Books in the Directions in Development series

Assesses the state of early childhood development (ECD) in MENA from before birth through age five, examining multiple dimensions of early development including health, nutrition, socio-emotional development, early learning, and early work.

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.

Examines such questions as: What has been the trajectory of Cameroon's economic growth? Which sectors have contributed to growth? What jobs are being created? What types of skills are being used in the sectors where the highest percentages of the population are employed? What are the demand and supply barriers to skills? Which policies and institutions are in play? Are they sufficient?

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.

This volume supports Vietnam's path to economic prosperity by identifying policies and targeted interventions that will drive development through leveraging GVC participation that take major shifts in trade policy and rapid technological advances in ICT into account.

Proposes a simple framework to understand the political economy of subsidy reform and applies it to four in-depth country studies covering more than 30 reform episodes. The most successful reforms involve active efforts by policy leaders to identify the political forces supporting energy subsidies and redirect or inoculate them.

Analyses the spatial development patterns of Mexican cities and examines how recent urban spatial growth has affected economic performance and livability. Based on the analysis, this report offers recommendations and instruments to support more sustainable spatial development and to make Mexican cities become more productive and inclusive.

Uses data from the World Bank's STEP Household Skills Survey to explore patterns of educational mismatch in 12 developing countries. Workers are considered "mismatched" if their personal education is different than that required by their jobs. The report finds that over-education is common across diverse developing contexts.

Performance budgeting is a reform adopted by governments in many OECD countries and encouraged by development agencies. This book explores the experiences of seven countries and suggests a fresh approach to avoid classic pitfalls and adopting ideas from successful reformers.

After years of high growth and poverty reduction, Ghana is now facing important economic and social challenges. More jobs, jobs that pay better, and jobs that include the more vulnerable groups will be needed. This book provides a diagnostic of Ghana's workers and jobs and possible policy directions going forward.

The book is structured to be of use to researchers, planners, and economists who are tasked with analysing key areas of health labour markets, including overall labour market assessments as well as and more narrow and targeted analyses of demand and supply (including production and migration), performance, and remuneration of health.

Identifies a four-pillar strategy for Bangladesh to sustain and accelerate export growth: breaking into new markets, breaking into new products, improving worker and consumer welfare, and building a supportive environment.

Assesses the technical work and the policy actions taken by the Georgian government during 2014 and 2015. It covers the full cycle of the reform of a social assistance program, from establishing the objectives to the design of compensation measures that minimize the number of newly ineligible beneficiaries.

Provides a narrative description of the institutional and management decisions, infrastructure, systems and processes, impact, and lessons learned and policy implications for developing countries from Korea's multi-decade Digital Governance experience.

Los fines de la cobertura universal de salud son asegurar que toda la poblacion pueda acceder a servicios de salud de calidad. Parses que han logrado la cobertura universal de salud estan demostrando c6mo estos programas pueden servir como mecanismos esenciales de mejora de la salud.

Drawing from vast international experiences, this report examines how global cutting-edge technology like electric vehicles could be pursued in Bhutan with different socioeconomic characteristics from advanced economies.

Using new firm-level export data collected in eight MENA countries - Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen - this study provides a finer and deeper diagnostic for the region's lack of export growth and diversification.

Do current stylized facts about African agriculture and rural livelihoods reflect reality? In rapidly-changing and data-scarce environments they risk being outdated and misleading. This report re-examines conventional wisdom about African farmers, from the bottom up and recognising the complexities involved.