World Development Report
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The World Bank’s World Development Report, published annually since 1978, is an invaluable guide to the economic, social, and environmental state of the world today. Each report provides in-depth analysis and policy recommendations on a specific and important aspect of development—from agriculture, the role of the state, transition economies, and labor to infrastructure, health, the environment, and poverty. Through the quality and timeliness of the information it provides, the report has become a highly influential publication that is used by many multilateral and bilateral international organizations, national governments, scholars, civil society networks and groups, and other global thought leaders to support their decision-making processes. This corporate flagship undergoes extensive internal and external review and is one of the key outputs of the World Bank's Development Economics unit.
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Publication
World Development Report 1999/2000: Entering the 21st Century
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)"The development landscape is being transformed--confronting policymakers with new challenges and calling into question existing practices." Policymakers in the next century will need to pursue development across a transformed economic, political, and social landscape. "Entering the 21st Century" examines the contours of the changing development landscape and charts the way forward. The World Development Report 1999/2000, the 22nd edition in this annual series, focuses on two forces of change: the integration of the world economy and the increasing demand for self government, which will affect responses to key issues such as poverty reduction, climate change, and water scarcity. The forces of globalization and localization will require nation states to sustain a dynamic equilibrium with international and subnational partners. The nature of this equilibrium will have far reaching implications for the gains from trade and capital flows, the fruitfulness of global environmental agreements, the pace of regional growth, and the scope of urban development. By drawing on a wealth of recent research on cross-country experience, the Report proposes a rich menu of rules and policies that can serve as the ingredients of a comprehensive approach to development. It explores their applicability, for example, in the cases of urban development in Pakistan and decentralization in Brazil. The challenges remain great, but the opportunities available in the new century hold out prospects for a better future. The Report also includes selected World Development Indicators. The World Development Report 1999/2000 provides invaluable guidance for decisionmakers in the next century. -
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World Development Report 1998/1999: Knowledge for Development
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998)This is the twenty-first in the annual series assessing major development issues. This report acknowledges that knowledge, not capital, is the key to sustained economic growth and improvements in human well-being. It distinguishes between two sorts of knowledge: knowledge about technology, called technical knowledge or simply know-how, and knowledge about attributes, that is, knowledge about products, processes, or institutions. The report focuses on the relationship between the unequal distribution in know-how (knowledge gaps) across and within countries and the difficulties posed by having incomplete knowledge of attributes (information problems). In the first of three parts, the report discusses the importance of knowledge to development, and the risks and opportunities that the information revolution poses for developing countries. It then examines three critical steps that developing countries must take to narrow knowledge gaps: acquiring knowledge, absorbing knowledge, and communicating knowledge. Part 2 discusses the nature and extent of information problems, specific information problems, and three areas where information problems are most severe, namely in financial information, in environmental research, and in listening to the poor. Part 3 summarizes what knowledge and information requirements mean for developing government and international institution policies. -
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World Development Report 1997: The State in a Changing World
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)This is the twentieth in the annual series assessing major development issues. The report is devoted to the role and effectiveness of the state: what it should do, how it should do it, and how it can improve in a rapidly changing world. Governments with both centrally-planned and mixed economies are shrinking their market role because of failed state interventions. This report takes an opposite stance: that state's role in the institutional environment underlying the economy, that is, its ability to enforce a rule of law to underpin transactions, is vital to making government contribute more effectively to development. It argues against reducing government to a minimalist state, explaining that development requires an effective state that plays a facilitator role in encouraging and complementing the activities of private businesses and individuals. The report presents a state reform framework strategy: First, focus the state's activities to match its capabilities; and second, look for ways to improve the state's capability by re-invigorating public institutions. Successful and unsuccessful examples of states and state reform provide illustrations. -
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World Development Report 1996: From Plan to Market
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1996)This World Development Report examines the transition of countries with alternative systems of centrally planned economies back to a market orientation. These countries seceded from the world market economy between 1917 and 1950 and now face a massive restructuring task. This transition goes beyond typical reforms because the change is deep and systemic, requiring the establishment of key market institutions. This report analyzes two sets of overarching questions. The first series focuses on the initial challenges of transition and how different countries have responded. It examines: (i) whether differences in transition policies and outcomes reflect different reform strategies, or whether they reflect primarily country-specific factors such as economic structure, the level of development, or the impact of simultaneous political changes; (ii) whether strong liberalization and stabilization policies are needed up front, or if other reforms can progress equally well without them; (iii) whether privatization is necessary early in the reform process or at all; and (iv) whether there has to be a gulf between winners and losers from transition. The second set of questions looks beyond these challenges to the longer-term agenda of consolidating the reforms by developing the institutions and policies that will help the new market system to flourish. It focuses on: (i) how countries in transition should develop and strengthen the rule of law and control corruption and organized crime; (ii) how they can build effective financial systems; (iii) how governments should restructure themselves to meet the needs of a market system; (iv) how countries can preserve and adapt their human skills base; (v) why international integration is so vital for transition, and what the implications are for trading partners and capital flows; and (vi) how external assistance can best support countries in transition. -
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World Development Report 1995: Workers in an Integrating World
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)This eighteenth annual report assesses what a more market-driven and integrated world means for workers. It asks which development strategies best address workers' needs, and what domestic labor market policies can do to establish a more equitable distribution of income, greater job security, and higher workplace standards, while preserving and indeed enhancing the efficiency of labor markets. The report concludes that global integration holds out the prospect of tremendous future gains for the world's work force - but no guarantees. Sound domestic and international policies are indispensable for realizing the promise of a prosperous, integrated global workplace. Policies that rely on markets while avoiding or correcting market failures, that invest in people[A[B, that provide a supportive environment for family farms as well as emerging industrial and service sectors - all these are good for workers. Governments continue to exercise important functions: building and maintaining the social framework within which workers, unions, and firms interact to set wages and working conditions; supporting workers who are hurt when industries or whole economies suffer major shocks; and defending the rights of the most vulnerable workers, whether they be child laborers victimized by exploitation, or women or ethnic minorities suffering from discrimination. In those economies that are less prepared to face global competition - in particular, those emerging from central planning - public action has a particularly important role in promoting labor mobility, easing the cost of transition, and reaching those left out. This report includes the World Development Indicators. -
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World Development Report 1994: Infrastructure for Development
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1994)World Development Report 1994, the seventeenth in this annual series, examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance. This report includes the World Development Indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics for 132 countries. -
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World Development Report 1993: Investing in Health
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993)This is the sixteenth in the annual series and examines the interplay between human health, health policy and economic development. Because good health increases the economic productivity of individuals and the economic growth rate of countries, investing in health is one means of accelerating development. More important, good health is a goal in itself. During the past forty years life expectancy in the developing world has risen and child mortality has decreased, sometimes dramatically. But progress is only one side of the picture. The toll from childhood and tropical diseases remains high even as new problems - including AIDS and the diseases of aging populations - appear on the scene. And all countries are struggling with the problems of controlling health expenditures and making health care accessible to the broad population. This report examines the controversial questions surrounding health care and health policy. Its findings are based in large part on innovative research, including estimation of the global burden of disease and the cost-effectiveness of interventions. These assessments can help in setting priorities for health spending. The report advocates a threefold approach to health policy for governments in developing countries and in the formerly socialist countries. First, to foster an economic environment that will enable households to improve their own health. Policies for economic growth that ensure income gains for the poor are essential. So, too, is expanded investment in schooling, particulary for girls. Second, redirect government spending away from specialized care and toward such low-cost and highly effective activities such as immunization, programs to combat micronutrient deficiencies, and control and treatment of infectious diseases. By adopting the packages of public health measures and essential clinical care dsecribed in the report, developing countries could reduce their burden of disease by 25 percent. Third, encourage greater diversity and competition in the provision of health services by decentralizing government services, promoting competitive procurement practices, fostering greater involvement by nongovernmental and other private organizations, and regulating insurance markets. These reforms could translate into longer, healthier, and more productive lives for people around the world, and especially for the more than 1 billion poor. As in previous editions, this report includes the World Development Indicators, which give comprehensive, current data on social and economic development in more than 200 countries and territories. -
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World Development Report 1992: Development and the Environment
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)This is the fifteenth in the annual series assessing major development issues. The World Development Report 1992 explores the links between economic development and the environment. The 1990 report on poverty, last year's report on development strategies, and this report constitute a trilogy on the goals and means of development. The main message of this year's report is the need to integrate environmental considerations into development policymaking. The report argues that continued, and even accelerated, economic and human development is sustainable and can be consistent with improving environmental conditions, but that this will require major policy, program, and institutional shifts. A twofold strategy is required. First, the positive links between efficient income growth and the environment need to be aggressively exploited. Second, strong policies and institutions need to be put in place which cause decision makers to adopt less damaging forms of behavior. Where tradeoffs exist between income growth and environmental quality, the report argues for a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of alternative policies. This approach will result in much less environmental damage. Like its predecessors, this report includes the World Development Indicators, which offer selected social and economic statistics on 125 countries. -
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World Development Report 1991: The Challenge of Development
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991)This report is the fourteenth in an annual series assessing major development issues. This report synthesizes and interprets the lessons of more than forty years of development experience. Together with last year's report on poverty and next year's on the environment, it seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the development agenda. The 1990s began with dramatic changes, as many countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere initiated ambitious reforms of their economic and political systems. Against the backdrop of these transitions, this report links the historical debates that counseled policymakers in their past decisions, the lessons of experience, and the evolving thought on how best to proceed. One of the most valuable lessons relates to the interaction between the state and the market in fostering development. It describes a market-friendly approach in which governments allow markets to function well, and in which governments concentrate their interventions on areas in which markets prove inadequate. The report looks at four main aspects of the relationship between governments and markets: (a) investing in people; (b) the climate for enterprises to flourish; (c) the integration of countries with the global economy; and (d) a stable macroeconomic foundation for sustained progress. The report stresses that, above all, the future of developing countries is in their own hands. Domestic policies and institutions hold the key to successful development. -
Publication
World Development Report 1990: Poverty
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990)This report is the thirteenth in the annual series addressing major development issues. This report is about the poor. It is thus about the fundamental issue in economic development : the eradication of poverty from the world. The report defines poverty in broad terms, to include literacy, nutrition, and health, as well as income. The evidence suggests that rapid and politically sustainable progress on poverty has been achieved by pursuing a strategy with two equally important elements. The first is to promote the efficient use of the poor's most abundant asset : labor. It calls for policies that harness market incentives, social and political institutions, infrastructure and technology. The second element is the provision of basic social services to the poor (e.g. primary health care, family planning, nutrition, and primary education). The report concludes that eliminating poverty altogether is not a realistic goal for the 1990s, but that reducing it greatly is entirely possible. Using plausible assumptions about the global economic environment, and with some policy improvements, the report projects a fall of one third in the number of people in poverty by the year 2000.