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The challenges of informality
Download the January 2019 Global Economic Prospects report. The informal sector — labor and business that is hidden from monetary, regulatory, and institutional authorities — accounts for about a third...
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The Analysis of Household Surveys: Reissue edition with a new preface
Angus Deaton’s classic, The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Microeconometric Approach to Development Policy has been re-issued with a new preface by the author. The original publication has been...
View ArticleStaying focused
Amidst all the noise of the 24-hour news cycle and current events competing for our attention there lurks a danger that we lose sight of our mission: the fundamental issues in development that we are...
View ArticleDebt in low-income countries: A rising vulnerability
Download the January 2019 Global Economic Prospects report. Since 2013, median government debt in low-income countries has risen by 20 percentage points of GDP and increasingly comes from...
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Digital technologies allow people to take on risks and explore new...
In the era of digital technology, the structure of production as well as the interaction between humans and machines is being redefined. The diffusion and application of digital technology can...
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Is inflation really gone for good?
Emerging market and developing economies have achieved a remarkable decline in inflation since the mid-1970s. In addition, inflation movement up or down has become increasing synchronized across the...
View ArticleWDR 2020: Sneak preview
The next World Development Report (WDR) on Global Value Chains: Trading for Development is well under way. Check out our website for a sneak preview. Since the Bank’s last report more than thirty...
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Reacting to food price spikes: Commodity of errors
Agricultural and food prices are expected to rise only moderately in 2019. However, risks of extreme weather, an escalation of trade tensions, or a jump in energy prices could trigger higher prices....
View ArticleCommodity prices rose modestly in January–Pink Sheet
Energy commodity prices increased nearly 2 percent in January, led by oil (+5 percent), the World Bank’s Pink Sheet reported.Non-energy prices gained marginally, with rises in agriculture balanced by...
View ArticleSocial media beyond entertainment
Social media has flourished with increasing digital connectivity. Internet users in the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates spend more than 3 hours per day on social...
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Building a more resilient caribbean to natural disasters and climate change
The blog draws on joint ongoing and published work with several IMF staff, including Leo Bonato, Aliona Cebotari, Julian Chow, Alejandro Guerson, Franz Loyola, Sònia Muñoz, Uma Ramakrishnan, Ippei...
View ArticleTo the Data Day skeptics
As I wondered which of the many fascinating ideas from the World Bank’s inaugural annual Data Day to recap in a blog, it occurred to me that there was likely selection bias in those who chose to...
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Roads through tough places: Using remote sensing for impact evaluations of...
Over the last twenty years, impact evaluations have dramatically expanded the body of evidence about which types of development programs work, when, and why, but their application has been heavily...
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Valuing user data
The rising threat of digital taxes across the world, most recently in New Zealand, is raising the stakes to reform the international corporate tax system. In February 2019, the OECD outlined four...
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Buffering rural producer associations against financial setbacks – Evidence...
Poverty in Brazil is disproportionately concentrated in rural areas. Although rural households account for only 15% of the population, 45% of them fall within the nation’s poorest quartile. A large...
View ArticleWe want to hear from you about the World Development Report 2020 — Global...
Last month I announced that the 2020 World Development Report (WDR2020) will focus on global value chains (GVCs) and what they mean for development. Does participating in GVCs promote development? Why...
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Commodity prices rose modestly in February–Pink Sheet
Energy commodity prices increased nearly 5 percent in February, led by oil (+8 percent), the World Bank’s Pink Sheet reported.Non-energy prices gained 2 percent, in response to large price increases in...
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Process makes perfect: improving tax compliance and tax administration...
To a United States citizen, the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) might seem like the La Llorona -the Spanish-speaker’s response to the Boogeyman -of public administration. They come after those of us...
View ArticleWhy we need a research department
After a brief hiatus, the office of the Chief Economist of the World Bank Group was reunited last week with DEC, the well-known Research Department of the World Bank. This led me to reflect on a...
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Think local, act local: Working with civil society for better development...
We love local. Whether it’s buying vegetables directly from your local farmer, frequenting a neighborhood business, or working as a community activist, many of us believe that solutions to some of our...
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