Stand alone books
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Publication
Making the Most of the African Continental Free Trade Area: Leveraging Trade and Foreign Direct Investment to Boost Growth and Reduce Poverty
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-30)The creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a unique opportunity to boost growth, cut poverty, and reduce Africa’s dependence on the boom and-bust commodity cycle. A World Bank (2020) report estimates that the AfCFTA has the potential to raise income in the continent by 7 percent by 2035 and lift 40 million people out of extreme poverty, mainly by spurring intraregional trade (termed the “AfCFTA trade scenario” for purposes of this analysis). Reductions in nontariff barriers on goods and services and improvements in trade facilitation measures will account for about two thirds of the US$450 billion in potential income gains by removing long delays across most of the continent’s borders and lowering compliance costs in trade, making it easier for African businesses to become integrated into regional and global supply chains. This report builds on that earlier study by including potential gains arising from greater flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), termed the “AfCFTA FDI broadscenario,” and from deeper integration beyond trade, the “AfCFTA FDI deep scenario.” FDI has traditionally been low in Africa. The AfCFTA is likely to attract cross-border investment by eliminating tariff and nontariff barriers and replacing the existing patchwork of bilateral and regional trade deals with a single, unified market. Investors in any one of 55 member countries will have access to a continent of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of US$3.4 trillion. Integration in global and regional value chains offers a further magnet for FDI and the jobs, investment, and know-how that FDI brings. -
Publication
The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-29)The fourth edition of the Global Findex offers a lens into how people accessed and used financial services during the COVID-19 pandemic, when mobility restrictions and health policies drove increased demand for digital services of all kinds. The Global Findex is the world’s most comprehensive database on financial inclusion. It is also the only global demand-side data source allowing for global and regional cross-country analysis to provide a rigorous and multidimensional picture of how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage financial risks. Global Findex 2021 data were collected from national representative surveys of about 128,000 adults in more than 120 economies. The latest edition follows the 2011, 2014, and 2017 editions, and it includes a number of new series measuring financial health and resilience and contains more granular data on digital payment adoption, including merchant and government payments. The Global Findex is an indispensable resource for financial service practitioners, policy makers, researchers, and development professionals. -
Publication
Innovations in Tax Compliance: Building Trust, Navigating Politics, and Tailoring Reform
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-02-17)Recent decades have seen important progress in strengthening country tax systems. Yet many areas of reform have remained stubbornly resistant to major improvements. Overall, revenue collection still falls short of that needed for effective governance and service delivery. Tax collection is too often riddled with high rates of evasion among large corporations and the rich and by disproportionate, though often hidden, burdens on lower-income groups. As countries around the world deal with the large debt burdens induced by COVID-19, an in-depth look at how to strengthen tax systems is especially timely. Innovations in Tax Compliance: Building Trust, Navigating Politics, and Tailoring Reform takes a fresh look at tax reform. The authors draw on recent research and experience for their new conceptual framework to guide more effective approaches to reform. Building on the achievements of recent decades, they argue for a greater emphasis on the overlapping goals of building trust, navigating political resistance, and tailoring reform to unique local contexts—an emphasis achieved by identifying the most binding constraints on reform. This focus not only can lead to greater compliance, a fairer system, and higher revenues, but also can contribute to building state capacity, sustained political support for further reforms, and a stronger fiscal contract between citizens and governments. -
Publication
Equality of Opportunity for Sexual and Gender Minorities
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-09-28)Despite legal and social advances in the past two decades, sexual orientation and gender minorities continue to face widespread discrimination and violence in many countries. This discrimination and violence lead to exclusion, which adversely impacts their lives, as well as the communities and economies in which they live. A major barrier to addressing this stigma and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI)-based exclusion is the lack of SOGI-specific data. Robust, quantitative data on differential development experiences and outcomes of sexual and gender minorities—especially those in developing countries—is extremely thin. is paucity of data jeopardizes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and countries' commitment to the principle of 'leaving no one behind' in the effort to end poverty and inequality. Equality of Opportunity for Sexual and Gender Minorities assesses the unique challenges that sexual and gender minorities face in six important areas: Criminalization and SOGI, Access to education, Access to the labor market, Access to public services and social protection, Civil and political inclusion, Protection from hate crimes. This report offers numerous policy recommendations to prevent and eliminate discriminatory practices in all of the areas covered. It also seeks to influence legislative changes and support research on institutions and regulations that can ultimately lead to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. At the same time, it acknowledges that the mere existence of inclusive laws and regulations does not ensure that sexual and gender minorities are free from discrimination—the enforcement of those laws is crucial. This publication, the first in a series of studies, will be expanded from the 16 countries included to a wider set of countries for more in-depth quantitative analysis and to identify possible correlations with socioeconomic outcomes. It will seek to deepen knowledge, facilitate peer learning of good practices, and encourage reforms to increase the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities. -
Publication
Ebb and Flow, Volume 2: Water in the Shadow of Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-08-23)The Middle East and North Africa Region encapsulates many of the issues surrounding water and human mobility. It is the most water-scarce region in the world and is experiencing unprecedented levels of forced displacement. Ebb and Flow: Volume 2. Water in the Shadow of Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa examines the links between water risks (harmful outcomes related to water, from droughts and floods to lack of sanitation), conflict, and forced displacement. It aims to better explain how to address the vulnerabilities of forcibly displaced persons and their host communities, and to identify water policy and investment responses. Contrary to common belief, the report finds that the evidence linking water risks with conflict and forced displacement in the region is not unequivocal. Water risks are more frequently related to cooperation than to conflict at both domestic and international levels. But while conflict is not necessarily a consequence of water risks, the reverse is a real and concerning phenomenon: conflict amplifies water risks. Since 2011, there have been at least 180 instances of intentional targeting of water infrastructure in conflicts in Gaza, Libya, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the Republic of Yemen. Forcibly displaced persons and their host communities face myriad water risks. Access to safe drinking water is a daily struggle for millions of forcibly displaced Iraqis, Libyans, Palestinians, Syrians, Yemenis, and international migrants in the region, heightening public health risks. Tanker trucks often help fill the gap; however, significant issues of water quality, reliability, and affordability remain. Host communities also face localized declines in water availability and quality as well as unplanned burdens on water services following the arrival of forcibly displaced persons. The reality of protracted forced displacement requires a shift from humanitarian support toward a development approach for water security, including structured yet flexible planning to deliver water services and sustain water resources for forcibly displaced persons and their host communities. -
Publication
Ebb and Flow, Volume 1: Water, Migration, and Development
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-08-23)Migration shapes the lives of those who move and transforms the geographies and economies of their points of departure and destinations alike. The water sector, and the availability of water itself, implicitly and explicitly shape migration flows. Ebb and Flow, Volume 1. Water, Migration, and Development presents new global evidence to advance our understanding of how fluctuations in water availability, as induced by rainfall shocks, influence internal migration, and hence regional development. It finds that cumulative water deficits result in five times as much migration as water excess does. But there are important nuances in why and when these events lead to migration. Where there is extreme poverty and migration is costly, water deficits are more likely to trap people than induce them to migrate. Water shocks can also influence who migrates. Workers leaving regions because of water deficits are often less advantaged than typical migrants and bring with them lower skills, raising important implications for the migrants themselves and receiving regions. Cities are the destination of most internal migrants, but even here, water scarcity can haunt them. Water shortages in urban areas, which lead to so-called day zero events, can significantly slow urban growth and compound the vulnerability of migrants. No single policy can be completely effective at protecting people and their assets from water shocks. Instead, the report puts forth a menu of overlapping and complementary policy options that target both people and places to improve livelihoods and turn water-induced crises into opportunities for growth. A key message is that policies that focus on reducing the impacts of water shocks must be complemented by strategies that broaden opportunities and build the long-term resilience of communities. Doing so will give individuals more agency to determine the best outcome for themselves and to thrive wherever they may choose to locate. -
Publication
Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy: A Proposal for a Digital Data Tax and a Global Internet Tax Agency
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-03-02)Digital technology allows businesses to operate in a country without a physical presence, which poses challenges for traditional taxation. The digital debate focuses on direct taxation and the creation of new taxing rights arising from the tax claims of market jurisdictions on income obtained by foreign digital suppliers conducting business therein without any physical presence. Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy analyzes the tax-disruptive aspects of digital business models and reviews current tax initiatives in light of traditional tax theory principles. The analysis concludes that market countries’ tax claims are unsubstantiated and contravene the most basic foundations of tax theory, giving rise to a series of legal, economic, tax policy, and tax administration issues that policy makers cannot overlook. The authors propose establishing a digital data tax (DDT) that is a license-type consumption tax, rather than an income tax, on the international supply of Internet bandwidth to access digital markets. The DDT can be applied either globally or unilaterally, and could become a significant source of tax revenues for market jurisdictions. It is aligned with tax principles and it does not conflict with other tax initiatives: the DDT taxes foreign digital companies as consumers, while income tax proposals tax them as suppliers. The authors also propose creating a new global Internet tax agency (GITA) under the auspices of the United Nations that would provide a neutral forum for political discussion and technical assistance in the area of digital taxation. The digital economy is a global phenomenon that requires a global solution: the creation of global taxing mechanisms and global institutions that provide technical assistance and support for successful global implementation. The book explains difficult technical concepts in plain language and contributes to the digital tax debate in a way that can be understood by anyone. Such understanding is essential to obtaining global support, achieving tax compliance, and fostering multilateral tax cooperation. -
Publication
Analyzing Banking Risk (4th Edition): A Framework for Assessing Corporate Governance and Risk Management
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-06-08)This publication provides a comprehensive overview of topics focusing on assessment, analysis, and management of financial risks in banking. It emphasizes risk management principles and stresses that key players in the corporate governance process are accountable for managing the different dimensions of financial and other risks. This fourth edition remains faithful to the objectives of the original publication. The new business aspects affecting banking risks, such as mobile banking, and regulatory changes over the past decade—specifically those related to Basel III capital adequacy concepts—have been included, as have new operational risk management topics, such as cybercrime, money laundering, and outsourcing. This publication will be of interest to a wide body of users of bank financial data. The target audience includes the persons responsible for the analysis of banks and for the senior management or organizations directing their efforts. Because the publication provides an overview of the spectrum of corporate governance and risk management, it is not aimed at technical specialists of any particular risk management area. -
Publication
Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2019/2020: Rebuilding Investor Confidence in Times of Uncertainty
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-05-27)The Global Investment Competitiveness Report 2019/2020 provides novel analytical insights, empirical evidence, and actionable recommendations for governments seeking to rebuild investor confidence in times of uncertainty. It focuses on the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and boosting countries’ economic resilience. It highlights FDI’s contributions to providing a critical source of external finance, creating jobs, lifting people out of poverty, and raising productivity. The report presents results of a survey of more than 2,400 business executives representing multinational corporations in 10 large developing countries: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Results of the survey, as well as the report’s new global database of regulatory risk, highlight the critical role of government actions in reducing investor risk and increasing policy predictability for rebuilding investor confidence. The report also assesses the impact of FDI on poverty, inequality, employment, and business performance using firm- and household-level evidence from various countries. It shows that FDI in developing countries yields benefits to firms and workers—including more and better-paid jobs—but governments need to remain vigilant about possible adverse consequences on income distribution. Lastly, the report articulates priorities for investment promotion agencies and other stakeholders seeking to strengthen their countries’ investment competitiveness and leverage FDI for a robust economic recovery. -
Publication
Fragility and Conflict: On the Front Lines of the Fight against Poverty
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-02-27)Fragility and conflict pose a critical threat to the global goal of ending extreme poverty. Between 1990 and 2015, successful development strategies reduced the proportion of the world’s people living in extreme poverty from 36 to 10 percent. But in many fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS), poverty is stagnating or getting worse. The number of people living in proximity to conflict has nearly doubled worldwide since 2007. In the Middle East and North Africa, one in five people now lives in such conditions. The number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide has also more than doubled in the same period, exceeding 70 million in 2017. If current trends continue, by the end of 2020, the number of extremely poor people living in economies affected by fragility and conflict will exceed the number of poor people in all other settings combined. This book shows why addressing fragility and conflict is vital for poverty goals and charts directions for action. It presents new estimates of welfare in FCS, filling gaps in previous knowledge, and analyzes the multidimensional nature of poverty in these settings. It shows that data deprivation in FCS has prevented an accurate global picture of fragility, poverty, and their interactions, and it explains how innovative new measurement strategies are tackling these challenges. The book discusses the long-term consequences of conflict and introduces a data-driven classification of countries by fragility profile, showing opportunities for tailored policy interventions and the need for monitoring multiple markers of fragility. The book strengthens understanding of what poverty reduction in FCS will require and what it can achieve.