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My top ten social protection resources for 2018
2018 has been an exceptionally rich year for social protection research. As part of my weekly links, I reviewed some 300 papers published over the past 12 months, and with the calendar year coming to...
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Technological progress, personal responsibility and the future of redistribution
A person is caught stealing groceries from a supermarket. How should the justice system sanction such behavior? In the modern system of criminal justice, the sentence imposed on such a perpetrator...
View ArticleMissing in action: Where is the “demand” for jobs when we prepare for jobs?
Are robots, friends or foes of the future of work? Automation is eliminating some routine jobs but, on the positive side, robots are good partners for workers engaged in tasks that demand analytical,...
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Precious metals outlook: regaining lustre?
This blog is the ninth in a series of ten blogs on commodity market developments, elaborating on themes discussed in the latest edition of the World Bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook. Earlier blogs are...
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What can Netflix teach us about technology adoption?
When video streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime offer a one month free subscription, they are offering potential users an opportunity to experience the benefits of having access to...
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A light-touch method to improve accurate reporting of IDP’s food consumption
To design effective and durable relief programs for refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs), it is essential to understand the nature and context of the challenges the people living in these...
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Digitizing to succeed in MENA
The Middle East and North Africa region have some of the best educated, unemployed people in the world. High-skill university graduates currently make up almost 30 percent of the unemployed pool of...
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An individual look at poverty, across multiple dimensions
What we (don’t) know about gender gaps in multidimensional poverty … Gender gaps are pervasive in many dimensions of well-being. Globally, almost two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults are women,...
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New evidence on the challenge facing reform leaders should they join the...
Reform leaders who are persuaded by the need to invest in human capital face the challenge of getting thousands of state personnel, who staff myriad government agencies, to deliver. The quintessential...
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The role of the World Bank in filling gaps in the global risk architecture
In the World Development Report 2014 on Risk and Opportunity we discussed the need for collective action to prepare for, mitigate, and cope with risk. Our report called for more systematic risk...
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Gig economy growth pains
The gig economy matches businesses to consumers through digital platforms. It serves local communities such as Tutorama, an Egyptian online platform connecting students with local private tutors. In...
View ArticleHoliday reading
The holidays are upon us - a time to relax, see friends and family, and generally catch up. If you are anything like me then catching up will involve reading, so I thought that I’d share with you ten...
View ArticleTax policy should recognize the true value of user data
The latest revelations regarding covert data sharing practices by large tech companies demand governments finally take action to curb the unwanted exploitation of user data. To date, attention has...
View ArticleNew year’s resolutions
Travel no more than once per month. Despite number one above, participate in a World Bank mission to see how it really works. Despite numbers one and two above, get to Africa. It is a shame I have not...
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The Global Economic Outlook: Darkening Skies
Download the January 2019 Global Economic Prospects report. Global growth sputtered in 2018 amid weakening trade and manufacturing, tighter financing conditions, and elevated policy uncertainties....
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Oral democracy
The challenges of electoral democracy are becoming increasingly visible worldwide. Elite capture, corruption and patronage are serious concerns, and the legitimacy of some elections has come under...
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Energy prices fell 11 percent in December–Pink Sheet
Energy commodity prices plunged more than 11 percent in December, led by oil (-13 percent), the World Bank’s Pink Sheet reported.Non-energy prices fell marginally as losses in beverages, fertilizers,...
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What do public officials know? Why do some know more than others?
Many people working in development hope to `inform’ public officials. For example, academic research or the Bank’s own analytical studies often conclude with `policy recommendations’ to be taken on...
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On risk and black swans in developing countries
In 2014, the World Bank issued a highly relevant and timely report titled Risk and Opportunity: Managing Risk for Development. This report analyzed the growing number of heterogenous risks and...
View ArticleBy when would universal social protection be achieved?
I am 41 years old and, with business as usual, I would be 106 when universal social protection (USP) is realized. The drive for USP – a definition of which is to ensure that everyone is covered by...
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