03. Journals

3,120 items available

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These are journal articles published in World Bank journals as well as externally by World Bank authors.

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Taxing the Good? Distortions, Misallocation, and Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa
(Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank, 2020-02) Cirera, Xavier; Maemir, Hibret
This paper uses comprehensive and comparable firm-level manufacturing censuses from four Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to examine the extent, costs, and nature of within-industry resource misallocation between heterogeneous production units. This paper finds evidence of severe misallocation in which resources are diverted away from high-productivity firms towards low-productivity ones, although the magnitude differs across countries. Estimated aggregate productivity gains from the hypothetical equalization of marginal returns range from 30 percent in Côte d’Ivoire to 160 percent in Kenya. The magnitude of reallocation gains appears considerably lower when performing the same counterfactual exercise based on the World Bank Enterprise Surveys once the value-added shares of industries are adjusted using the census data. This suggests that linking firm-level survey data to aggregate outcomes requires census-type data or sampling methods that take the true structure of production into account.
Drivers of Structural Transformation: The Case of the Manufacturing Sector in Africa
(Elsevier, 2017-11) Mijiyawa, Abdoul' Ganiou
This paper analyzes the driving factors of manufacturing development in Africa. Using the system-GMM technique with four-year average panel data over the period 1995–2014, including 53 African countries, the paper finds four main results. (1) There is a U-shaped relationship between the manufacturing share of GDP and per capita GDP. (2) Exchange rate depreciation stimulates Africa’s manufacturing sector. (3) Good governance, especially a low level of corruption and better government effectiveness contribute to Africa’s manufacturing development. (4) The size of domestic market positively affects the manufacturing share of GDP. On the other hand, the paper finds no significant effects of FDI and urbanization on manufacturing development. The implication of these findings is that improving the level of competitiveness, expanding the size of domestic market, combating corruption as well as improving government effectiveness are key for Africa’s manufacturing sector development. Moreover, the U-shaped relationship between the manufacturing share of GDP and per capita GDP, implies that African countries should not expect industrialization to automatically happen with income increase, but rather, they should proactively tackle key obstacles to the development of the manufacturing sector.
Interview with Steven Livingston on Information Systems and Development
(2011-09) World Bank
An Interview with Steven Livingston, Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs. His research and teaching focus on media, information technology, national security and global politics. Dr. Livingston’s most recent publications include, When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina (2007), co-authored with W. Lance Bennett and Regina Lawrence) and Africa’s Evolving Infosystems: A Pathway to Security and Stability (2010), assessing the effects of the rapid growth of ICT on governance in Africa.
16 Things You Didn't Know About Africa
(2011-04) World Bank
The largest population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is 151.3 million in NIGERIA. The smallest is 0.1 million (100,000) in Seychelles.
Development 3.0
(2011-04) Devarajan, Shantayanan
Shantayanan Devarajan Gabonve a lunch talk at a recent conference of civil society and technology people orGabonnized by the Tech@State folks at the U.S. State Department.
Managing Knowledge in Organizations : Summary of an Interview with Marshall Van Alstyne and Hind Benbya
(2010-10) Leonard, Aaron
Knowledge exchange among practitioners in low- and middle-income countries is now at the forefront of global development policy formulation. But the question of how to connect the right people with the right knowledge at the right time isn�t new. Knowledge Management (KM) has been an established discipline since the 1990s. We talked with MIT�s Marshall Van Alstyne and Montpellier�s Hind Benbya about the state of knowledge management and information exchange in organizations today, and how new practices like knowledge markets can help us find better solutions to some of today�s trickiest development challenges.
South Meets South : Enriching the Development Menu
(2010-10) Maruri, Enrique; Fraeters, Han
African countries, like Nigeria, with an emerging information technology (IT) industry, are examples of how globalization has opened up vast new opportunities. Information technology and business process outsourcing is a multibillion dollar talent-driven industry with a market that is still untapped. Africa is keen on exploring this new frontier which has the potential to create thousands of quality jobs for its young people. But to do so, it must nurture the right skills. Where can these be found?
The Bogotá Spirit : South-South Peers and Partners at the Practice-Policy Nexus
(2010-10) Schulz, Nils-Sjard
On a warm evening in late March of this year, more than 500 enthusiastic delegates from around the world poured out of the Chamber of Commerce building in Bogot�, with a shared vision that South-South cooperation would reshape today�s development cooperation landscape. Despite the Colombian capital�s dizzying altitude of 2,800 meters, their zeal for effective South-South knowledge exchange and mutual learning left the participants of the Bogot� High Level Event on South-South cooperation and Capacity Development clear headed and with a long list of ideas, projects and plans, for their countries and regions, and for their multilateral, parliamentary, civil society, and research organizations.
The Effect of Refugee Inflows on Host Communities
(World Bank, 2010-02-15) Alix-Garcia, Jennifer; Saah, David
Despite the large and growing number of humanitarian emergencies, there is little economic research on the impact of refugees and internally displaced people on the communities that receive them. This analysis of the impact of the refugee inflows from Burundi and Rwanda in 1993 and 1994 on host populations in western Tanzania shows large increases in the prices of nonaid food items and more modest price effects for aid-related food items. Food aid is shown to mitigate these effects, though its impact is smaller than that of the increases in the refugee population. Examination of household assets suggests positive wealth effects of refugee camps on nearby rural households and negative wealth effects on households in urban areas.
Financial Institutions and Markets across Countries and over Time
(World Bank, 2010-02-15) Beck, Thorsten; Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli
This article introduces the updated and expanded version of the Financial Development and Structure Database. The database includes indicators on the size, efficiency, and stability of banks, nonbank financial institutions, and equity and bond markets over 1960–2007. It also contains indicators of financial globalization.