Publication: World Bank Research Digest, Vol. 6(1)
Loading...
Date
2011-11
ISSN
Published
2011-11
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
In this issue: gross capital flows: dynamics and crises; crisis recovery and the role of credit: do phoenix miracles exist? Decentralization and municipal spending ability in developing countries; when starting with the most expensive mitigation options makes sense; evaluating the impact of trade interventions; and the influence of society on preferences.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2011. World Bank Research Digest, Vol. 6(1). © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/20962 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Citations
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication South Asia Economic Focus, Spring 2014 : Time to Refocus(Washington, DC, 2014-04-06)South Asia experienced a strong cyclical rebound in 2013Q3 growth but has since slowed again. The strong regional growth performance between July and September 2013 can be largely attributed to a temporary pick up in export growth, investment activity, as well as stronger agricultural output. Since the large impact of global portfolio rebalancing in May 2103, emerging markets have separated into a diverse group ranging from continuously fragile to resilient vis-a-vis external pressures. India has managed to turn around the wheel and minimize exposure to further tapering in 2014. Weak growth and exchange rate depreciation have characterized India for some time. Capital inflows into South Asia have regained some momentum and proved more resilient in January 2014 as opposed to May 2013. This report presents recent economic developments; outlook and policy; focus: from external to domestic risk; South Asia country briefs for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; and South Asia at a glance.Publication Fiscal Challenges after the Global Financial Crisis : A Survey of Key Issues(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-03)The global financial crisis and the response to it have contributed to a sharp increase in public indebtedness in a large number of countries. While there have been episodes of high debt in the past, there are a number of long-term challenges today that are likely to complicate the implementation of sustainable fiscal policies in the coming years. Population aging and climate change are factors that are likely to contribute to rising fiscal pressures and the crisis has highlighted the risks and vulnerabilities stemming from reduced fiscal space. This paper argues that heightened fiscal challenges can only be dealt with successfully by adopting a long-term fiscal planning horizon. The paper analyzes a range of available policy tools that countries have used in the past to improve fiscal management. Particular attention is paid to the role of rules-based policies, improvements in the budget process, better accounting of long-term liabilities in the government budget, the deleterious effects of unproductive expenditures, and the painful trade-offs created by the crisis and the toolkit at hand to address them.Publication EU11 Regular Economic Report, Issue #28, December 2013 : Promoting Shared Prosperity during a Weak Recovery in Central and Eastern Europe(Washington, DC, 2013-12)Economic prospects for the 11 European Union (EU) member states that joined after 2004 started to improve during 2013, as the situation in the Euro area stabilized and domestic policies bolstered growth. Economic growth across the EU11 is expected to continue to pick up in 2014 and to become more balanced, with rising domestic demand. Fiscal adjustment will resume in 2014, with domestic demand helping to rebuild revenue, but at a relatively gradual pace in order to support economic growth. Rising global interest rates coupled with volatile capital markets, can slow the Euro area recovery and hamper domestic demand, particularly investment, in EU11. The bottom forty percent in the EU11 tends to be concentrated in low skilled, young or older unemployed, and minority groups. Countries will need to accelerate economic growth and job creation, in an environment in which fiscal and credit constraints are more binding and household coping mechanisms have been weakened by the crisis. This report covers economic developments, prospects, and policies in 11 EU member states- Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. The regular economic report (RER) comprises two parts: a macroeconomic report, and a special topic on an issue of economic policy interest in EU11.Publication Croatia - Policy Notes : A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth(Washington, DC, 2012-02)Signing the accession treaty with the European Union (EU) and its forthcoming membership to the EU are remarkable opportunities for Croatia to address a number of economic challenges and join the EU as a competitive and successful economy. The new Croatian government in its program for 2011-2015 seeks higher standards of living for its citizens through sustained economic growth and greater social cohesion. Given the legacies from the past, these tasks will require ambitious and credible policy decisions. Once it joins the EU, Croatia will also have to contribute to the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth which calls on member states to set national targets in employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate or energy. These targets will also require concerted efforts in structural reforms by the Government of Croatia. A major priority for the coming two to three years will be to create fiscal space to absorb EU funds and avoid being a net contributor to the EU. Upon accession, the EU Structural and Cohesion funds available to Croatia will exceed Euro 1.5 billion a year. At the same time, Croatia will also be obliged to contribute about 680 million annually to the EU budget. A number of new member states have found it a challenge to access and absorb EU funds effectively and efficiently. This requires a lot of preparatory work to get projects ready now for the time when EU structural and cohesion funds can be accessed, as they represent a huge increase over pre-accession funds and a great opportunity to address Croatia's needs in transport and environment, as well as in innovation and modernization of production.Publication The World Bank Group's Response to the Global Economic Crisis : Phase 1(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011)The global economic crisis that began in 2008 threatened to erase years of progress in developing countries. In response, the World Bank Group increased lending to unprecedented levels. The World Bank posted a large increase in middle income countries (MICs), and a much smaller one in low income countries (LICs). The International Finance Corporation (IFC) focused on trade finance, mainly in LICs. Its new business initially fell in MICs, rebounding only in late fiscal 2010. The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) concentrated on guarantees in Eastern Europe. Analytic and advisory work helped inform government and private sector responses to the crisis. This report presents an initial real-time evaluation of the readiness, relevance, quality-at-entry, short-term results, and likely sustainability of the Bank Group response from the start of the crisis through fiscal 2010. This evaluation builds on a 2008 Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) assessment of Bank Group interventions during past crises and draws extensively on 11 country case studies and field visits. Given the short time since the crisis response started, the evaluation is geared more to raising flags than to presenting definitive conclusions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Macroeconomic and Fiscal Implications of Population Aging in Bulgaria(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-02)Bulgaria is in the midst of a serious demographic transition that will shrink its population at one of the highest rates in the world within the next few decades. This study analyzes the macroeconomic and fiscal implications of this demographic transition by using a long-term model, which integrates the demographic projections with social security, fiscal and real economy dimensions in a consistent manner. The simulations suggest that, even under fairly optimistic assumptions, Bulgaria's demographic transition will exert significant fiscal pressures and depress the economic growth in the medium and long term. However, the results also demonstrate that the Government of Bulgaria can play a significant role in mitigating some of these effects. Policies that induce higher labor force participation, promote productivity and technological improvement, and provide better education outcomes are found to counteract the negative consequences of the demographic shift.Publication Stolen Asset Recovery : A Good Practices Guide for Non-conviction Based Asset Forfeiture(World Bank, 2009)The guide is organized into three major parts: Part A first provides an overview of the problem of stolen assets and the problem of recovering the assets once they are transferred abroad. Second, it describes how the international community has taken steps to respond to the problem through United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative. UNCAC introduced a new framework to facilitate the tracing, freezing, seizing, forfeiture, and return of assets stolen through corrupt practices and hidden in foreign jurisdictions. The StAR Initiative developed an action plan to support the domestication and implementation of asset recovery provisions under UNCAC, to facilitate countries' efforts to recover stolen assets that have been hidden in foreign jurisdictions, and ultimately, to help deter such flows and eliminate safe havens for hiding corruption proceeds. Third and finally, Part A introduces non-conviction based (NCB) asset forfeiture as one of the critical tools to combat corruption, describing the situations when it is useful, how it differs from criminal forfeiture, its usefulness in civil and common law jurisdictions, and the support it has gained internationally. Part B contains the 36 key concepts. The concepts have been grouped together by topic area, including prime imperatives, definitions of assets and offenses subject to NCB asset forfeiture, measures for investigation and preservation of assets, procedural and evidentiary concepts, determining parties and ensuring proper notice, judgment proceedings, organizational considerations and asset management, and international cooperation and asset recovery. The concepts are illustrated through examples from cases and excerpts from different jurisdictions' NCB asset forfeiture legislation. Part C contains a number of special contributions written by individual practitioners. The contributions focus on the general practice of NCB asset forfeiture and international cooperation in specific jurisdictions, namely Colombia, Guernsey, Ireland, Kuwait, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. In addition, some contributions illustrate a selection of NCB asset forfeiture practices, such as asset management, delegating certain roles to the executive branch, and pursuing forfeiture based on illicit enrichment.Publication Making Procurement Work Better – An Evaluation of the World Bank’s Procurement System(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-06)This evaluation assesses the results, successes, and challenges of the World Bank 2016 procurement reform. Procurements acquire the works, goods, and services necessary to achieve the World Bank’s project development outcomes. The World Bank’s procurement processes must ensure that clients get the best value for every development dollar. In 2016, the World Bank reformed its procurement system for Investment Project Financing and launched a new procurement framework aimed at enhancing the Bank’s development effectiveness through better procurement. The reform sought to reduce procurement bottlenecks impeding project performance and modernize procurement systems. It emphasized cutting edge international good practice principles and was intended to be accompanied by procurement capacity strengthening to help client countries. This evaluation offers three recommendations to scale up reform implementation and enhance portfolio and project performance: (i) Improve change management support for the reform’s implementation. (ii) Strategically strengthen country-level procurement capacity. (iii) Consistently manage the full spectrum of procurement risks to maximize project success.Publication Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects : Findings and Recommendations(World Bank, 2009)The overall goal of the analysis presented in this report is to advance the understanding and integration in operational terms of environmental water allocation into integrated water resources management. The specific objectives of this report are the following: 1) document the changing understanding of environmental flows, by both water resources practitioners and by environmental experts within the Bank and in borrowing countries; 2) draw lessons from experience in implementing environmental flows by the Bank, other international development organizations with experience in this area, and a small number of developed and developing countries; 3) develop an analytical framework to support more effective integration of environmental flow considerations for informing and guiding: (a) the planning, design, and operations decision making of water resources infrastructure projects; (b) the legal, policy, institutional, and capacity development related to environmental flows; and (c) restoration programs; and 4) provide recommendations for improvements in technical guidance to better incorporate environmental flow considerations into the preparation and implementation of lending operations.Publication World Development Indicators 2010(World Bank, 2010-04-01)The 1998 edition of world development indicators initiated a series of annual reports on progress toward the International development goals. In the foreword then, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn recognized that 'by reporting regularly and systematically on progress toward the targets the international community has set for itself, the author will focus attention on the task ahead and make those responsible for advancing the development agenda accountable for results.' The same vision inspired world leaders to commit themselves to the millennium development goals. On this, the 10th anniversary of the millennium declaration, world development indicators 2010 focuses on progress toward the millennium development goals and the challenges of meeting them.