• Avoiding the pitfalls of industrial policy : building open and effective institutions for private sector development and jobs
    Economic policies in MENA have often been captured by a few politically connected firms and such capture has undermined private sector growth and job creation. However...
    Type: Brief Report#: 91705 Date: July 1, 2014
  • Predictions, perceptions and economic reality
    This issue of the MENA quarterly brief assesses the macroeconomic performance of seven of the MENA countries: Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Yemen and Libya....
    Type: Brief Report#: 89844 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Devarajan,Shantayanan ; Mottaghi,Lili
  • Impact of weather shocks on MENA Households
    Do households living in climate affected areas in the MENA region believe that changes in climate patterns and their environment are taking place? Have households been...
    Type: Brief Report#: 90155 Date: July 1, 2014
  • Mainstreaming governance in Tajikistan through its energy, extractives, and public procurement sectors
    The governance partnership facility (GPF) supported program mainstreaming governance in Tajikistan portfolio (FY2010-14) was a landmark achievement in applying governance...
    Type: Brief Report#: 89229 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Johns,Kimberly D. ; Kunicova,Jana ; Mikulova,Kristina
  • Creating Space for Social Accountability : The Global Partnership for Social Accountability
    This is the first note in a six-part series discussing whether the social accountability field is already primed with the knowledge and capabilities to design, implement,...
    Type: Brief Report#: 154662 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Guerzovich,Florencia ; Poli,Maria
  • High-speed railways in China : a look at construction costs
    By the end of 2013, China railway had built a network of about 10,000 route-km of high-speed railways (HSR). The network has been built rapidly and at a relatively low...
    Type: Brief Report#: 89200 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Ollivier,Gerald Paul ; Sondhi,Jitendra ; Zhou,Nanyan
  • Climate change and migration in the MENA region
    Climate change and climate-induced migration (Foresight, 2011) are major global concerns. This is true for the MENA region as well. Yet empirical data on how perceptions...
    Type: Brief Report#: 90156 Date: July 1, 2014
  • Developing trends : July 2014
    The strengthening of economic activity is robust in the United States, but lags behind in the Euro Area. Notwithstanding the Q1 weakness, economic activity in high-income...
    Type: Brief Report#: 91229 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Baffes,John ; Chen,Derek Hung Chiat ; Cosic,Damir ; Dennis,Allen Curtis K. ; Kambou,Gerard ; Shaukat Khan,Tehmina ; Kim,Eung Ju ; Mercado,Kristina Cathrine Tan ; Nguyen, Thanh
  • Over the horizon : a new Levant
    According to a new World Bank report, economic complementarities between Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and the Palestinian Territories are significant,...
    Type: Brief Report#: 90154 Date: July 1, 2014
  • Policy options for tackling noncommunicable diseases in Bangladesh
    Several key messages are relayed in this brief. Bangladesh is undergoing an epidemiologic transition with a growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounting...
    Type: Brief Report#: 93857 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Ahsan,Karar Zunaid ; El-Saharty,Sameh
  • bKash Bangladesh : a fast start for mobile financial services
    The first mobile financial service deployments were launched in Bangladesh in mid-2011, and by the end of 2013 they were being used by 22 percent of the adult population...
    Type: Brief Report#: 90952 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Chen,Gregory C. ; Rasmussen,Stephen F.
  • Philippines - Are cash transfer programs effective
    Countries around the world increasingly rely on conditional cash transfers to boost health and education outcomes for the poorest citizens. In developing and middle...
    Type: Brief Report#: 91131 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Berman,Daphna ; Marcus, Aliza [editor]
  • Financial disclosure in Mexico : evidence from an audit study
    This note examines the extent to which financial disclosure policies are enough to protect consumers in Mexico. It highlights two questions that are the focus of an...
    Type: Brief Report#: 90902 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Gine,Xavier ; Martinez, Cristina ; Mazer,Rafael Keenan
  • Leveraging World Bank Group balance sheet to mobilize financing for a transport project in Brazil
    The State of Sao Paulo is one of Brazil's most advanced states. The World Bank's transport specialists worked with the State to design a project - the Sao Paulo State...
    Type: Brief Report#: 93907 Date: July 1, 2014 Author: Lancelot,Eric R. ; Navarro-Martin,Miguel ; Quintrell,Edith
  • Improving Value-for-Money in Social Protection Systems by Reducing Error, Fraud and Corruption
    This brief focuses on the workshop on Reducing Error, Fraud and Corruption in Social Protection Programs held in Croatia on June 2014. Error, fraud and corruption (EFC)...
    Type: Brief Report#: 180541 Date: June 27, 2014 Author: World Bank
  • Philippines : Learning Behind Bars
    Despite the high literacy rate in the Philippines (86.4% as of 2008), there are still many Filipinos who cannot read and write. Mobile teachers are able to reach disadvantaged...
    Type: Brief Report#: 177892 Date: June 23, 2014 Author: World Bank
  • Developing trends : June 2014
    World Bank lowers projections for the global economic outlook. In the recently released Global Economic Prospects, the World Bank reports that the global economy got...
    Type: Brief Report#: 91230 Date: June 19, 2014 Author: Dennis, Allen ; Khan, Tehmina ; Kambou, Gerard ; Chen, Derek ; Kim, Eung Ju ; Baffes, John ; Cosic, Damir ; Moha-patra, Sanket ; Vashakmadze, Ekaterine ; Nguyen, Thanh ; Mercado, Kristina Cathrine ; Burns, Andrew
  • A successful public-private partnership model
    This brief is about preventing Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) of poverty. The control of onchocerciasis (river blindness) is widely acknowledged to be one of the...
    Type: Brief Report#: 88851 Date: June 18, 2014
  • Central Asian Countries Pledge Action on Climate Change
    Central Asia faces climate change related issues such as warmer temperatures, glacier melt, increased variability in water resources, and frequent and costly weather-related...
    Type: Brief Report#: 180159 Date: June 17, 2014 Author: World Bank
  • Capturing the multi-dimensionality of energy access
    There are two initial challenges in defining and measuring energy access: the absence of a universal definition of energy access and the difficulty of measuring any...
    Type: Brief Report#: 88699 Date: June 13, 2014 Author: Angelou, Nicolina ; Bhatia,Mikul
Welcome