Books by World Bank

Shifting the attention from high-income countries, this report takes the perspective of developing countries to ask:If new technologies reduce the importance of low-wage labour, how can developing countries compete?; Do countries need to industrialize to develop?; How can countries at different levels of development take advantage of new opportunities?

Takes a detailed look at the complexity of the teacher management system in India. It compares and contrasts teacher management policies in nine Indian states with actual practice on the ground, identifying key implementation challenges.

This report moves beyond asset and production losses and shifts its attention to how natural disasters affect people's well-being. Disasters are far greater threats to wellbeing than traditional estimates suggest. This approach provides a more nuanced view of natural disasters than usual reporting, and a perspective that takes fuller account of poor people's vulnerabilities.

Shows how urban resettlement can become a development opportunity for those who are adversely affected by the process of urban development. Examples include improvements to legal systems in Brazil, resettlement programs in slums in India and Mauritania, and restoration of informal sector livelihoods in Morocco and Pakistan.

The Kazakhstan Power Sector Assessment study aims to objectively identify the principal challenges faced by the Kazakhstan power sector in its ongoing transition and outlining potential policy options; and draw lessons from Kazakhstan's experience in sector reforms for the broader international audience.

This handbook is part of the wider WBG engagement in supporting countries with Domestic Resource Mobilization. It covers all relevant aspects that have to be considered when introducing or strengthening transfer pricing regimes aimed at addressing country specific risks and promoting compliance among taxpayers.

Published semiannually, this report includes analysis of topical policy challenges faced by developing countries through in-depth research in the January edition, and shorter analytical pieces in the June edition.

Provides policymakers from government finance agencies, security and justice ministries, and international organisations with an introduction to the key issues related to public expenditure reviews in the security sector.

Sub-Saharan Africans make their living from agriculture. Based on a detailed review of currently available technologies, this paper argues that improving the productivity and stability of agriculture has the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience.

This report looks at the trends in public social spending in Central America from 2007 to 2014, conducts international benchmarking, examines measures of the effectiveness and efficiency of social spending, and assesses the quality of selected institutions influencing public social spending.

International Debt Statistics (IDS) is a longstanding annual publication of the World Bank featuring external debt statistics and analysis for the 123 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debt Reporting System (DRS).

This report is an attempt to illuminate the impacts of the hidden dangers that lie beneath the water's surface and elucidate strategies for combating them. The main, though not exclusive, focus is on water quality, with a focus on nutrient loads, salt balances, and the overall environmental health of water bodies.

Drawing from global evidence and experiences, this volume provides a compass to help navigate key issues and trade-offs, as well as offering new data and insights to better inform choices around the appropriateness and feasibility of UBI in different contexts.

Offering public pensions with an account scheme that pays out what one paid in plus interest, and that keeps the system financially sound while not using financial markets has emerged as a reform benchmark for all pension schemes worldwide. The publication analyses country experiences, design and operational challenges, and solutions.

Offering public pensions with an account scheme that pays out what one paidin plus interest, and that keeps the system financially sound while not using financial markets has emerged as a reform benchmark for all pension schemes worldwide. The publication analyzes country experiences, design and operational challenges, and solutions.

Offers a unified framework to take stock of the theoretical and empirical literature on crime, conflict, and violence and to discuss how the international community organises itself to address security as a regional and global public good. The increasingly global effects of crime and conflict require an equally global response to violence.

This report analyzes the patterns of economic transformation that have occurred in Latin American and the Caribbean. A productivity-enhancing reform agenda with a focus on the services sector is a must to reignite its growth process. The region also needs to train its workforce for jobs requiring analytical skills as well as interpersonal skills.

While Moroccan cities are the engines of today's demographic and economic growth, they face persistent challenges. This note identifies priority actions to be taken to allow public authorities help urban development boost economic growth and promote shared prosperity for all.

The war in Syria, now in its eighth year, continues to take its toll on the Syrian people. More than half of the population of Syria remains displaced; 5.6 million persons are registered as refugees outside of the country and another 6.2 million are displaced within Syria's borders. The internally displaced persons include 2 million school-age children; of these, less than half attend school. Another 739,000 Syrian children are out of school in the five neighborhood countries that host Syria's refugees. The loss of human capital is staggering, and it will create permanent hardships for generations of Syrians going forward. Despite the tragic prospects for renewed fighting in certain parts of the country, an overall reduction in armed conflict is possible going forward. However, international experience shows that the absence of fighting is rarely a singular trigger for the return of displaced people. Numerous other factors--including improved security and socioeconomic conditions in origin states, access to property and assets, the availability of key services, and restitution in home areas--play important roles in shaping the scale and composition of the returns. Overall, refugees have their own calculus of return that considers all of these factors and assesses available options. The Mobility of Displaced Syrians: An Economic and Social Analysis sheds light on the 'mobility calculus' of Syrian refugees. While dismissing any policies that imply wrongful practices involving forced repatriation, the study analyzes factors that may be considered by refugees in their own decisions to relocate. It provides a conceptual framework, supported by data and analysis, to facilitate an impartial conversation about refugees and their mobility choices. It also explores the diversified policy toolkit that the international community has available--and the most effective ways in which the toolkit can be adapted--to maximize the well-being of refugees, host countries, and the people in Syria.

Documents frontier knowledge on the drivers of agriculture productivity to derive pragmatic policy advice for governments, and development partners on reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Provides the first comprehensive analysis of inflation in emerging market and developing economies. The book examines how inflation has evolved and become synchronized among economies; what drives inflation; where inflation expectations have become better-anchored; and how exchange rate fluctuations can pass through to inflation.