Other ESW Reports

271 items available

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This includes miscellaneous ESW types and pre-2003 ESW type reports that are subsequently completed and released.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 106
  • Publication
    Establishing Efficient and Effective Insurance Guarantee Schemes
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-14) World Bank
    A well-developed efficient insurance sector plays an important role in any economy. This role is supported by effective regulation and supervision with the aim of having a sound insurance sector that is growing, offering adequate covers, contributing to employment and investment, ensuring reduced exposure to poverty, and increasing shared prosperity. These objectives go beyond merely protecting the interests of policyholders. They recognize that the insurance sector plays a much larger role in the economy, even for those who are not policyholders or beneficiaries. Failure of insurers can undermine these objectives. Failure events might best be defined broadly and from a consumer perspective rather than through a literal analysis of a legal definition. It is clear that such events could have an adverse impact on both the policyholders and beneficiaries directly involved as well as the broader market. As a result, the insurance sector maintains a high level of resilient providers with a well-developed system catering to orderly resolution. It is also noted that politics can add to the challenges of managing an insurer failure. Media and local politics can lead to significant pressure either regionally or nationally. While the normal activity of dealing with a crisis event is drawing heavily on the resources of the supervisory authorities, this additional layer of activity is usually not trivial. In some situations, political engagement is needed to secure the necessary mechanisms for resolution. Given the variety of actual situations that arise, it is often the case that politicians need to be engaged in the solution.
  • Publication
    The Future of Work: Implications for Equity and Growth in Europe
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-07) Dalvit, Nicolò; De Hoyos, Rafael; Iacovone, Leonardo; Pantelaiou, Ioanna; Torre, Iván
    This report aims to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between technology, economic growth, and equity by analyzing the impact of technological progress on firm-level productivity, market concentration, and labor market outcomes of workers with different education levels. The analysis focuses on the effects that technology can have in European Union (EU) member states, addressing two main distributional challenges: (i) an increase in market concentration, with a few large and innovative firms hoarding the benefits of technological progress, and (ii) technological progress exacerbating income differences between highly educated and other workers. These two challenges, and the public policies aiming to address them, will shape the future relationship between technological progress, economic growth, and income distribution in Europe.
  • Publication
    Promoting Innovative Entrepreneurship in Viet Nam: An Ecosystem Diagnostic
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-05) World Bank
    This report provides a diagnostic of Viet Nam’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and details a set of targeted recommendations for improving conditions for innovative entrepreneurship in the country. The diagnostic consists of four components: 1.) An overview of the Vietnamese private sector, with a focus on market dynamism; 2.) A demand side analysis focused on the flow of ideas, skills, and technology that contribute to the pipeline of innovative startups; 3.) A supply-side assessment of public support and private risk finance throughout the firm lifecycle, and 4.) An analysis of the ecosystem framework conditions. The report finds that the overall quality and the level of public support for entrepreneurship is low; founders have challenges with key aspects of running a business, such as developing product-market fit, growth strategies, and team building; and risk capital markets are heavily dependent on foreign funds and investors and have gaps in early-stage finance. The report concludes with three policy recommendations for improving Viet Nam’s entrepreneurial performance: 1.) Reorient the national flagship Program 844 on "Supporting the National Innovation Initiative to 2025" toward building a pipeline of investment-ready, innovative startups; 2.) Address regulatory barriers related to risk capital investments; and 3.) Increase the contribution of the public research sector to the innovative startup agenda.
  • Publication
    The Missing Element of Firm Digitalization - Lessons for the EU Member States: Best Practices for Enhancing MSMEs Digitalization and Managerial Capacity Building
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-04) World Bank
    As increasing the pace of productivity growth continues to be a strong challenge in Europe despite the continuous global technology developments, promoting the adoption and usage of digital technology has become more important than ever, particularly among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). This guide aims to provide policymakers and practitioners with a comprehensive resource that outlines effective strategies for addressing gaps in complementary capabilities to the digitalization of MSMEs that can help enhance their productivity and resilience.
  • Publication
    Pacific Maritime Transport Systems: Hazard Exposure Technical Note
    (Washington, DC, 2023-12-04) World Bank
    This Technical Note supplements the overarching regional report 'A Blue Transformation for Pacific Maritime Transport (World Bank, 2022)'. It provides more detail on, and analysis of, natural hazards in the Pacific affecting port infrastructure and operations. While natural hazards are a major issue for all Pacific Island states and dependencies, this Technical Note looks particularly at the experiences of 12 World Bank member countries, referred to collectively as the PIC12 countries. These are the Melanesian countries of Papua New Guinea (PNG), Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji; the Polynesian countries of Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu; and the Micronesian countries of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Palau, Kiribati, and Nauru. This Note aims to assist technical specialists, client country teams, and donors, to identify needs and priorities for more detailed, site-specific risk studies. These risk studies will form the basis of port master planning, project design, asset management, and capital upgrade projects, as appropriate, to increase resilience in ports to the impacts of natural hazards. This Technical Note has six sections, as follows: overview: a summary of why Pacific ports is particularly exposed to natural hazards; mapping Pacific Islands’ Current Exposure to Hazards: descriptions of the seven natural hazards facing Pacific Island countries (PICs), and maps showing where in the Pacific their main impacts are felt; identifying where the greatest hazards lie, a hazard heat map for the pacific: quantitative and qualitative measures of the hazard intensities are summarized for primary and hub ports, with general observations and conclusions; current status of infrastructure upgrades in Pacific ports: a summary of work, both completed and planned, in each of the PIC12 primary ports, between 2007 and 2022; port master planning to future-proof Pacific ports: a brief outline of port master planning, strategic asset management and risk analysis, and principles of asset management for port infrastructure; and conclusions and recommendations.
  • Publication
    Middle Trade and Transport Corridor: Policies and Investments to Triple Freight Volumes and Halve Travel Time by 2030
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-26) World Bank
    The Middle Corridor (MC) is a multimodal transport corridor connecting China to Europe, which has been receiving elevated attention following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The MC links China, and Kazakhstan by rail through Dostyk or Khorgos/Altynkol, crosses Kazakhstan by rail to the Aktau Port, crosses the Caspian Sea to the Port of Baku/Alyat, and Azerbaijan and Georgia by rail to then either continue by rail to Europe through Türkiye or crossing the Black Sea. Due to inefficiencies and infrastructure gaps in Türkiye, the Black Sea route is currently preferred by operators. This report focuses on the route traversing Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia; a subsequent study will focus on Türkiye. The MC, with its numerous border crossings, transshipments between modes and operational inefficiencies, takes three times longer than the Northern route (via Russia) and is comparable in duration to the maritime route. As a result, it has consequently held a lower priority for long-distance trade.
  • Publication
    Digital Conglomerates in East Asia: Navigating Competition Policy Challenges
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-21) World Bank
    Conglomeration has traditionally been prevalent in Asia, a trend that is currently exacerbated by the characteristics of digital markets. While conglomerates offer important benefits, from economies of scale and diversification to the development of new products, they can also have a negative impact on market dynamics. This report examines conglomeration trends in five Asian countries, Malaysia, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam, to better understand whether offline conglomerates are expanding into digital markets vis a vis the expansion of purely digital conglomerates into adjacent and non-adjacent markets. The report focuses on one of the main expansion strategies: conglomerate mergers and acquisitions. To this end, it explores the prevalence of conglomerate mergers, both globally and within the East Asia region, the type of competition scrutiny they are submitted to, and potential aspects to strengthen their review to foster more effective competition policies. The report concludes with a set of key policy recommendations that address the identified risks.
  • Publication
    The Brazil of the Future: Towards Productivity, Inclusion, and Sustainability
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-13) World Bank Group
    In 2022, Brazil celebrated its 200th anniversary. What will Brazil celebrate at its 220th anniversary, in 2042? Following the recent elections there is a window of opportunity for reforms that will shape Brazil’s development over the next decades. “The Brazil of the Future: Towards Productivity, Inclusion, and Sustainability” takes a long-term perspective on Brazil’s development, exploring how prudent actions today can generate opportunities for a more prosperous, inclusive, and sustainable society over the next 20 years. The report aims to stimulate public debate about a virtuous cycle for 2042, illustrated by four alternative future scenarios. With the right reforms Brazil can become an economic powerhouse that offers opportunities for all. A more inclusive social contract can facilitate critical reforms.
  • Publication
    Diagnostic Analysis for Circular Economy Interventions in Bulgaria
    (Washington, DC, 2023-11-13) World Bank
    Over the past decade, material efficiency and resource productivity have surfaced on the global policy agenda. The rise of the circular economy (CE) agenda reflects the objective of moving away from the current systems of production and consumption based on the ‘take-make-use-waste’ linear economic model toward economies centered on minimizing the use of virgin materials without adversely affecting welfare. The focus is on a life-cycle approach to resource management, which starts with reducing raw material demand by looping resources back into consumption and production systems through innovations in material design, production, and reutilization processes. In addition to reducing pollution and other harmful emissions, the CE can be a driver of private sector growth and jobs and can increase the strategic autonomy of countries by reducing dependence on raw material imports. The objective of this rapid analysis is to identify the CE-related priority areas, sectors in Bulgaria and potential areas of focus for follow-up interventions. The study also aims to highlight concrete barriers that prevent the national and local governments from undertaking these interventions, as well as enabling factors and approaches to overcome them.
  • Publication
    Impacts of Covid-19 on the World Bank’s Forest Investment Program Portfolio
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-10) World Bank
    With the COVID-19 pandemic, the development context for the world is fundamentally challenged in many ways. The pandemic has taken a drastic human toll, and its global-scale economic and social impacts affected rural development work focused on the most poor and vulnerable populations. It has also highlighted the increasing need to invest in natural climate solutions that protect and restore critical ecosystems, support climate stability and ecosystem resilience, and help people access livelihood opportunities. This report provides an in-depth portfolio analysis of WB-implemented FIP and DGM projects during the pandemic, gathering information from documents and directly from stakeholders involved in these projects on the impacts of the pandemic during their preparation and implementation, finding trends in delays in project activities, and identifying coping mechanisms used to overcome the challenges resulting from the pandemic. For example, some projects have shifted activities requiring in-person engagement, such as training and workshops, to a virtual format. Other projects use electronic monitoring and data collection tools to follow up on activity implementation. Finally, this report provides a few general lessons for the CIF program, WB-financed operations, donors, and other external international development partners. Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a challenge, authors now hope, having already experienced it for roughly three years, to learn from the various adaptation measures implemented by the projects, for application to future shocks.