Other ESW Reports

314 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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  • Publication
    Diversification through the Application of the Co-evolutionary Framework: Korea and Viet Nam
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-03-28) World Bank
    This research examines the diversification process by conceptualizing a co-evolutionary framework linking production and technology. The study applies the framework to retrospectively explain Korea’s successful diversification path and to Viet Nam to identify how the country could further diversify into complex and value-added products. The authors apply relatedness analysis leveraging patent and trade data and present four different types of diversification patterns, namely unrelated diversification, production-based diversification, technology-based diversification, and complex diversification. Developed countries including Korea shifted toward technology-based or complex diversification strategies as their economies developed. Using a simulated scenario approach, the report outlines potential future trajectories wherein Viet Nam attains technological capabilities. The result shows that Viet Nam can diversify into 233 products if it accumulates capabilities in the 12 identified technologies. The report concludes with policy lessons that could inform policy makers in Viet Nam as well as other developing economies. Namely, that the country would need to invest more intensively in technology and capabilities upgrading to diversify into new complex products and evolve its diversification strategy alongside its economic growth and capability building process.
  • Publication
    Does Quality of Electricity Supply Matter for Development? An Evaluation of Service Level Benefits in Nepal
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-07-25) Khandker, Shahidur R.; Samad, Hussain A.; Koo, Bonsuk
    People desire electricity not for its own sake but for the wide-ranging services it provides from lighting, communication and entertainment, refrigeration, and cooking to space conditioning and business development or improvement. That is, electricity is only useful when it powers the appliances, machines, and other devices that yield outcomes favorable to household well-being and quality of life. An extensive body of literature shows that having an electricity connection contributes to enhancing household income, productivity, and children’s education, among other types of welfare benefits. The findings of these studies also show that the welfare impacts of electrification vary by the level of service provided and the type of household connection.
  • Publication
    Enhancing Smallholder Incomes by Linking to High Value Markets in Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh Provinces
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022) Horst, Alexandra; Watkins, Steven
    The first section of this report reviews the economic transformation underway in Pakistan and its alignment with the development observed in other countries that have also undergone economic change from being primarily agrarian into industrial and service-led economies. The second section provides an overview of Pakistan’s agriculture sector regarding the target commodities and provinces (i.e., fruit and vegetables in Punjab, livestock, and aquaculture in Sindh) and significant trends within the markets of these commodities during the past few years. Past market integration efforts within Pakistan’s agriculture sector, particularly regarding the target commodities, are also discussed in this section. The concluding section provides recommendations based on experiences and lessons learned from previous market linkage interventions. This last section also includes proposed entry points and activities for projects to implement such interventions. An overview of international experiences in collective actions, marketing, and value chain development to promote rural development and increase incomes along agriculture’s supply chains is included in annex one.
  • Publication
    COVID-19 and Tourism in South Asia: Opportunities for Sustainable Regional Outcomes
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06) Twining Ward, Louise; McComb, Jessie F.
    COVID-19 (coronavirus) is affecting nearly 47.7 million travel and tourism jobs across South Asia, many held by women and vulnerable communities working in the informal sector. Losses of over 50 billion US dollars in gross domestic product in the region are expected in the travel and tourism sector alone as a result of the crisis. Governments are already responding with emergency programs to help small and medium enterprises stay afloat and save jobs. As the South Asia region moves from crisis to recovery planning, governments and destinations have an opportunity to think strategically about the future of their tourism sectors and implement policies that will improve the industry. This regional brief is designed to raise awareness of the importance of tourism to the region and to the World Bank's regional portfolio, highlight some measures being taken by governments and the Bank to address the crisis, and provide recommendations for short- and medium-term sustainable regional recovery, including through greater intraregional tourism. The brief covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan was excluded due to a lack of data.
  • Publication
    Pakistan - Gilgit-Baltistan Economic Report : Broadening the Transformation
    (World Bank, 2010-12-02) World Bank
    Parts of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), the northeastern most administrative region of Pakistan, have been undergoing a dramatic transformation over the last three decades. Given the challenging environment, GB's development outcomes are impressive, built on the time-tempered resilience of the people of GB and facilitated by high levels of social capital. GB has also benefitted from the attentions of the national Government of Pakistan (GoP) (motivated in no small measure by geopolitical and national cohesion considerations) and the strong engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs). The structure of the report follows the storyline of seeking to overcome the odds and broaden the transformation, with a review of development performance to date, a discussion of the main challenges the GB faces, a set of discussions at the sectoral level (based on a series of background papers that are available separately and listed in annex two), and an appraisal of what it will take to follow through on some key policy options, in terms of capacity, consultations, political will, fiscal reforms, and additional resources. The sectoral narratives are arranged in three groups: sources of private sector led growth (agriculture, minerals, tourism, and trade), key public services (social protection, education, health, and water supply and sanitation) and essential infrastructure (irrigation, electricity, and transport), all of which are critical to enhancing development performance. Meaningful steps and actions that will promote progress in each sector are identified, separated into those that appear feasible now, and those that will need to await more favorable circumstances in the future. The rest of the executive summary mirrors the structure of the main report, concluding with a table listing the top 15 policy options for immediate action and for pursuit over the medium-term (the full set of policy options is compiled in annex three).
  • Publication
    Workshop on Strengthening Disability Measurement across South Asian Countries
    (Washington, DC, 2008-04) World Bank
    This report comprises of eleven sessions: introduction; definition of disability - questions for discussion; new thinking on disability measurement; from census to surveys; policy dimensions of disability measurement - Brazil; good questions and bad questions; developing a matrix of functioning; experience pperationalizing surveys with a disability module - Vietnam; training needs; cognitive testing; and policy and politics.
  • Publication
    Development of Construction Industry : A Literature Review
    (2007-11-01) Mir, Aized H.; Durrani, Amer Z.; Tanvir, Mehreen
    The construction industry in Pakistan is well aware of the challenges it faces and its issues, constraints, and recommendations are also well documented in reports published from time to time. This study shows that business environment (demand-side), Human Resources (HR), equipment and materials are key factors restraining growth therefore showing that there are no short-term fixes for these problems. A sustained long-term committed approach to developing the construction industry (contractors, consultants, and, clients) is of paramount importance. Considering the Government of Pakistan's (GoP) ambitious development plans for the coming years, innovative and out of the box solutions will be required to deliver the proposed infrastructure projects.
  • Publication
    Bangladesh - Prices of Essential Commodities : Recent Trends, Underlying Factors and Policy Options
    (Washington, DC, 2007-04-07) World Bank
    There is a concern in Bangladesh that prices of essential commodities, mainly food items including rice, wheat, pulses, sugar, edible oils, ginger, garlic, onion and potato, have shown an upward trend in the past several months. Media reports in recent weeks are full of government actions including pictures of personnel of Bangladesh rifles manning fair price shops and selling essential food items to the lower and lower-middle income classes. The government's concern of the impact of rising food prices on the welfare of the poor is quite understandable. According to the 2005 household and income expenditure data, these food items account for more than one-third of the annual household expenditure of the bottom 20 percent of the population. What is the true picture of rising food prices in Bangladesh? How much of the rise is due to changes in demand and supply in the international commodity markets? What domestic factors, particularly in the very short-run, i.e., a week to ten days, account for the price rise? What measures has the Government of Bangladesh taken to check the price rise and what other options exist to deal with the prevailing situation? This note addresses these questions.
  • Publication
    India - Jharkhand : Addressing the Challenges of Inclusive Development
    (Washington, DC, 2007-03) World Bank
    This study on Jharkhand in India addresses the challenges faced by that new state of India (founded in November 2000) to surmount adverse initial conditions of low average income, very high incidence of poverty, and little social development. In addition, initial health and education indicators in Jharkhand were also markedly unfavorable in comparison to both the all-India average and the major Indian states. The paper points out that in order to put its fiscal house in order, the state needs to introduce reforms for improving resource mobilization, increasing cost effectiveness of expenditure and rationalizing the budgetary processes. Improvement of infrastructure is critically important, and once this has occurred, this will lead to favorable pro-poor changes in the labor market as well. Two opposite views of the development debate are represented by the different degrees of importance given to mining and agriculture. One view contends that the development of the mining sector can usher in a new decade of development in Jharkhand. The second view is that the potential risks associated with the mining sector are high and that agriculture has shown great potential through impressive growth in recent years contributing significantly to poverty reduction and human resource development. Given the strengths and weaknesses of the two options, the present study suggests a middle path, aiming at an inter-temporal balance between the two strategies. The paper stresses that social inclusion and effective citizenship for all are desirable outcomes everywhere, especially in Jharkhand with its sharp social and regional divide. It concludes that political commitment is needed to "make development happen" in the shortest possible time.
  • Publication
    A Briefing Note on the Port Sector in Bangladesh
    (Washington, DC, 2007-02) World Bank
    Traffic at Chittagong Port, which handles 90 percent of Bangladesh's foreign trade, has been growing rapidly. The volume of containers handled has increased by over 10 percent a year over the last decade and a similar or faster growth rate is projected for the foreseeable future. Chittagong Port has not responded to this demand growth effectively, resulting in congestions and delays at the port, as well as high costs to port users. The delays and uncertainties in port services seriously undermine the economy's productivity and international trading links. Improving both port operations and on-ward inland transportation system will be fundamental to maintain and improve the international competitiveness of the Bangladesh economy. The productivity at Chittagong port is the lowest among major ports in the region by most measurements. The impact of low productivity in Chittagong port is made worse by the poor inland transport distribution system for containers in the country. Chittagong port is the only major port in South Asia that has no private sector operator in its terminal operations and much of the port's services are run by public monopoly, thus limiting competition and reducing efficiency.