Stand Alone Books

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  • Publication
    Revenue Administration Handbook
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-02-22) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver
    Revenue Administration Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and management of tax and customs administrations, covering topics such as tax policy design considerations that impact tax administration, institutional setup and strategic planning, analytical capacities and maturity models, core business processes, and tax sanctions. It also presents pioneering work in the field of digital transformation and how to build data science capabilities, including a roadmap for policy makers and tax officials on how to incorporate and manage disruptive technologies, such as machine learning, into building modern revenue administrations while taking into account their respective maturity levels. This practical manual provides examples from real-life World Bank projects so that policy makers, tax officials, information technology experts, and information and communication technology providers can better understand the needs of revenue administrations to design and implement the most appropriate technology solutions. This reference work is intended to serve as a tool to facilitate the progress and modernization of tax and customs administrations worldwide, and to reach not only tax experts and policy makers, but also other government officials, businesses and academic communities, as well as the larger public, since all are relevant stakeholders with an active role in day-to-day revenue administration operations. ------------------------- “This is a very timely and useful reference for tax practitioners and stakeholders, coming at a time when tax administrators continue to grapple with the challenge of how to accelerate the modernization of technology systems to remain effective in a rapidly advancing and technology driven business environment.” MOSES WASIKE, Senior financial management specialist, World Bank “This is an impressive piece of work that pulls together many different strains on tax administration.” JEFFREY OWENS, Director, Global Tax Policy Center, Vienna University “Applying several technologies discussed in this handbook in an innovative manner will definitely help leapfrog countries to pursue a digital transformation agenda, especially in the areas of efficiency, productivity, and citizen satisfaction.”
  • Publication
    Falling Long-Term Growth Prospects: Trends, Expectations, and Policies
    (World Bank : Washington, DC, 2024-02-01) Kose, M. Ayhan; Ohnsorge, Franziska
    A structural growth slowdown is underway across the world: at current trends, the global potential growth rate is expected to fall to a three-decade low over the remainder of the 2020s. Nearly all the forces that have powered growth and prosperity since the early 1990s have weakened, not only because of a series of shocks to the global economy over the past three years. A persistent and broad-based decline in long-term growth prospects imperils the ability of emerging market and developing economies to combat poverty, tackle climate change, and meet other key development objectives. These challenges call for an ambitious policy response at the national and global levels. This book presents the first detailed analysis of the growth slowdown and a rich menu of policy options to deliver better growth outcomes.
  • Publication
    The Labor Market Impact of Forced Displacement: Jobs in Host Communities in Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Uganda (Executive Summary booklet)
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-12-11) von der Goltz, Jan; Bousquet, Julie; Kebede, Tewodros Aragie
    Communities that host refugees are often concerned about how their labor markets will change. Although high-income countries attract most policy attention, low- and middle-income countries host three of every four refugees worldwide. "The Labor Market Impact of Forced Displacement: Jobs in Host Communities in Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Uganda" seeks to address some of the key questions that arise in these host countries: How does forced displacement affect job outcomes for hosts? What effect do work permit schemes have? How does labor market competition influence attitudes? And what policies can support better job outcomes for hosts and refugees? To address these questions, the book relies on new primary data designed to study host community labor markets and on a careful comparative analysis of existing data. Its four focus countries represent low-income and middle-income economies as well as diverse policy contexts.In its key finding, "The Labor Market Impact of Forced Displacement" shows that across the focus countries, hosting refugees has modest or even positive overall labor market effects. In important instances, however, groups of host workers face adversity from greater labor market competition, while others benefit. The book explains how labor market restrictions rarely prevent refugees entirely from working but shape the type and quality of work they do, their contribution to the economy, and the effects of their participation on hosts. It shows that refugees matter not only as competitors but also as consumers, and it explains the importance of access to capital for hosts and refugees alike in economies where self-employment is key. It also discusses how hosts’ concerns over labor market competition influence their attitudes toward refugees.The book seeks to provide a basis for more confident jobs policy making in host communities. It offers lessons on how to analyze local labor market characteristics that shape outcomes for refugees and hosts alike and on how to think about the likely effects of policies. It encourages policy makers to support workers who face negative impacts—and to proactively seize the opportunities likely to arise.
  • Publication
    The Business of the State
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-28) World Bank
    The state, as an owner of businesses, competes and collaborates with the private sector at the firm level, market level, and economywide, and this involvement has profound implications for investment and growth. Governments actively participate in commercial markets in different forms, from controlling the production of goods and services to investing in firms as a minority shareholder. The impact of state participation on an economy’s growth depends on the type of public-private ownership, the types of markets, and the importance of those markets in the economy. The impact also depends on how policies and institutions regulate both the businesses with state ownership and the markets in which they are active. The Business of the State uses new evidence covering 91 countries from the World Bank’s Global Businesses of the State database to highlight the distinction between businesses of the state and traditionally understood state-owned enterprises. The report analyzes how different ownership arrangements across sectors and institutional settings affect private investment, productivity, technology adoption, and job creation. It also analyzes how these government arrangements influence the ability of economies to respond to shocks, from pandemics to climate change. The report proposes a clear analytical framework for understanding the consequences of relying on businesses of the state to attain specific development goals.
  • Publication
    The Government Analytics Handbook: Leveraging Data to Strengthen Public Administration
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-28) editors; Rogger, Daniel; Schuster, Christian
    The Government Analytics Handbook presents frontier evidence and practitioner insights on how to leverage data to strengthen public administration. Covering a range of microdata sources—such as administrative data and public servant surveys—as well as tools and resources for undertaking the analytics, it transforms the ability of governments to take a data-informed approach to diagnose and improve how public organizations work. Readers can order the book as a single volume in print or digital formats, or visit: worldbank.org/governmentanalytics, for modular access and additional hands-on tools. The Handbook is a must-have for practitioners, policy makers, academics, and government agencies.
  • Publication
    Working with Smallholders: A Handbook for Firms Building Sustainable Supply Chains (Third Edition)
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-18) International Finance Corporation
    A number of global trends, such as concurrent rises in incomes and urbanization, are driving the increased consumption of meat, dairy, and biofuels. Meeting the demand for products will require considerable increases in global production, particularly in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder farming predominates and yields remain low. At the same time, it will be essential to promote improved food quality, to reduce negative impacts on health, while additional initiatives must address how to reduce food losses. Climate change is bringing further stressors. These challenges also present opportunities to help smallholder farmers boost their productivity by facilitating better access to inputs, technology, knowledge, financing, and markets. Agribusinesses are increasingly working with smallholder farmers in low- and middle-income countries to secure agricultural commodities, which help to boost rural incomes and economic growth. Smallholders also represent a growing market for farm inputs, information, and financial services. 'Working with Smallholders: A Handbook for Firms Building Sustainable Supply Chains' shows agribusinesses how to develop more sustainable, resilient, and productive supply chains and the substantial impact of doing so on development. The book compiles innovative solutions and cutting-edge ideas to meet the challenges, and illustrating these points through a variety of case studies from initiatives around the world. This third edition builds on the lessons learned and provides updates in leading trends and technologies from those provided in the second edition published in 2018 including the potential for digital technologies and increased demands for sustainable farming. Although written principally to outline training and assistance needs and opportunities for the private sector -- whether in high-income or low- and middle-income markets -- the handbook may be useful to the staffs of governmental or nongovernmental agricultural development programs working with smallholders, as well as to academic and research institutions.
  • Publication
    Innovative Korea: Leveraging Innovation and Technology for Development
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-08-21) Soh, Hoon Sahib; Koh, Youngsun; Aridi, Anwar
    The Republic of Korea today is a highly industrialized, global leader in innovation and technology. It is the 10th largest economy in the world and has a per capita income approaching the average of OECD countries. In the 1950s, however, it was one of the world’s poorest countries, with decidedly bleak prospects. Its transformation has made Korea a well-known case study of successful development. "Innovative Korea: Leveraging Innovation and Technology for Development" summarizes the sources of Korea’s remarkable growth and the policies and institutional reforms that made it possible. The report focuses on Korea’s successful transition from a middle-income to a high-income economy. Korea escaped from the “middle-income trap” by fundamentally transforming its growth paradigm to a more private-sector-led model emphasizing market competition, innovation, and technology. Compared to the previous emphasis on large firms and industries, the government became more focused on promoting small and medium enterprises and technology entrepreneurs. Exports expanded significantly through greater integration in global value chains. Already-high levels of human capital development were complemented by an expanded social safety net and a more integrated approach to education and training. Korea succeeded by focusing on the foundations of long-run growth, building global capabilities in innovation and technology, and adapting and evolving its growth paradigm to promote new sources of growth. Innovative Korea, jointly prepared by the World Bank and the Korea Development Institute, provides useful insights on Korea’s development story and practical lessons for public policy making.
  • Publication
    Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023-06-15) Damania, Richard; Balseca, Esteban; de Fontaubert, Charlotte; Gill, Joshua; Kim, Kichan; Rentschler, Jun; Russ, Jason; Zaveri, Esha
    Clean air, land, and oceans are critical for human health and nutrition and underpin much of the world’s economy. Yet they suffer from degradation, poor management, and overuse due to government subsidies. "Detox Development: Repurposing Environmentally Harmful Subsidies" examines the impact of subsidies on these foundational natural assets. Explicit and implicit subsidies—estimated to exceed US$7 trillion per year—not only promote inefficiencies but also cause much environmental harm. Poor air quality is responsible for approximately 1 in 5 deaths globally. And as the new analyses in this report show, a significant number of these deaths can be attributed to fossil fuel subsidies. Agriculture is the largest user of land worldwide, feeding the world and employing 1 billion people, including 78 percent of the world’s poor. But it is subsidized in ways that promote inefficiency, inequity, and unsustainability. Subsidies are shown to drive the deterioration of water quality and increase water scarcity by incentivizing overextraction. In addition, they are responsible for 14 percent of annual deforestation, incentivizing the production of crops that are cultivated near forests. These subsidies are also implicated in the spread of zoonotic and vector-borne diseases, especially malaria. Finally, oceans support the world’s fisheries and supply about 3 billion people with almost 20 percent of their protein intake from animals. Yet they are in a collective state of crisis, with more than 34 percent of fisheries overfished, exacerbated by open-access regimes and capacity-increasing subsidies. Although the literature on subsidies is large, this report fills significant knowledge gaps using new data and methods. In doing so, it enhances understanding of the scale and impact of subsidies and offers solutions to reform or repurpose them in efficient and equitable ways. The aim is to enhance understanding of the magnitude, consequences, and drivers of policy successes and failures in order to render reforms more achievable.
  • Publication
    The Effect of Multinational Enterprises on Climate Change: Supply Chain Emissions, Green Technology Transfers, and Corporate Commitments
    (World Bank, 2023-05-23) Steenbergen, Victor; Saurav, Abhishek
    Multinational enterprises (MNEs) provide both a fundamental risk to and an opportunity for climate change mitigation. The climate ambitions of MNEs will affect the environmental performance of countries around the world. As a leading actor, proactive MNEs can impose sustainability standards or encourage green technology transfers that, in some cases, could affect millions of producers and accelerate the climate transition. However, obstructive MNEs may equally hold back any progress to reduce a country’s emissions via inaction or by actively resisting, obstructing, or lobbying against change. The objective of this report is to study the effect of MNEs on climate change. Toward this goal, the report reviews the latest available data, conducts new empirical analysis, and summarizes pioneering literature. The report answers four key questions related to the relationship between MNEs and climate change: » What effect do MNEs currently have on climate change, both through their own activities and through the emissions of their broader supply chains? » How do MNEs shape the potential transfer of “green” technologies to domestic firms, and how do different types of interactions with MNEs stimulate such technology transfers? » How committed are leading MNEs currently to transitioning their supply chains to net-zero emissions by 2050, and do they have long-, medium-, and short-range strategies to realize this? » What types of policies can influence MNEs’ effects on climate change?
  • Publication
    Thriving : Making Cities Green, Resilient, and Inclusive in a Changing Climate
    (Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023-05-18) Mukim, Megha (ed.); Roberts, Mark (ed.)
    Globally, 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions emanate from cities. At the same time, cities are being hit increasingly by climate change related shocks and stresses, ranging from more frequent extreme weather events to inflows of climate migrants. This report analyzes how these shocks and stresses are interacting with other urban stresses to determine the greenness, resilience, and inclusiveness of urban and national development. It provides policymakers with a compass for designing tailored policies that can help cities and countries take effective action to mitigate and adapt to climate change.