Bøger udgivet af World Bank Publications

Assesses the impact of the strong economic growth on employment. This study addresses the question of what Nigeria could do to increase the availability of quality jobs and reduce rising youth unemployment, and proposes a strategy to sustain and further accelerate Nigeria's growth performance and enhance quality of employment.

Adoption of digital technologies is widely acknowledged to boost productivity and employment, stimulate investment, and promote growth and development. Africa has already benefited from a rapid diffusion of information and communications technology, characterized by widespread adoption of mobile telephony. But access and use of digital technology among firms is uneven in the region, varying between countries as well as within them. This means African businesses may not reap the full potential benefits offered by ongoing improvements in digital infrastructure. Using rich datasets, this study offers a new understanding of the region's incomplete digitalization - namely shortfalls in the use and uptake by firms of the internet and other digital tools such as computers and specialist software to perform business functions. While internet use among large firms is widespread in the region, amounting to at least 90 percent of businesses according to World Bank research, for small firms the rate drops to 40 percent. For micro enterprises and in the informal sector, the gap is even wider. There are similar shortfalls in the use of sophisticated digital technologies such as specialized apps and software, or even more basic tools such as computers or mobile phones, to perform administrative tasks. Incomplete digitalization in Africa presents a market opportunity for the private sector. The region has already achieved impressive gains in digital infrastructure and connectivity in recent decades and has good prospects for attracting further investments to help close the remaining gaps. Nevertheless, this study also outlines the challenges in addressing incomplete digitalization, finding that the cost of machinery, equipment and software, as well as the cost of connectivity to the internet, is significantly more expensive in Africa than elsewhere. Hight costs amount to barriers to further digital diffusion. But the report outlines ways in which the private sector, with support from policy makers, international institutions, and regulators, can help bring down these costs, stimulating more widespread digitalization of the region's firms, thereby boosting productivity and, by extension, economic development.

The Evolving Geography of Productivity and Employment: Ideas for Inclusive Growth through a Territorial Lens in Latin America and the Caribbean employs a territorial lens to understand the persistently low economic growth rates in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Using new data and methods, it shows that deindustrialization, distance, and divisions offer intertwined explanations for an urban productivity paradox in the LAC region: its highly dense cities should be among the world's most productive, yet they are not. LAC cities have been held back by lack of dynamism, poor connectivity, and divisions into disconnected poor and affluent neighborhoods. Deindustrialization has shifted urban employment, especially in the largest LAC cities, away from manufacturing and toward less dynamic, low-productivity nontradable activities, such as retail trade and personal and other services, that profit less from agglomeration, especially in highly congested cities. Although employment in urban tradable services has risen, the increase has not been strong enough to offset the decline in manufacturing employment. Meanwhile, intercity connectivity issues have undermined the performance of the region's network of cities by restricting market access and firms' ability to benefit from specialization in smaller cities. Within cities, poor connectivity and residential labor market segregation have limited the gains from agglomeration to neighborhoods in central business districts where formal firms operate. Informality has persisted in low-income neighborhoods, where residents face multiple deprivations. By contrast, many agricultural and mining areas have benefited from the strong demand for commodities by China and other fast-growing economies, particularly during the Golden Decade (2003-13), leading to a decline in territorial inequality in most countries in the region. The report concludes that to encourage inclusive growth, countries must more efficiently transform natural wealth into human capital, infrastructure, and institutions and improve the competitiveness of the urban economy. It then sketches out the contours of such a development strategy, identifying policy priorities at the national, regional, and local levels.

There is an enormous need and demand in East Asia for both housing and other building construction, and for the development of infrastructure for transport, water and other utility provision. At the very foundation of all this activity, there is a burgeoning demand for limestone, ... This involves cement production, as well as supply of lime, aggregates and dimensional stone. Limestone is found in all East Asian countries, and cement, the chief limestone product, is a common barometer of economic progress. Many World Bank-finance infrastructure projects use cement and are subject to careful screening to ensure compliance with the World Bank's environmental safeguard policies. This report draws attention to two key aspects of limestone resource management that could help minimize impacts: (i) the selection of an appropriate site for exploitation; and (ii) the management of selected sites during and after quarrying.Through a wide distribution of this report among the various stakeholders, such as, infrastructure engineers, environmental assessment professionals, biodiversity specialists, archaeologists, and other cultural property specialists, the future management of limestone resources of East Asia would receive much needed attention

To address the myriad challenges posed by global climate change, countries at all income levels have put in place a diverse set of policies over the past three decades. Many governments have already made significant progress in their efforts to decarbonize, creating a rich history of implementation experiences that provides important lessons for how to successfully advance climate policy goals in a variety of different economic, cultural, and political contexts. Despite this progress, the transition to a net zero future continues to face significant barriers, including the need for large investment, a lack of institutional capacity, and challenging political economy issues. Reality Check: Lessons from 25 Policies Advancing a Low-Carbon Future identifies key policy approaches that countries are taking to decarbonize their economies. The report classifies policies into five categories: - Planning for a future with zero net emissions - Getting the pricing and taxes right - Facilitating and triggering transitions in key systems, such as energy and food - Getting the finance flowing, particularly by incentivizing private sector investment - Ensuring a just transition that protects the poor. Reality Check: Lessons from 25 Policies Advancing a Low-Carbon Future fills a critical research gap by documenting low-carbon policy trends and providing a series of case studies across sectors and geographies. The 25 case studies furnish country contexts and policy details, examine results and impacts, and outline key takeaways and lessons learned for enabling further ambition in achieving emissions reductions. The report contributes to an evolving analytical agenda on how to reduce carbon emissions while achieving economic development and the strategic transition to a greener, more resilient, and more inclusive future.

Ce livre se penche sur le rôle des richesses en ressources naturelles dans la transformation économique de l'Afrique et évoque les enjeux de la transition sobre en carbone pour les économies riches en ressources. La richesse en ressources constitue en effet un facteur clé dans la majeure partie des économies subsahariennes, dont le sol recèle un important potentiel inexploité. Les gisements souterrains de métaux, minerais, pétrole et gaz représentent des sources prépondérantes de recettes publiques et de revenus d'exportation, tout en offrant des possibilités de développement dans la plupart des pays du continent. En dépit de réserves conséquentes, la conversion de la richesse du sous-sol en prospérité durable n'a pas été pas couronnée de succès. Depuis la baisse du prix des matières premières constaté en 2014, la croissance des pays d'Afrique riches en ressources est plus lente que le taux de croissance moyen observé dans la région. Il est donc vital pour son avenir économique que le continent africain puisse tirer profit de ses richesses en ressources naturelles et ainsi favoriser sa transformation économique. Alors que le monde s'éloigne des combustibles fossiles conformément aux engagements pris dans le cadre de l'Accord de Paris, les pays africains riches en ressources voient surgir de nouveaux risques et de nouvelles opportunités. Des estimations récentes suggèrent que 80 % des réserves de combustibles fossiles attestées dans le monde doivent rester enfouies pour atteindre les objectifs de Paris; or, une grande partie de ces réserves échouées se situent en Afrique. Pour les nombreuses économies africaines qui dépendent de l'extraction et de l'exportation du pétrole, cette problématique des actifs échoués, et par là -même, de nations échouées, a des implications considérables. Mais cette transition énergétique va également avoir pour effet d'augmenter la demande en intrants de matières premières indispensables aux technologies des énergies vertes. La transition entre combustibles fossiles et énergies vertes devrait ainsi générer une demande de 3milliards de tonnes de minerais et de métaux nécessaires au déploiement des technologies à énergie solaire, éolienne et géothermique. Une question se pose alors: comment les économies africaines peuvent-elles pleinement saisir ces opportunités tout en gérant les risques inhérents aux combustibles fossiles, dans un contexte où leur demande est vouée à décroître? Les ressources naturelles, un enjeu clé pour l'avenir de l'Afrique aborde ces thèmes et offre aux décideurs politiques des pistes pour gérer les écueils de l'incertitude au cours des années à venir.

The objective of this report is to inform an improved understanding of expenditure allocations and processes, the quality of service delivery in terms of inputs and outputs, and educational outcomes associated with primary education in Malawi. The report will also assess the government's own diagnosis of challenges in the primary education sub-sector, and the reform program intended to address them. The findings of this report are intended to inform discussions as to how to strengthen the government program and associated financing mechanisms, to enhance the likelihood of success.

La evaluación efectiva del desempeño de los sistemas educativos es un componente clave en la formulación de políticas para optimizar el desarrollo del capital humano en todo el mundo. Los cinco libros de la serie Evaluaciones nacionales del rendimiento académico presentan conceptos clave de las evaluaciones nacionales de los niveles de rendimiento estudiantil, desde las cuestiones normativas que deben abordarse cuando se diseña y se lleva a cabo las evaluaciones, hasta el desarrollo de las pruebas, el muestreo, la depuración de datos, las estadísticas, la redacción de informes y el uso de los resultados para mejorar la calidad de la educación. Este primer volumen describe los fines y las características de las evaluaciones nacionales, así como las cuestiones relacionadas con su diseño, su puesta en práctica, su análisis y su comunicación. Describe también las principales evaluaciones internacionales, regionales y nacionales llevadas a cabo en una serie de países. El libro va dirigido principalmente a gobiernos nacionales, regionales y estatales, instituciones de investigación y universidades.

Nonfinancial Defined Contribution (NDC) schemes are now in their teens. The new pension concept was born in the early 1990s, implemented from the mid-1990s in Italy, Latvia, Poland and Sweden, legislated most recently in Norway and Egypt and serves as inspiration for other reform countries. This innovative unfunded individual account scheme created high hopes at a time when the world seemed to have been locked into a stalemate between piecemeal reforms of ailing traditional defined benefit schemes and introducing pre-funded financial account schemes. The experiences and conceptual issues of NDC in its childhood were reviewed in a prior anthology (Holzmann and Palmer, 2006). This new anthology published in 2 volumes serves to review its adolescence and with the aim of contributing to a successful adulthood. Volume 1 on Progress, Lessons, Implementation includes a detailed analysis of the experience and the key policy lessons in the old and new pilot countries and the implementation of NDCs elements in other reform countries. This volume 2 on Gender, Politics, Financial Stability includes deeper and new analyses of these issues that found little or no attention in the 2006 publication. The gender perspective includes 5 chapters with, perhaps, the most complete discussion on gender and pension issues available to date. The financial stability perspective addresses in 6 chapters critical micro- and macroeconomic aspects such as the balancing mechanism, the use of a reserve fund, the handling of legacy costs, and technicalities related to the management of the longevity risk when designing annuities. While the 2 volumes address many issues it also opens a number of new questions for which good answers are not yet readily available.

Teachers and Teacher Performance in Bihar: Implications for Teacher Education is a study undertaken in the low income state of Bihar in India to create effective teacher perfomance measuring standards. Undertaken as a World Bank and Govt. of Bihar collaborative initiative to study has developed benchmarks against which teachers' performance were assessed so that the quality of pre-service training and continuous professional development can be reviewed and improved. These teacher performance standards track (i) teacher subject knowledge; (ii) classroom teaching; and (iii) time on task. These inputs and index based scores of teacher performance feed into and inform the development of Bihar's teacher training strategy. This study undertaken by the ASER Center of Pratham explores a set of interrelated factors that influence how teachers teach. Designed as a series of data collection exercises that were conducted between July 2013 and December 2014, the study covered 400 schools and over 2200 teachers tracked during visits to each school. The study uses teacher surveys and classroom and school observations methods. It evaluates teachers' subject matter knowledge, ability to communicate as well as their ability to learn from children's work. The findings generated by the study provide significant inputs and suggestions for designing future teacher training and teacher professional development programs. The research potentially has utility not only in India but more widely to influence teacher policy reform, identifying cost effective financing strategies, developing accountability measures for effective management of teacher education.

With international focus on good governance and parliamentary effectiveness, a standards-based approach involving benchmarks and assessment frameworks has emerged to evaluate parliament's performance and guide its reforms. The World Bank's has been a leader in the development of these frameworks, stewarding a global multi-stakeholder process aimed at enhancing consensus around parliamentary benchmarks and indicators with international organizations and parliaments across the world. The results so far, some of which are captured in this book, are encouraging: countries as diverse as Australia, Canada, Ghana, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Zambia have used these frameworks for self-evaluation and to guide efficiency-driven reforms. Donors and practitioners, too, are finding the benchmarks useful as baselines against which they can assess the impact of their parliamentary strengthening programs. The World Bank itself is using these frameworks to surface the root causes of performance problems and explore how to engage with parliamentary institutions in order to achieve better results. The World Bank can identify opportunities to help improve the oversight function of parliament, thus holding governments to account, giving 'voice' to the poor and disenfranchised, and improving public policy formation in order to achieve a nation's development goals. In doing so, we are helping make parliaments themselves more accountable to citizens and more trusted by the public.

In Central and Eastern European countries, inequalities for Roma families living in marginalized communities start early and are striking. Some of these inequalities reflect hard-wired family circumstances such as being born in poverty. Others reflect lack of opportunities such as limited access to those basic goods and services that are necessary not only for realizing one's potential in life, but also for living with dignity. Gaps between Roma and non-Roma widen over the lifecycle in a way that reinforces and perpetuates disadvantage and translates into significantly unequal outcomes, despite the fact that Roma report having similar aspirations to those of their non-Roma neighbors. Promoting equal opportunities for disadvantaged Roma is not only an imperative for societies that want to call themselves fair, but it is also a smart economic choice, especially in those countries where populations are aging rapidly. Investing early, with a particular emphasis on supporting healthy and cognitive development for disadvantaged Roma children, is likely to go a long way in promoting fair chances. However, leveling the playing field in childhood is likely not enough: disadvantaged Roma continue being exposed to unequal opportunities at key nodes in their lives, such as when pursuing education or when looking for a job. Therefore, it is as important that a broader set of policies address some of the circumstances in which a large share of Roma children grow up, including access to employment and decent living conditions for their families. Implementing interventions that help overcome these interrelated barriers will require strong ownership at the national level, coordinated policies across different ministries and government levels, and an integrated delivery system that is grounded in approaches that are customized to local conditions and implemented in a participatory manner. Good practices in Europe and elsewhere show that inclusion of the most disadvantaged - including many Roma - is possible and the current programming cycle for European Funds represents a unique opportunity to fund such interventions.

This report examines the impacts of subsidies on the world's stock of foundational natural capital -- clean air, land, and oceans. It presents new research on the magnitude and impact of these subsidies, and presents solutions to reform them in efficient and equitable ways.

This book focuses on studying Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, investigating the role the institutional environment on firms? and workers? decisions to operate informally, and its relationship with higher level economic and social outcomes.

Des pays du monde entier se sont lancés dans de grandes évaluations nationales ou ont participé pour la première fois à de grandes évaluations régionales ou internationales dans le but d'améliorer leur systèmed'éducation. Lorsque les évaluations sont bien conçues, les informations crédibles qu'elles f ournissent au sujet de la performance des élèves peuvent contribuer à mieux répartir les ressources entre les établissements et à améliorer la qualité de l'enseignement et le rendement de l'apprentissage. Les services de la Banque mondiale ont rédigé le présent Manuel pour les évaluations à grande échelle des acquis scolaires dans le but de proposer un guide complet à ceux qui veulent en apprendre davantage sur la conception et l'administration de ce type d'évaluations et sur l'analyse et l'utilisation de leurs résultats. Cet ouvrage répond à des questions que se posent souvent les équipes chargées de grandes évaluations et les responsables politiques qui souhaitent prendre des décisions les concernant en toute connaissance de cause. Chaque chapitre aborde une étape du processus d'évaluation, prodigue des conseils, propose des orientations et donne des exemples de ce qui se fait dans des pays. Par ailleurs, cet ouvrage décrit les nouvelles tendances qui se dessinent dans les grandes évaluations et donne des informations à jour sur de grandes évaluations régionales et internationales. DIRK HASTEDT, Directeur exécutif de l'Association internationale pour l'évaluation du rendement scolaire (IEA) Ce qu'il y a d'unique dans cet ouvrage, c'est qu'en plus de passer des spécifications techniques en revue, il donne des exemples de la façon dont des pays du monde entier administrent des évaluations à grande échelle, en tirent des enseignements et en utilisent les résultats. En ce sens, ce Manuel pour les évaluations à grande échelle des acquis scolaires est un excellent guide pratique à consulter pour obtenir une vue d'ensemble des grandes évaluations et mieux comprendre comment et pourquoi les administrer. SILVIA MONTOYA, Directrice de l'Institut de statistique de l'UNESCO (ISU) C'est l'ouvrage idéal pour les responsables d'évaluations scolaires à la recherche d'informations complètes, mais lisibles, sur le sujet. Il est extrêmement bien rédigé et parfaitement structuré, de sorte qu'il est facile à consulter et que tous les aspects y sont décrits clairement et avec concision. C'est l'ouvrage de référence par excellence pour tous ceux qui veulent explorer les étapes à enchaîner pour mener une grande évaluation, d'autant qu'il foisonne d'exemples sur toutes les grandes évaluations internationales. ANDREAS SCHLEICHER, Directeur de la Direction de l'éducation et des compétences et conseiller spécial du Secrétaire général, chargé de la politique de l'éducation, de l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) De nombreux pays ont décidé d'administrer des évaluations internationales pour comparer la qualité, l'équité et l'efficience de leur système d'éducation à des normes de référence. Mais retirent-ils vraiment de leurs efforts de planification, d'administration et d'analyse de quoi aider les élèves à mieux apprendre, les enseignants à mieux enseigner et les établissements à travailler plus efficacement ? Ce Manuel pour les évaluations à grande échelle des acquis scolaires aidera les responsables politiques et leurs équipes techniques à répondre à ces questions.

Globally, 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions emanate from cities. At the same time, cities are being hit increasingly by climate change related shocks and stresses, ranging from more frequent extreme weather events to inflows of climate migrants

Fintech--the application of digital technology to financial services--is reshaping the future of finance. Digital technologies are revolutionizing payments, lending, investment, insurance, and other financial products and services--and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this process.

We live in a rapidly aging world, in which people who are age 60 and older outnumber children under the age of five. This book reveals large and growing gaps in care for older adults in countries at all income levels and shows how to leverage reforms for improving health outcomes for older adults and create healthier, more prosperous communities.

New analysis in the report Where is the Value in the Chain? Pathways out of Plastic Pollution provides key recommendations to policymakers on how to create a comprehensive approach to addressing plastic pollution and make informed decisions.

Commodity markets are integral to the global economy. Understanding what drives these markets is critical to design policy frameworks that enable growth, inflation stability, poverty reduction, and the climate change mitigation. This study examines market and policy developments for all commodity groups over the past century.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to human capital. This report presents new evidence and analysis to provide a comprehensive diagnostic of the effects of the pandemic on human capital outcomes and identify promising policy responses for governments faced with the task of rebuilding human capital in the wake of the pandemic.

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).

How can countries develop their ports to become gateways for economic prosperity? Despite being endowed with natural coastlines, many countries in Africa and Asia have struggled to translate this competitive advantage into vehicles for economic transformation. What China achieved can be informative.

The fourth edition of Global Findex - the world's most comprehensive database on financial inclusion - offers a lens into how people accessed and used financial services during COVID-19, when mobility restrictions and health policies drove increased demand for digital services of all kinds.

Chad's economy has contracted since 2015, preventing poverty reduction and the improvement of development outcomes. This Systematic Country Diagnostic identifies key constraints on poverty reduction and recommends solutions.

The Global Economic Prospects is a World Bank Group Flagship Report that examines global economic developments and prospects, with a special focus on emerging market and developing economies.

A decade since the spark of the Arab Spring, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region continues to suffer from limited creation of more and better jobs. Youth face idleness and unemployment. For those who find jobs, informality awaits. Few women attempt to enter the world of work at all. Meanwhile, the available jobs are not those of the future. These labor market outcomes are being worsened by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Jobs Undone: Reshaping the Role of Governments toward Markets and Workers in the Middle East and North Africa explores ways to break these impasses, drawing on original research, survey data, wide-ranging literature, and young entrepreneurial voices from the region. The report finds that a prominent reason behind MENA's unmet jobs challenge is a lack of market contestability in the formal private sector. Few firms in the region enter the market, few grow, and those that exit are not necessarily less productive. Moreover, firms in the region invest little in physical capital, human capital, or research and development, and they tend to be politically connected. At the macro level, economic growth has been mediocre, labor productivity is not being driven by structural change, and the growth of the stock of capital per capita has declined. New evidence generated for this report shows that the lack of dynamism is due to the prevalence of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). They operate in sectors where there is little economic rationale for public activity and they enjoy favorable treatment--flouting the principles of competitive neutrality. Meanwhile, labor regulations add to market rigidity, while gendered laws restrict women's potential. To change this reality, the state must reshape its relationship toward markets, toward workers, and toward women. The region must create a level playing field between SOEs and the private sector, replace labor rigidities with appropriate social protection and labor market programs, and remove barriers to women's economic participation. Governments can also foster new sectors and occupations, gradually propelling market contestability and job creation. All reforms will have to rely on improved data capacity and transparency to create a new social contract between governments and the people of the region.