Series

Informal documents that present unpolished results of research or country analysis. They are circulated to encourage discussion and comment. Papers for which rapid publication is particularly important were often issued in this series. This series was superseded by the World Bank Working Papers series in 2003 and the World Bank Studies series in 2010.

Viewpoint is an open forum to encourage dissemination of public policy innovations for private sector–led and market-based solutions for development.

This series was discontinued after Doing Business 2020 (see statement: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/statement/2021/09/16/world-bank-group-to-discontinue-doing-business-report ). The goal of this series is to provide an objective basis for understanding and improving the regulatory environment for business. Each year, since the project began in 2003, Doing Business has presented a quantitative measure of regulations throughout the life cycle of small and medium-size domestic enterprises—key drivers of competition, growth, and job creation, especially in developing countries. This corporate flagship undergoes extensive internal and external review and is one of the key outputs of the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank.

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. Titles are submitted from units around the World Bank for internal review and inclusion in this series which is managed by the Development Economics Research Support unit. These are pre-print drafts prior to review and publication in formal journals.

This is a Knowledge Note series of the Energy Practice. Those working on the front lines of energy development in emerging economies have a wealth of technical knowledge and case experience to share with their colleagues but seldom have the time to write for publication. Live Wire offers a support system to make sharing knowledge as easy as possible.

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.

SmartLessons is an awards program to share lessons learned by the International Financial Corporation (IFC) during development-oriented advisory services and investment operations.

This is a note series on learning what works, from the Human Development Network.

As part of the Economics and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency, IFC’s Thought Leadership regularly publishes EM Compass Notes as part of its regular work program that includes the dissemination of knowledge, trends and emerging solutions on topics and issues that are of specific interest to companies, multilateral development institutions and regulators. Its purpose is to generate fresh ideas about business in emerging markets. The Notes range from usually 4-8 pages and are geared toward clients and private investors, in addition to the traditional development community.

World Bank Working Papers present the results of economic, financial, or technical research; country experience or analysis; operational evaluations; or detailed background or case studies. These are typically works in progress, published to stimulate public discussion of ongoing research. These books tend to be short, ranging typically between 64 and 128 pages in length. This series was superseded by the World Bank Studies series in 2011 [see Books - Series (active)]. Smaller, chapter-sized articles can be found in the Policy Research Working Papers collection.

This series was discontinued in 2019. This series of well-developed essays and studies highlights current development issues, based on research output related to Bank operations. In recent years these have been subdivided into subseries covering the operational sectors: Agriculture and Rural Development; Energy and Mining; Environment and Sustainable Development; Finance; Human Development; Information and Communication Technologies; Infrastructure; Poverty; Private Sector Development; Public Sector Governance; Science, Technology, and Innovation; and Trade. The Countries and Regions subseries encompasses those books in the series that cover several sectors. The titles in this series are peer-reviewed and produced by units of The World Bank.