World Development Report – serie

The main message of this year's World Development Report: gender equality and development is that these patterns of progress and persistence in gender equality matter, both for development outcomes and policy making. They matter because gender equality is a core development objective in its own right. But greater gender equality is also smart economics, enhancing productivity and improving other development outcomes, including prospects for the next generation and for the quality of societal policies and institutions. Economic development is not enough to shrink all gender disparities-corrective policies that focus on persisting gender gaps are essential. This report points to four priority areas for policy going forward. First, reducing gender gaps in human capital-specifically those that address female mortality and education. Second, closing gender gaps in access to economic opportunities, earnings, and productivity. Third, shrinking gender differences in voice and agency within society. Fourth, limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations. These are all areas where higher incomes by themselves do little to reduce gender gaps, but focused policies can have a real impact. Gender equality is at the heart of development. It's the right development objective, and it's smart economic policy. The World Development Report 2012 can help both countries and international partners think through and integrate a focus on gender equality into development policy making and programming.

The last 25 years have witnessed unprecedented changes around the world—many of them for the better. In all continents, numerous countries have embarked on a path of international integration, economic reform, technological modernization, and democratic participation. As result, economies that had been stagnant for decades are growing, people who had suffered deprivation for generations are escaping poverty, and hundreds of millions are enjoying the benefits of improved living standards and scientific and cultural sharing across nations.As the world changes, a host of opportunities arise constantly. With them, however, old and new risks appear, from the possibility of job loss and disease to the potential for social unrest and environmental damage. If ignored, these risks can turn into crises that reverse hard-fought gains and endanger the social and economic reforms that produced these gains.The World Development Report 2014, Managing Risk for Development, contends that the solution is not to reject the changes that bring about opportunities along with risks, but to prepare for them in a proactive and holistic way. Thus, managing risks responsibly and effectively has the potential to bring about a sense of security and means of progress to people in developing countries and beyond.Although individuals’ initiative and responsibility are essential for managing risk, their success can only be limited without a supportive social environment, especially when risks are large or systemic in nature. The WDR 2014 argues that a way in which people can successfully confront risks and opportunities that are beyond their means is to share their risk management with others. This can be done through naturally occurring social and economic systems that enable people to overcome the obstacles that individuals and groups suffer from, including lack of resources and information, cognitive and behavioral failures, missing markets and public goods, and social externalities and exclusion. These systems –from the household and the community to the state and the international community—have the potential to support people’s risk management in different yet complementary ways.The WDR 2014 presents a detailed approach and specific advice to improve resilience. For policy makers in developing (and developed) countries, the Report also provides strategic recommendations that cut across risks and social systems in an integrated framework. They attempt to provide both innovative solutions to long-standing problems in poor and emerging economies and ways to mainstream risk management into the development agenda. These recommendations should serve to guide the dialogue, operations, and contributions from key development actors –from civil society and national governments to the donor community and international development organizations.

Entrepreneurship is a fundamental driver of growth, development, and job creation. While Latin America and the Caribbean has a wealth of entrepreneurs, firms in the region, compared to those in other regions, are small in size and less likely to grow or innovate. Productivity growth has remained lackluster for decades, including during the recent commodity boom. Enhancing the creation of good jobs and accelerating productivity growth in the region will require dynamic entrepreneurs. This book studies the landscape of entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean. Utilizing new datasets that cover issues such as firm creation, firm dynamics, export decisions, and the behavior of multinational corporations, the book synthesizes the results of a comprehensive analysis of the status, prospects, and challenges of entrepreneurship in the region. Useful tools and information are provided to help policy makers and practitioners identify policy areas governments can explore to enhance innovation and encourage high-growth, transformational entrepreneurship.

Digital technologies are spreading rapidly, but digital dividends--the broader benefits of faster growth, more jobs, and better services--are not. If more than 40 percent of adults in East Africa pay their utility bills using a mobile phone, why can’t others around the world do the same? If 8 million entrepreneurs in China--one third of them women--can use an e-commerce platform to export goods to 120 countries, why can’t entrepreneurs elsewhere achieve the same global reach? And if India can provide unique digital identification to 1 billion people in five years, and thereby reduce corruption by billions of dollars, why can’t other countries replicate its success? Indeed, what’s holding back countries from realizing the profound and transformational effects that digital technologies are supposed to deliver?Two main reasons. First, nearly 60 percent of the world’s population are still offline and can’t participate in the digital economy in any meaningful way. Second, and more important, the benefits of digital technologies can be offset by growing risks. Startups can disrupt incumbents, but not when vested interests and regulatory uncertainty obstruct competition and the entry of new firms. Employment opportunities may be greater, but not when the labor market is polarized. The internet can be a platform for universal empowerment, but not when it becomes a tool for state control and elite capture.The World Development Report 2016 shows that while the digital revolution has forged ahead, its 'analog complements'--the regulations that promote entry and competition, the skills that enable workers to access and then leverage the new economy, and the institutions that are accountable to citizens--have not kept pace. And when these analog complements to digital investments are absent, the development impact can be disappointing.What, then, should countries do? They should formulate digital development strategies that are much broader than current information and communication technology (ICT) strategies. They should create a policy and institutional environment for technology that fosters the greatest benefits. In short, they need to build a strong analog foundation to deliver digital dividends to everyone, everywhere.

Every year, the World Bank’s World Development Report (WDR) features a topic of central importance to global development. The 2018 WDR?LEARNING to Realize Education’s Promise?is the first ever devoted entirely to education. And the time is right: education has long been critical to human welfare, but it is even more so in a time of rapid economic and social change. The best way to equip children and youth for the future is to make their learning the center of all efforts to promote education.The 2018 WDR explores four main themes:First, education’s promise: education is a powerful instrument for eradicating poverty and promoting shared prosperity, but fulfilling its potential requires better policies?both within and outside the education system.Second, the need to shine a light on learning: despite gains in access to education, recent learning assessments reveal that many young people around the world, especially those who are poor or marginalized, are leaving school unequipped with even the foundational skills they need for life. At the same time, internationally comparable learning assessments show that skills in many middle-income countries lag far behind what those countries aspire to. And too often these shortcomings are hidden?so as a first step to tackling this learning crisis, it is essential to shine a light on it by assessing student learning better.Third, how to make schools work for all learners: research on areas such as brain science, pedagogical innovations, and school management has identified interventions that promote learning by ensuring that learners are prepared, teachers are both skilled and motivated, and other inputs support the teacher-learner relationship.Fourth, how to make systems work for learning: achieving learning throughout an education system requires more than just scaling up effective interventions. Countries must also overcome technical and political barriers by deploying salient metrics for mobilizing actors and tracking progress, building coalitions for learning, and taking an adaptive approach to reform.

The World Development Report (WDR) 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains examines whether there is still a path to development through GVCs.

The World Development Report 2021 examines how countries can realize the potential benefits of data and safeguard against its harmful outcomes in order to improve the lives of poor people.

The World Development Report 2021 examines how countries can realize the potential benefits of data and safeguard against its harmful outcomes in order to improve the lives of poor people.

The World Development Report 2022 is a practical guide to help low-and-middle-income countries strengthen financial markets for a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. The report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic—risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.

The World Development Report 2022 is a practical guide to help low-and-middle-income countries strengthen financial markets for a more equitable recovery from the COVID-19 economic crisis. The report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic—risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.

How can we manage cross-border mobility in a manner that is beneficial to all? The World Development Report 2023 shifts from a narrow focus on labor markets for migrants and legal protection for refugees to a more holistic perspective -- one that recognizes the humanity of migrants and the complexity of the societies of origin and destination.

How can we manage cross-border mobility in a manner that is beneficial to all? The World Development Report 2023 shifts from a narrow focus on labor markets for migrants and legal protection for refugees to a more holistic perspective -- one that recognizes the humanity of migrants and the complexity of the societies of origin and destination.

The Report identifies principles for growth to enable middle-income countries to transition to high-income, applying a framework that proposes how the forces of creation (from both entrants and incumbent firms), destruction (of outdated arrangements), and preservation (of existing norms and institutions) can be balanced to speed up progress.

The Report identifies principles for growth to enable middle-income countries to transition to high-income, applying a framework that proposes how the forces of creation (from both entrants and incumbent firms), destruction (of outdated arrangements), and preservation (of existing norms and institutions) can be balanced to speed up progress.

Uniform standards across economic, social, environmental, and governmental sectors drive development by providing clear benchmarks. Their enforcement boosts progress toward sustainable development goals, showing that well-applied standards unite efforts for cohesive and accelerated growth.