Argentina's youth--6.7 million between the ages of 15 and 24--are an important, but to a certain extent untapped, resource for development. Over 2 million (31 percent) have already engaged in risky behaviors, and another 1 million (15 percent) are exposed to risk factors that are correlated with eventual risky behaviors. This totals 46 percent of youth at some form of risk. This book addresses the risks faced by youth in Argentina such as low education attainment, unemployment, teenage pregnancy, use and abuse of drugs and alcohol, becoming victims of crime, and low level of civic...

The main objective of this report is to help policymakers in the Caribbean design an agenda of policy actions to accelerate trade integration and growth and reduce poverty. The report is a joint response from the World Bank and the Organization of American States (OAS) to a demand statement from the member states of CARICOM, formulated by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery and the CARICOM Secretariat, to strengthen the analytical underpinnings of the linkages between trade, economic growth, and poverty. It aims at centering the Caribbean's next round of trade reforms and its overall...

The information revolution makes understanding knowledge and development more urgent than before. New communication technologies and plummeting computing costs are transforming distance and eroding borders and time, but the fact remains that people still lack basic, life-saving knowledge because simple information does not flow as readily as one would hope. This year's Report, the twenty-first in this annual series, examines the role of knowledge in advancing economic and social well being. It proposes that we step back from the familiar problems of development and consider them from a fresh,...

'Global Development Finance 2010 (Single User CD-ROM)' provides you with more than 200 historical time series from 1970 to 2008, and country group estimates for 2009. Data is available for over 130 countries that report under the World Bank Debtor Reporting System, as well as summary data for regions and income groups. It contains data on total external debt stocks and flows, aggregates, and key debt ratios, and provides a detailed, country-by-country picture of debt. The CD-ROM system requires Windows 98 or NT 4.0 or later, 20 MB of available hard disk space, 32 MB of RAM, and 2 MB of video...

Forty-four African ministers of finance and of education from 28 countries met in Tunis at a July 2009 conference on "Sustaining the Education and Economic Momentum in Africa amidst the Current Global Financial Crisis." The conference attendees discussed why and how they must exercise joint political leadership during the current global economic crisis to protect the educational development achieved during the past decade. They acknowledged that educational reform is an agenda for the entire government and that strong leadership to foster cross-ministry collaboration, coordination, and mutual...

Guangdong, a province of over 93 million residents, is located on the southern coast of China, boarding with Hong Kong, China. As China's powerhouse for economic growth and a pioneer of reform and opening up, Guangdong has maintained an annual average GDP growth rate of 13.7 percent over the past three decades. Its historical achievements notwithstanding, Guangdong witnessed increased inequality and regional disparity. To assist the authority in developing a strategy for the new phase of reforms that promotes more inclusive and sustainable growth, Reducing Inequality for Shared Growth in...

South Asia has created nearly 800,000 jobs per month during the last decade. Robust economic growth in large parts of the region has created better jobs -- those that pay higher wages for wage workers and reduce poverty for the self-employed, the largest segment of the region s employed. Going forward, South Asia faces the enormous challenge of absorbing 1 to 1.2 million entrants to the labor force every month for the next two decades at rising levels of productivity. This calls for an agenda that cuts across sectors and includes improving the reliability of electricity supply for firms in...

Much has been written about the role of law in furthering development. More analysis and debate is needed to understand more fully the true nature of this role. The World Bank Legal Review collects much of this debate and analysis, contributed by scholars and practitioners from around the world. The subtitle of the volume, Legal Innovation and Empowerment for Development, focuses attention on how the law can respond to the challenges posed to development in a world slowly emerging from a protracted economic crisis. "Innovation" in law means new strategies and ways of thinking about what the...