Knowledge is fueling economic growthand social development in every region of the world. New ideas and innovation are spreading faster than ever. This book showcases the Finnish experience in the 1990s as an example of how knowledge can become the driving force in economic transformation and growth.

Knowledge and its application are now widely recognized to be key sources of growth in the global economy. Putting knowledge to work allows countries to improve everyday life for their people, opening up new possibilities for small and medium-size enterprises and other less-developed economic groups. This volume examines the challenges and opportunties for Mexico's knowledge-based economy, offering strategies for making major improvements in the country's capacity to generate knowledge and transform it into wealth.

Have gaps in health outcomes between the poor and better off grown? Are they larger in one country than another? Are health sector subsidies more equally distributed in some countries than others? Are health care payments more progressive in one health care financing system than another? What are catastrophic payments and how can they be measured? How far do health care payments impoverish households? Answering questions such as these requires quantitative analysis. This in turn depends on a clear understanding of how to measure key variables in the analysis, such as health outcomes, health...

This book discusses the issues and steps involved in building a lifelong learning system in China, including: a coherent policy framework, a sound incentive and institutional framework, a sound regulatory environment, a coordinated governance process, a timely and reliable management information system, a dynamic link with the evolving global system, and the optimal use of limited resources.

This book is a practical guide for medical professionals with little or no business experience who are interested in establishing health care facilities in developing countries. It is an introduction to the kinds of basic research and planning required to identify viable solutions and reduce the risk of failure. Drawing on resources and lessons from across the World Bank Group and elsewhere, the book aims to provide medical entrepreneurs with some of the tools they need to build sustainable health care facilities, whether for-profit or nonprofit, for their communities. It offers guidance on...

Specialist groups have often advised health ministers and other decision makers in developing countries on the use of social health insurance (SHI) as a way of mobilizing revenue for health, reforming health sector performance, and providing universal coverage. This book reviews the specific design and implementation challenges facing SHI in low- and middle-income countries and presents case studies on Ghana, Kenya, Philippines, Colombia, and Thailand.

The literature on growth and poverty is voluminous and still evolving. This title distills the most important lessons from developing countries' experience with growth and poverty. It provides a broad understanding of the impact of economic policies on growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. After describing basic economic relationships that summarize the workings and the measurement of the macroeconomy--and after confirming that growth is the most critical factor in alleviating poverty--the book turns to individual policy areas. These include the various roles of government,...

Korea's development process offers valuable lessons for other developing and less developed economies. In particular, the way Korea uses outside technologies, by accumulating indigenous capabilities, is still valid in the era of the knowledge economy. This volume examines the Korean model and Korea's march toward a knowledge economy from a poverty-ridden economy before the launch of full-scale industrialization in the early 1960s. It also emphasizes Korea's achievements, as well as remaining tasks within the four pillars of the knowledge economy, with a common theme throughout--how Korea has...

Africa is on the move, demonstrating in recent years a significant potential for economic growth. Although the region still faces many challenges, it is also generating pockets of economic vitality in the form of enterprise clusters that are contributing to national, regional, and local productivity. Through case examples from Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda, this book provides an understanding of how these dynamic enterprise clusters were formed and have evolved, and how knowledge, human capital, and technology have contributed to their success.

Brazil is the world's largest exporter of coffee, sugar, can-based ethanol, orange juice, and iron ore. Yet over the past 10 years, its economy has grown an average of only 2.5 percent per year. The questions increasingly being asked is, How can Brazil improve its competitiveness in the global economy? 'Knowledge and Innovation for Competitiveness in Brazil' makes a compelling argument that, in a global economy that is increasingly knowledge drive, human capital is key to growth. The book supports this argument by mapping the relationship between microeconomic inputs, such as health and...