Sector/Thematic Studies

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2110

Economic and Sectoral Work are original analytic reports authored by the World Bank and intended to influence programs and policy in client countries. They convey Bank-endorsed recommendations and represent the formal opinion of a World Bank unit on the topic. This set includes the sectoral and thematic studies which are not Core Diagnostic Studies. Other analytic and advisory activities (AAA), including technical assistance studies, are included in these sectoral/thematic collections.

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Equitable Growth, Finance & Institutions Insight

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 149

China Economic Update, December 2022: Navigating Uncertainty - China’s Economy in 2023

(Washington DC, 2023-03-13) World Bank

Activity in China continues to track the ups and downs of the pandemic - outbreaks and growth slowdowns have been followed by uneven recoveries. After a downturn caused by the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreaks and stringent public health measures in April and May, activity picked up in the third quarter as infections receded. Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.9 percent y/y in Q3, from 0.4 percent in Q2. High frequency indicators suggest another growth slowdown in the fourth quarter amid a return of high COVID-19 cases. Despite fiscal and monetary policy support, real GDP growth is expected to slow to 2.7 percent in 2022 - 1.6 percentage points lower than projected in the June China economic update. In 2023 growth is projected to recover to 4.3 percent but remain below the potential rate.
Innovations Under the China Health Reform Program-for-Results: A Case Study Series

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-08) Yang, Fang ; Han, Wei ; Mandeville, Kate

Since 2009, China has been undertaking an ambitious program of health system reforms. Comprehensive reforms were defined in five priority areas: basic health insurance, health service delivery at grassroots level, essential public health service, an essential drugs program, and public hospital reform. After more than a decade of implementation, these reforms have led to notable achievements; however, challenges remain. The government of China tackled these health system challenges in its Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, the implementation of which was supported by a USD 600 million China Health Program-for-Results between 2018 and 2022. This was one of the first Program-for-Results financed by the World Bank in China and globally. Program-for-Results finances a subset of activities in a broader government program and uniquely links disbursement of funds directly to the achievement of specific program results rather than inputs as in traditional investment projects. In this Program-for-Results, there were three key results areas, aligned to the objectives of the government health reform program: (a) drawing on the reform model in successful pilots to deepen and mainstream comprehensive public hospital reforms; (b) strengthening primary health care services through establishing patient-centered integrated care; (c) addressing cross-cutting dimensions of the policy, institutional, and financial environment, such as information technology, to support the health reforms. This report showcases four case studies of innovations that summarize key lessons and experiences in the implementation of reforms under the Program-for-Results in the two provinces. The selected innovations are drawn across the three results areas of the Program-for-Results and shed light on tackling common health system challenges. The complexity of the health system in China and ambitious nature of its health system reforms combine to set the tone for the case studies, which provide opportunities for in-depth, multifaceted explorations of complex issues in the real-life health care settings.
China Economic Update - June 2022: Between Shocks and Stimulus - Real Estate Vulnerabilities and Financial Stability in China

(Washington, DC, 2022-06) World Bank

After a strong start in early 2022, the largest COVID-19 wave in two years and resulting mobility restrictions have disrupted China’s growth normalization. The global environment has also significantly worsened following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected to slow sharply to 4.3 percent in 2022. In the face of domestic and external headwinds, China's policymakers should carefully calibrate its policies. In the short term, China should balance COVID-19 mitigation with supporting economic growth. Over the medium term, greater efforts are needed to shift away from the old playbook of stimulus-led investment to boost economic growth. Decisive action to encourage a shift toward consumption, tackle social inequality, and rekindle innovation and productivity growth would help achieve a more balanced, inclusive, and sustainable growth trajectory for China.
Toward a Greener China: A Review of Recent Agricultural Support Policies and Public Expenditures

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022) World Bank

In recent decades, the Chinese government has placed great importance on developing agriculture and rural areas, adopting policies, and increasing public expenditures targeting these. China’s agricultural policies and support mechanisms have evolved, responding to emerging challenges and reflecting shifts in broader national policy and strategic efforts. These interventions had a modest impact on grain production and provided a more significant boost to rural incomes yet gave rise to significant market distortions and unintended consequences. The composition and patterns of public expenditures for agriculture reflect this dynamic evolution and changing priorities concerning the development of China’s agriculture and rural areas. This report analyses in some depth the changing scale and structure of pertinent public expenditures and briefly synthesizes the available evidence regarding the efficacy of certain expenditures (and the policies to which they are connected). Among the major observations made in the report regarding agriculture-related public expenditures are the following: first, the central and local governments have allocated considerable resources over the past two decades to support agricultural and rural development. Second, the composition of public expenditure classified as agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy (AFW) has changed dramatically in recent years. Third, the public expenditure involving direct support for agriculture peaked in 2015 and has since declined, while public expenditure on general support services has increased and diversified. Fourth, public eco-environmental expenditures have increased considerably and taken on a wide range of different forms. Finally, spatial differences in public expenditures supporting AFW and green agricultural development are worth noting and require additional attention, given the increasing dominance of local governments in delivering agricultural programs and investments.
Renewable Energy Development in China: A 40-Year China-World Bank Partnership

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-03) De Gouvello, Christophe ; Song, Yanqin

China’s remarkable economic growth required dramatic growth of energy consumption and continuous changes in the nation’s energy economy. The World Bank supported the efforts of the Chinese government to develop and revitalize the country’s energy sector to meet the daunting challenges it faced while continuously warning that the unrestrained reliance on coal would lead to unsustainable stress on the local and global environment. In mid-1980s, the Chinese government and the World Bank embarked on a long and arduous journey to develop renewable energy (RE) to lessen the impacts on the environment and avoid excessive reliance on coal to alleviate the debilitating power shortages that constrained the economy. This paper focuses on the more than 40-year partnership with the World Bank along China’s long journey to develop a large-scale, efficient, and competitive RE industry in the country and globally. While the projects supported by the World Bank and their role are highlighted in this paper, this support should only be seen as a catalyst. The remarkable development of renewable energy in China was primarily guided by the multiple Chinese authorities at the national, provincial, and county levels, implemented by the many public and private companies, and fueled by local financing institutions. The paper is structured along the four stages of RE development in China, which are detailed in a companion report. It highlights the key milestones of this partnership, its achievements, and challenges, detailing World Bank support and main activities that contributed to China’s rise from a lagger to a leader.
China: 40-Year Experience in Energy Efficiency Development - Policies, Achievements, and Lessons Learned

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-03) De Gouvello, Christophe ; Taylor, Robert ; Song, Yanqin

China has developed one of the most comprehensive and effective sets of energy efficiency policies and programs in the world. This has been an arduous task over decades, involving the government, businesses, and civil society. Although success has abounded in many areas, China’s programs are not perfect, and the development process has often been one of improving, adjusting, and reinforcing. Some of the strengths of China’s effort have been (a) good organization, (b) focus on overcoming implementation difficulties at local levels as well as development of national policies and programs, (c) an effective blending of market-based energy efficiency investment and service mechanisms with new law-based regulations, and (d) investments in institutional development to provide the foundation for long-term gains. The process, experience, and results of the 40-year effort provide an amazingly rich bank of lessons for other countries with aspirations for energy efficiency gains, which this report strives to describe. One of the most telling macro indicators of China’s success is the reversal of a trend of increasing energy use per unit GDP beginning in 2006 and continuing thereafter, delinking growth in energy consumption from growth in GDP. Energy use per unit GDP had fallen during the 1980s and 1990s, in part due to energy conservation efforts but mainly due to economic structural change as China’s economy began to mature. This changed in the early 2000s, however, as yet more rapid industrial growth brought increases in China’s energy intensity. China’s leadership recognized that this continued resource-intensive development over the long haul was physically almost impossible, economically inferior, and environmentally unacceptable. With calls to build a less resource-intensive society, the country sharply increased its efforts to improve energy efficiency, building on past programs and adding new ones in a comprehensive effort. The focus was on achieving results. The trend of increasing energy intensity was bent downward, and energy intensity began to decline again, even as rapid industrial and economic growth continued.
China: 40-Year Experience in Renewable Energy Development - Policies, Achievements, and Lessons Learned

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12-03) De Gouvello, Christophe ; Berrah, Noureddine ; Jufeng, Li ; Song, Yanqin

China made impressive progress in developing renewable energy to provide access to clean energy and electricity to its predominantly rural population before the economic boom that followed the open door policy, by improving energy supply to the economy as the country industrialized and urbanized at an extremely fast pace and finally by fighting debilitating local pollution and mitigating the impact of climate change. Through that journey, China has accumulated a considerable amount of experience and learned many lessons. Its evolution from a low-income to a middle-high income country and its wide geographical diversity brought about extensive challenges, many of which are similar to those facing a wide range of developing countries who are willing to further rely on renewable energy to address their energy needs. This report attempts to present the Chinese rich and diversified experience and draw the lessons learned that may inform decision-making in these countries.
China Economic Update, December 2021: Rebalancing Act - From Recovery to High-Quality Growth

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-12) World Bank

Following a strong rebound in the first half of 2021, economic activity cooled rapidly in the latter half of the year. The slowdown was partly policy induced, reflecting significant fiscal tightening and regulatory curbs on the financial and real estate sectors, while recurring COVID-19 outbreaks complicated the normalization of contact service activities. This led to a sharp slowdown in investment and sluggish recovery of private consumption, which was only partially offset by stronger-than-expected exports on the back of robust external demand. In addition, power shortages and production cuts aimed at reducing CO2 emissions, which surged in the first half of 2021, also weighed on economic activity.
Balancing Workers' Protection and Labor Market Flexibility in China

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11-15) World Bank

Across the world, governments use minimum wages, employment protection legislation, and other labor regulations that define the legal boundaries of employment to manage potential labor market imperfections. These imperfections include information asymmetry, uneven market power between employers and employees, discrimination by employers, and incomplete markets for unemployment insurance and insurance for other work-related risks. Labor regulations are also widely used to further other objectives, most notably the distribution of wealth among the population. Labor regulations can have a wide range of impacts on the employment and earnings of workers and the productivity and profits of firms. While these regulations have become common currency in most countries, many economists believe that over-regulation of labor markets can have detrimental consequences. In fact, until relatively recently, most economists were skeptical that labor regulations could have any positive impacts on either workers or firms. In recent years, a more nuanced view has emerged that argues that both over-regulation and under-regulation can constrain job creation and have other negative impacts, including exacerbating inequalities in the labor market. The proponents of this view assert that over-regulation can reduce labor market flexibility, while under-regulation can leave workers unprotected by not correcting for labor market imperfections. In practice, striking the right balance between workers’ protection and market flexibility is not easy. From a political economy point of view, different groups with special interests lobby vigorously either for further protection or further flexibility. As a result, minimum wages and employment protection legislation are often highly politicized issues. However, even from a technical point of view, it is not easy to draw unequivocal conclusions about the impact of labor regulations on employment levels, earnings, job turnover, productivity, and other outcomes because of the ambiguity of theoretical models and the scarcity of empirical evidence on the causal impacts of labor regulations. Empirical evidence is even scarcer for developing and emerging economies than for developed countries.
Climate Risk Country Profile: China

(World Bank, Washington, DC and Asian Development Bank, Manila, 2021-09-24) World Bank Group ; Asian Development Bank

Climate change is a major risk to good development outcomes, and the World Bank Group is committed to playing an important role in helping countries integrate climate action into their core development agendas. The World Bank Group (WBG) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are committed to supporting client countries to invest in and build a low-carbon, climate-resilient future, helping them to be better prepared to adapt to current and future climate impacts. The People’s Republic of China is the world’s second largest economy and the largest country by population, with over 1.4 billion people. The country is highly diverse, both in geography and ethnography. The country’s geography can be generally divided into four regions. The Southern region, consisting of hilly terrain and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The Northern region, consisting of low productivity plains and deserts, including Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Western Region, consisting of high-altitude plains and mountains in Tibet Autonomous Region, and the Eastern region, which can be sub-divided into the Central Plain, North Plain, and the Northeast Plain, consisting of alluvial plains of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, and a densely populated coastline. As of 2018 China contained six cities with populations over 10 million.