The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository (OKR) is The World Bank’s official open access repository for its research outputs and knowledge products.
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Total publications: 38,784
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Publication Nature's Paradox: Stepping Stone or Millstone?(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-13) Damania, Richard; Ebadi, Ebad; Mayr, Kentaro; Rentschler, Jun; Russ, Jason; Zaveri, EshaThis report is about the intersection of two major crises of the 21st century—the sustainability crisis and the social exclusion and inequality crisis. The world is facing massive environmental degradation. Some of these challenges—including climate change, ecosystem collapse, and ocean acidification—represent global existential threats. Others, such as air pollution, water pollution, and land degradation, inflict significant costs on local populations. These environmental challenges are a byproduct of unsustainable practices in the pursuit of economic growth. And while this growth has raised living standards around the world, and lifted billions out of poverty, not all countries or peoples have benefited equally. The research presented in this report focuses on the interaction between social exclusion and natural capital—the world’s stock of natural resources and environmental assets, which include soil, water, and air. It seeks to determine how socially excluded populations fit into their wider environment, asking whether their lands are in less productive geographies, they endure disproportionately higher levels of pollution, their usage patterns of natural capital lead to more rapid depletion, they are systematically denied equivalent access to the environmental amenities and natural resources they need for a decent life on a livable planet, and so on.Publication Understanding Social Vulnerability for more Effective Climate Strategies: Lessons from CCDRs in Southern and Eastern Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-13) Canpolat, E.; de Berry, J.; Davis, M.; Brown, R.Climate change is increasingly evident across Southern and Eastern Africa, bringing higher temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, more extreme weather, and sometimes catastrophic events. These impacts are expected to intensify in the coming decades, making it crucial to build climate resilience. Governments in the region recognize the threats and, in partnership with the World Bank, have taken steps to reduce climate risks and help their citizens adapt. Yet, without a clear understanding of how social vulnerability interacts with climate risks, these efforts may fail to protect those who are least able to cope with climate shocks. Indeed, some climate investments could leave vulnerable groups worse off. This report draws on a wealth of new analysis for eight countries, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa, conducted by the Social Sustainability and Inclusion team to provide that crucial perspective for Country Climate and Development Reports (CCDRs). It highlights how social vulnerability puts some people in harm’s way or prevents them from finding safety; limits their access to resources for adaptation; and constrains their agency and their voice. Poverty is a key factor, but so is social exclusion. The goal of the report is to show how understanding social vulnerability can help policymakers to prioritize climate investments, design projects and programs to be more inclusive, and create tailored initiatives that make households and communities stronger and more resilient overall. These insights can help World Bank teams and other development partners as they engage with countries in the region to support green, resilient, and inclusive development.Publication Taxing and subsidizing energy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Insights from a Total Carbon Price Approach(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-12) World BankThis report estimates fuel-specific TCPs for 11 LAC countries—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominica, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, St. Lucia, and Uruguay—from 2017 to 2023, and a preliminary estimate for 2024 is also constructed. TCPs in this report are built using a detailed bottom-up approach for each country and fuel type, whereby local tax information, public expenditure data, energy prices, and so on are combined under a common methodology, following Agnolucci et al. (2023, 2024) and Campmas et al. (2024). Because of this bottom-up data gathering, estimates of the TCP in this report are comprehensive, including, for instance, tax and subsidies at the local level (where relevant), as well as instruments that are usually difficult to capture, such as VAT rate differentials. Moreover, using a common methodology over several countries and several years allows the comparability across geographies and time of these estimates to be improved.Publication Policies for Prosperity: Supporting Jobs Growth and Climate Resilience in Philippines(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-12) World BankWhile the Philippines has been one of the most dynamic economies in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region, with gross national income (GNI) per capita more than tripling, and poverty declining sharply from 33.5 percent in 2000 to 18.1 percent in 2021, it still faces a complex range of structural challenges. These include limited market competition in several key sectors; underinvestment in infrastructure; regulatory restrictions that impede foreign direct investment; and low growth in the agriculture sector, heightened by vulnerability to natural disasters and institutional weaknesses. Three World Bank Group engagements - a jobs report, a development policy loan (DPL), and a rural development project - highlight the importance of transformational economic reforms to promote employment in middle-income countries.Publication Visitors Welcome: Infrastructure and Capacity Building Create Jobs in Indonesia’s Tourism Sector(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-05-12) World BankFrom 2001 to 2012, Indonesia enjoyed strong economic growth, averaging 5.6 percent per annum, while the poverty rate halved to 11 percent. The employment rate reached a two-decade record high in 2019, with 67.5 percent of youth and adults in the labor force. However, growth and job creation have since slowed: youth unemployment is relatively high, at 20.6 percent in 2022, and only 53.0 percent of women are in the labor force. Tourism is a promising sector, with the potential for inclusive and sustainable growth and increased employment. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), every 1 million dollars of spending in travel and tourism in Indonesia supports 1.7 million dollars in gross domestic product (GDP) and around 200 jobs, of which 67 are direct jobs. Moreover, 58 percent of almost 7 million hotel and restaurant workers in Indonesia are women. Constraints to growth and competitiveness in Indonesia’s tourism sector include: (i) poor government coordination and weak implementation capacity; (ii) poor access to and quality of tourism specific infrastructure; (iii) limited tourism workforce skills, hindering the quality and availability of services; and (iv) a weak enabling environment for private sector investment and business entry. Addressing these is key to unlocking Indonesia’s potential to develop a world-class tourism industry.