How much is a cleaner environment worth? For policy makers, that question used to go largely unanswered. Many economic activities cause environmental degradation, entailing real costs to the economy and to people's welfare. Knowing the extent of these costs is crucial for identifying a country's main environmental priorities and allocating appropriate funds for environmental protection. Over the past decade, the World Bank has initiated a systematic effort to measure the costs of environmental degradation in the Middle East and North Africa, shedding new light on their magnitude and on the...
How much is a cleaner environment worth? For policy makers, that question used to go largely unanswered. Many economic activities cause environmental ...
This book aims at contributing to address some of the challenge that developing countries, especially the least-developing countries, face in the design of trade in service policies and to provide governments with tools to better incorporate services in their export strategies, including negotiations and cooperation with trading partners, and unilateral reforms. This book helps to identify key policy challenges faced by developing country trade negotiators, regulatory policy officials and/or service suppliers. Management of both policy reforms and trade agreements requires investments in...
This book aims at contributing to address some of the challenge that developing countries, especially the least-developing countries, face in the desi...
Remittances sent by African migrants have become an important source of external finance for countries in the Sub-Saharan African region. In many African countries, these flows are larger than foreign direct investment and portfolio debt and equity flows. In some cases, they are similar in size to official aid from multilateral and bilateral donors. Remittance markets in Africa, however, remain less developed than other regions. The share of informal or unrecorded remittances is among the highest for Sub-Saharan African countries. Remittance costs tend to be significantly higher in Africa...
Remittances sent by African migrants have become an important source of external finance for countries in the Sub-Saharan African region. In many Afri...
Over recent decades, women in Latin America and the Caribbean have increased their labor force participation faster than in any other region of the world. This evolution occurred in the context of more general progress in women s status. Female enrollment rates have increased at all levels of education, fertility rates have declined, and social norms have shifted toward gender equality. This report sheds light on the complex relationship between stages of economic development and female economic participation. It documents a shift in women s perceptions whereby work has become a fundamental...
Over recent decades, women in Latin America and the Caribbean have increased their labor force participation faster than in any other region of the wo...
Latin America and the Caribbean will soon face the challenges of an aging population. This process, which took over a century in the rich world, will occur in two or three decades in the developing world; seven of the 25 countries that will age more rapidly are in LAC. Population aging will pose challenges and offer opportunities. This book explores three sets of issues. First is a group of issues related to the support of the aging and poverty in the life cycle. This covers questions of work and retirement, income and wealth, and living arrangements and intergenerational transfers. It also...
Latin America and the Caribbean will soon face the challenges of an aging population. This process, which took over a century in the rich world, will ...
The Filipino economy has experienced overall growth over the last 20 years, but the growth of the manufacturing sector has been sluggish, and the country has lost innovation capacity. Regaining momentum will depend on many factors, but skills have a key role to play in supporting the growing service sector, improving the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, and enhancing the long-term ability of the country to innovate and adapt and assimilate new technologies. 'Skills for the Labor Market in the Philippines' analyzes the functional skills with which workers need to be equipped to be...
The Filipino economy has experienced overall growth over the last 20 years, but the growth of the manufacturing sector has been sluggish, and the coun...
The World Bank created this Early Child Development (ECD) Guide in response to a growing demand from Task Team Leaders (TTLs) for advice and support to facilitate the policy dialogue on the topic of ECD and to help policy makers make and implement relevant choices on how to best invest in ECD in the context of their country's economy and national priorities. This Guide fills a gap in the literature by (i) distilling existing information in a user-friendly format, (ii) providing practical information on topics that have recently become particularly relevant in ECD (e.g., measuring child...
The World Bank created this Early Child Development (ECD) Guide in response to a growing demand from Task Team Leaders (TTLs) for advice and support t...
In the 1990s many emerging economies in Central Europe and Latin America initiated their pension reforms. While most analysis to date has focused on the accumulation phase, there are a number of lessons to be shared as countries start to prepare the retirement options for their contributors, with this book addressing these issues from a public policy perspective.
In the 1990s many emerging economies in Central Europe and Latin America initiated their pension reforms. While most analysis to date has focused on t...
In Indonesia, the past two decades have been a time of great progress but also massive transformations and abrupt setbacks. In this context, this book reviews the main characteristics of - and trends in - demand for skills in Indonesia. It seeks to document the existence of a possible skills mismatch between employer demands and the available supply, the contribution of the education and training sector to this mismatch, and possible measures to improve the education and training system's responsiveness to what the labor market and the economy need. In today's job market in Indonesia, there...
In Indonesia, the past two decades have been a time of great progress but also massive transformations and abrupt setbacks. In this context, this book...
The process of rural-urban transformation presents both opportunities and challenges for development. If managed effectively, it can result in growth that benefits everyone; if managed poorly, it can lead to stark welfare disparities and entire regions cut off from the advantages of agglomeration economies. The importance of rural-urban transition has been confirmed by two consecutive World Development Reports: WDR 2008 Agriculture for Development; and WDR 2009 Reshaping Economic Geography. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, this book picks up where the WDRs left off,...
The process of rural-urban transformation presents both opportunities and challenges for development. If managed effectively, it can result in growth ...
