investment-driven strategies—they must also adopt modern technologies and successful business practices from abroad and infuse them across their economies.

Women, Business and the Law 2024

The latest Women, Business, and the Law report offers a comprehensive picture of the obstacles that women face in entering the global workforce and contributing to greater prosperity—for themselves, their families, and their communities. It expands the scope of its analysis, adding two indicators that can be critical in opening up or restricting women’s options: safety from violence and access to childcare services.

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Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024: Pathways Out of the Polycrisis
The Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024 is the latest edition of the series formerly known as Poverty and Shared Prosperity. The report emphasizes that reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity must be achieved in ways that do not come at unacceptably high costs to the environment.
Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System
Recipe for a Livable Planet: Achieving Net Zero Emissions in the Agrifood System
The global agrifood system has been largely overlooked in the fight against climate change. Yet, greenhouse gas emissions from the agrifood system are so big that they alone could cause the world to miss the goal of keeping global average temperatures from rising above 1.5 centigrade compared to preindustrial levels. The report offers the first comprehensive global strategic framework to mitigate the agrifood system’s contributions to climate change, detailing affordable and readily available measures that can cut nearly a third of the world’s planet heating emissions while ensuring global food security.
Cybersecurity Economics for Emerging Markets
This is a pioneering research work that delves into the drivers and profound consequences of cyber incidents worldwide. From economic setbacks that can destabilize entire economies to interruptions of vital services and impediments to social and economic development, the impacts of cyber incidents are far-reaching.
Unleashing Productivity through Firm Financing
The ability of firms to finance investments in physical and human capital and innovate through digital, green, and other technologies is central to productivity and economic growth. Yet a myriad of distortions and frictions can prevent the efficient allocation of financial resources to firms, negatively impacting their growth and productivity.
Equality of Opportunity for Sexual and Gender Minorities 2024
This second edition of the EQOSOGI report expands its coverage from 16 to 64 countries representing different geographic areas, income levels, legal traditions, and inclusiveness of sexual and gender minorities, ensuring a diverse and holistic representation of the issues.
Shrinking Economic Distance: Understanding How Markets and Places Can Lower Transport Costs in Developing Countries
Despite the reduction in transport costs over the past few decades, creating a single integrated economy remains elusive. This publication makes a unique contribution by assessing the main determinants of shippers’ economic costs of freight transport—economic distance—and identifying the frictions that keep transport prices above an efficient level, shipping times high, and reliability low.