World Bank: 627 books

Cities in developing countries are experiencing unprecedented urban growth. Unfortunately, this is often accompanied by the negative impacts of sprawl as a result of rapid motorization such as congestion, air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, inefficient use of energy and time, and unequal accessibility....

The crisis threatens the welfare of about 160 million people in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region who are poor or are just above the poverty line. Using pre-crisis household data along with aggregate macroeconomic outturns to simulate the impact of the crisis on households transmitted via credit...

This book examines the conceptual foundations of participatory approaches to building local institutions and builds an analytical framework in which civic participation is viewed as a potential solution to specific civil society, market, and government failures. It then uses this framework to review...

How does the social and political context in which decision-makers find themselves in affect their ability to realize their reform goals? How does this context facilitate or inhibit specific reform agendas and projects? How can we operationalize and evaluate these risks and opportunities in order to...

This book brings together new household and enterprise data from 41 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to inform policy makers and practitioners on ways to expand women entrepreneurs’ economic opportunities. Sub-Saharan Africa boasts the highest share of women entrepreneurs, but they are disproportionately...

Upon signing the Millennium Declaration in 2000, the international community committed itself to eight development goals with timebound targets and measurable indicators. The third of these eight goals was to "promote gender equality and empower women". The third Millennium Development Goal (MDG3) in...

In 2004 the Indonesian government made a commitment to provide its entire population with health insurance coverage through a mandatory public health insurance scheme. It has moved boldly already provides coverage to an estimated 76.4 million poor and near poor funded through the public budget. Nevertheless...

This paper proposes an innovative financing mechanism, known as the Low Carbon Development Facility (LCDF) that would bring additional investment financing at concessional rates to unlock low carbon development projects in non-Annex 1 countries, increasing project-based emissions avoidance in these countries.The...

This book aims to help governments and public authorities to establish effective LRMT systems, and focuses on use of Public Private Participation (PPP) arrangements. Rather than identify a single approach, we present options and discuss practical issues related to preparing and implementing new LRMT...

Over the past decade, Egyptian women have made significant progress in improving their economic and social status. The Egyptian government's commitment to women's empowerment is strong at the highest political level. Yet continued disparities remain in the country's labor market and the business arena....

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.

The purpose of this book is to provide policy insights to decision-makers, academics and researchers on investment flows and patterns in Southeast Europe. The report explores some of the determinants of private investment, such as: the financing sources for investment, the contribution of FDI and the...

Two decades since the fall of the Berlin wall, Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, is experiencing the deepest contraction and is expected to see the weakest recovery in output among all emerging and developing economy regions a result of the global financial and economic crisis....

The report aims to meet two broad objectives: (a) enhance knowledge about the current state of existing social safety nets (SSNs) and assess their effectiveness in responding to new and emerging challenges to the poor and vulnerable in the region by bringing together new evidence, data, and country-specific...