Nas ultimas decadas, os paises em desenvolvimento ricos em recursos tem utilizado os seus recursos naturais como garantia colateral para ter acesso a fontes de financiamento para o investimento, contrabalancando assim as barreiras com que se deparam no acesso a emprestimos bancarios convencionais e a mercados de capital. Um dos modelos de financiamento que surgiu desta situacao foi o modelo de Infraestruturas Financiadas por Recursos (RFI), uma adaptacao dos anteriores modelos de emprestimos garantidos pelo petroleo promovidos por varios bancos ocidentais em Africa. Num acordo de RFI, o...

El sector de las industrias extractivas (IE) ocupa un lugar considerable en las economias de muchos paises en desarrollo. Los economistas y los profesionales de las finanzas publicas que trabajan en estos paises suelen enfrentarse a problemas que exigen un entendimiento profundo del sector, su economia, su buen gobierno y los desafios en materia de politicas, asi como a las consecuencias de la abundancia de recursos naturales para la gestion fiscal y de las finanzas publicas. El objetivo del estudio de tres volumenes denominado Essentials for Economists and Public Finance Professionals,...

The formation of health professionals is critical for the health system to function and to achieve its universal health coverage (UHC) goals. This is well recognized by the majority of governments that plan to ensure enough training places and aim to regulate in order to ensure quality. But the importance of market forces is often overlooked, resulting in interventions and regulations that often fail to achieve their intended effects. The Economics of Health Professional Education and Careers aims to inform the design of health professionals' education policies to better manage health labor...

There is a dynamic and growing energy in Indonesia focusing on parenting education, particularly for low-SES families. However, little is known about parenting styles and related outcomes, much less the coverage and effectiveness of various parenting education approaches. In 2013, the Government of Indonesia commissioned the World Bank to review existing programs and make recommendations to strengthen its parenting education system. This report synthesizes international research while providing detailed information on the seven agencies currently providing parenting education programs in...

Romania identified competition as key to its effective economic development and is positioning the Competition Council to become more visible and effective. Improving Romania's competitive environment will attract new firms, weed out inefficient ones, and enhance growth potential. An effective competition policy leads to success in the areas of Romania's domestic market efficiency, economic growth and European market integration. Following a comprehensive functional review of the Romanian Competition Council carried out by the World Bank in 2010, weaknesses, needs and priorities were...

As Brazil is massively investing in a scale-up of in vocational education and training (VET) through the national flagship program, PRONATEC, this report assesses institutions and policies in VET taking an in depth critical view of upcoming opportunities. It shares international best practices on selected operational issues identified as strategic bottlenecks for the delivery of technical education. The report explores multiple sources of information including a desk review of existing reports and papers, inputs/data provided by the Ministry of Education and interviews with multiple...

The Government of the Republic of Belarus (GoB) plans to increase district heating tariffs to cost-recovery levels and gradually phase out subsidies, replacing them with social assistance programs. Residential DH tariffs in Belarus are currently at roughly 10-21 percent of cost-recovery levels. DH subsidies are highly regressive, add costs to business, and create significant fiscal risks and macroeconomic vulnerabilities. The study analyzes the social, sectoral, and fiscal impacts of the proposed tariff reform, and identifies and recommends measures to mitigate adverse impacts of district...

Since the 1960s, it has been known that poor water and sanitation causes diarrhea, which consequently compromises child growth and leads to undernutrition. Ample evidence shows that poor water and sanitation causes diarrhea, but there is a growing body of knowledge discussing the magnitude of the impact of diarrhea on undernutrition. A recent hypothesis by Humphrey (2009), for example, states that the predominant impact of contaminated water and poor sanitation on undernutrition is via tropical/environmental enteropathy (triggered by exposure to fecal matter) rather than mediated by diarrhea....

This book analyzes Africa's current performance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) research, as well as future trends. It looks at Africa's research performance over a decade, what it means for the continent's development and how it can benefit the growing number of young people who leave university each year looking for jobs. The book focuses on research output and citation impact, important indicators of the strength of a region's research enterprise. These indicators are correlated with the region's long-term development and important drivers of economic success. Moreover,...

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) operates one of the largest nongovernmental school systems in the Middle East. Palestine refugees in UNRWA schools are achieving higher-than-average learning outcomes in spite of the adverse circumstances they live under. This study uses a mixed methods research approach to address the complexity of the research question and its exploratory nature, namely, How do UNRWA schools continually and consistently outperform public schools? This study used the following data collection techniques: econometric...