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Publication
The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015
(Geneva: World Economic Forum, 2015-06-01)The Africa Competitiveness Report 2015 comes out at a promising time for the continent: for 15 years growth rates have averaged over 5 percent, and rapid population growth holds the promise of a large emerging consumer market as well as an unprecedented labor force that - if leveraged - can provide significant growth opportunities. Moreover, the expansion of innovative business models, such as mobile technology services, is indicative of the continents growth potential. However, Africa continues to be largely agrarian, with an economy that is underpinned by resource-driven growth and a large and expanding informal sector. Indeed, more than a decade of consistently high growth rates have not yet trickled down to significant parts of the population: nearly one out of two Africans continue to live in extreme poverty, and income inequality in the region remains among the highest in the world. What is more, across sectors - from agriculture to manufacturing and services - productivity levels remain low. It will be necessary to raise productivity across all sectors of the economy to achieve higher growth and create quality employment, and turn this progress into sustainable inclusive growth. -
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Implementing the Poznan Strategic and Long-term Programs on Technology Transfer
(Washington, DC, 2012-11)Promoting the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) and best practices to developing and transition countries is a key priority for all countries that seek to mitigate climate change impacts and build resilience. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is one of the entities entrusted to provide financial resources to assist developing and transition countries in implementing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The GEF launched the Poznan Strategic Program on Technology Transfer in 2008. This program supports the following activities: 1) conduct technology needs assessments; 2) support pilot priority technology projects linked to technology needs assessments; and 3) disseminate GEF experience and successfully demonstrated ESTs. The Long-Term Program on Technology Transfer seeks to scale up technology transfer activities supported under the original Poznan Program. This long-term program includes the following elements: (i) support for climate technology centers and a climate technology network; (ii) piloting priority technology projects to foster innovation and investments; (iii) public-private partnership for technology transfer; (iv) technology needs assessments; and (v) GEF as a catalytic supporting institution for technology transfer. This document provides an overview of the GEF's approach on promoting technology transfer, with new insights, along with updates on the original Poznan Program and the Long-Term Program. -
Publication
Ascent after Decline : Regrowing Global Economies after the Great Recession
(World Bank, 2012-01-09)This volume combines the analyses of leading experts on the various elements affecting economic growth and the policies required to spur that growth. Ascent after Decline: Regrowing Global Economies after the Great Recession identifies the main challenges to the economic recovery, such as rising debt levels, reduced trade prospects, and global imbalances, as well as the obstacles to growth posed by fiscal conundrums and lagging infrastructure. It also examines the way forward, beginning with the role of the state and then covering labor markets, information technology, and innovation. The common thread throughout the book is the view that economic re-growth will depend in large measure on smart policy choices and that the role of government has never been more crucial than at any time since the great depression. As members of the World Bank community, these issues are of particular importance to us, since without a resurrection of strong economic growth in major economies, the likelihood of rapid economic development in poorer developing countries is dampened. This is troubling because we have seen progress in many parts of the globe in the past decade, including in Africa, and these gains will be arrested as long as the global economy is in disarray. Donors will withdraw, investment will retrench, and prospects will dim. This immiserizing welfare outcome is to be avoided. The volume is intended to shed light on those areas of policy that reduce the prospects of a prolonged period of stress and decline by 'regrowing growth.' -
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Some Small Countries Do It Better : Rapid Growth and Its Causes in Singapore, Finland, and Ireland
(World Bank, 2012)This book is an outcome of a series of study visits to Singapore for African policy makers initiated by Jee-Peng Tan in 2005 with support from Tommy Koh in Singapore and Birger Fredriksen, Yaw Ansu, and Dzingai Mutumbuka at the World Bank. Starting in the 1960s-earlier if Japan is included-a number of East Asian economies began achieving growth rates well above the average and were able to maintain that pace until nearly the end of the 1990s. Countries, large and small, have struggled to imitate the industrial prowess of the East Asian pacesetters and to exploit the opportunities presented by globalization to expand exports. But approximating the East Asian benchmarks has proven difficult, and growth accelerations have tended to be remarkably transient. -
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Developing Independent Media as An Institution of Accountable Governance : A How-To Guide
(World Bank, 2011-06-29)The World Bank's Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) has spent several years exploring the linkages between the media and governance reform. The first stage of this process produced public sentinel: news media and governance reform, an edited volume that explored key issues surrounding the role of the media in democratic governance and the policy interventions that might enable this role. This how-to guide represents the second stage of that process: turning theoretical and policy conclusions into a practical guide for those seeking to enhance good governance by empowering the media. An early needs assessment revealed limited understanding of media development and the role it can play in foster accountable governance. This toolkit accordingly provides the why, how, when, and what of supporting the development of independent, pluralistic and sustainable media. -
Publication
Doing a Dam Better : The Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Story of Nam Theun 2 (NT2)
(World Bank, 2011)Preparation of the $1.45 billion Nam Theun 2 (NT2) project in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) represented an important milestone for the government, the developers, international partners, and other stakeholders. The story of its preparation and implementation is an important one, because it provides valuable insights and lessons that can be applied in future projects of similar size, scope, and complexity. Projects this size are always complex. NT2 was particularly complicated, however, because it was prepared during the challenging times that included the dam debate of the 1990s, which culminated in the world commission on dams, the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the strengthening of environmental and social safeguard policies and practices at the World Bank and other financial institutions, and the greater scrutiny of governance arrangements for the transparent use of natural resource rents by countries. This book covers those times and focuses on the widely differing perspectives of NT2's diverse stakeholders, the unique political economy of Lao PDR, the heated international debate on dams, the rapidly changing state of the art regarding poverty and safeguard interventions, the shifting signals within the World Bank, and the collective efforts of many different partners and stakeholders to ensure that NT2 met the high and appropriate standards. -
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Entrepreneurship Snapshots 2010 : Measuring the Impact of the Financial Crisis on New Business Registration
(World Bank, 2011)New businesses are likely to have been even more severely affected by the crisis than mature businesses, even in non crisis times, new and young firms tend to be more constrained than older firms which often have established reputations and enjoy easier access to finance. Given the sudden scarcity of credit and the uncertain economic outlook, it is reasonable to assume that entrepreneurs wanting to start a new business or register an existing informal business were hit especially hard by the downturn. Until now, however there has been a lack of comprehensive evidence to support this assumption. The impact of the 2008-09 financial crises on new business creation should be of special interest given the importance of entrepreneurs and young firms to the continued dynamism of the modern market economy; it is well established that a robust entry rate of new business can foster competition and economic growth. This report hypothesizes that although economies with more developed financial markets were hit harder by the crisis, they will enjoy stronger and quicker recoveries in new firm creation. -
Publication
Energy Efficient Cities : Assessment Tools and Benchmarking Practices
(World Bank, 2010-01-11)With cities accounting for half the world's population today, and two-thirds of global energy demand, urbanization is exacting a serious toll on the environment. As rapid urban growth continues, energy use in cities and associated levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are projected to continue unabated; current projections indicate that approximately 70 percent of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, producing some 80 percent of the world's GHG emissions. Unfortunately, most of this urban growth will take place in developing countries, where the vast majority of people remain underserved by basic infrastructure service and where city authorities are under-resourced to shift current trajectories. Further, the developing regions of Africa and Asia are where the most rapid urbanization is taking place, and they are least able to cope with the uncertainties and extremities of climate impacts. The development and mainstreaming of energy-efficient and low-carbon urban pathways that curtail climate impacts without hampering the urban development agenda thus are essential to meeting such challenges. Reducing long-term energy use through efficiency also enhances energy security by decreasing dependence on imported and fossil fuel. In addition, lower energy costs free up a city's resources to improve or expand services while providing important local co-benefits, creating new jobs, enhancing competitiveness, improving air quality and health, and providing a better quality of life. The scope of the papers encapsulates all three urban contexts: new cities, expanding cities, and retrofitting existing cities. The range of policy-relevant conceptual tools and practices discussed during the sessions, and subsequently built upon in this volume, helps achieve a better understanding of leverage points for energy-efficiency interventions and helps catalyze solutions that will delink high levels of carbon-intensive energy use from urban growth without compromising local development priorities. -
Publication
Two Dragon Heads : Contrasting Development Paths for Beijing and Shanghai
(World Bank, 2010)In broad terms, the sources of economic growth are well understood, but relatively few countries have succeeded in effectively harnessing this knowledge for policy purposes so as to sustain high rates of growth over an extended period of time. Among the ones that have done so, China stands out. Its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, which averaged almost 10 percent between 1978 and 2008, is unmatched. Even more remarkable is the performance of China's three leading industrial regions: the Bohai region, the Pearl River Delta, and the Yangtze River (Changjiang) delta area. These regions have averaged growth rates well above 11 percent since 1985. Shanghai is the urban axis of the Yangtze River Delta's thriving economy; Beijing is the hinge of the Bohai region. Their performance and that of a handful of other urban regions will determine China's economic fortunes and innovativeness in the coming decades. The balance of this volume is divided into five chapters. Chapter two encapsulates the sources of China's growth and the current and future role of urban regions in China. The case for the continuing substantial presence of manufacturing industry for growth and innovation in the two urban centers is made in chapter three. Chapter four briefly examines the economic transformation of four global cities and distills stylized trends that can inform future development in Beijing and Shanghai. Chapter five describes the industrial structure of the two cities, identifies promising industrial areas, and analyzes the resource base that would underpin growth fueled by innovation. Finally, chapter six suggests how strategy could be reoriented on the basis of the lessons delineated in chapter four and the economic capabilities presented in chapter five. -
Publication
Business Regulation and Economic Performance
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2010)The objective of this volume is to document the patterns of business regulation across the world and review their impact on aggregate economic performance. The volume adopts a comparative cross-regional perspective, with particular attention to Latin America. The research reported here focuses on establishing the analytical and empirical links between microeconomic regulatory policies on the one hand, and aggregate productivity, growth, and volatility on the other. Thus, the volume adds to a novel but increasingly influential line of policy-relevant research that seeks to understand macroeconomic phenomena from a microeconomic perspective. Such literature is still fairly scarce in the case of industrial countries, and virtually in its infancy for developing countries. To achieve this end, the volume combines a variety of methodological approaches-analytical and empirical, micro and macroeconomic, single- and cross-country-to an extent limited mainly by the availability of suitable data. Following this overview, the volume comprises six chapters that address the subject from different but complementary perspectives, providing a comprehensive exploration of the various channels through which business regulation affects growth, stability, and other key macroeconomic dimensions.