Rapid growth among the major emerging markets over the past 20 years has boosted global demand for commodities. The seven largest emerging markets accounted for almost all the increase in global consumption of metals, and two-thirds of the increase in energy consumption over this period. As...

This paper assesses the international comovement of gross capital inflows and outflows using a two-level factor model. Among advanced and emerging countries, capital flows exhibit strong commonality: common (global and country group-specific) factors account, on average, for close to half of...

The regional books that provided detailed estimates of distortion in developing economies are all country focused. While they include commodity details for their particular country, they are not able to provide an overview for developing countries or high-income countries as a group, or for the...

"Over a decade has passed since the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers marked the onset of the largest global economic crisis since the Great Depression. The crisis revealed major shortcomings in market discipline, regulation, and supervision, and reopened important policy...

"Global value chains (GVCs) powered the surge of international trade after 1990 and now account for almost half of all trade. This shift enabled an unprecedented economic convergence: poor countries grew rapidly and began to catch up with richer countries. Since the 2008 global financial crisis,...

"Obesity is a global ticking time-bomb with huge potential negative economic and health impacts, especially for the poor. Countries and global partners need to act urgently to address this ensuing epidemic with emphasis highlighting interventions that require corrective public action rather than...

Just like nearly every aspect of human experience, crime, civil conflict, and violence have become increasingly global. Around the world, civil wars, of which there are more today than at any time since the end of World War II, displace greater numbers of people ever further from their countries...

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim discussed the priorities for the World Bank under his new leadership, including the immediate priority to help developing countries maintain growth and progress against poverty in these volatile economic times. The lesson of the last decade is that...

Remarks delivered by Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group discuss the critical role of inclusive and sustainable industrialization in the future global development agenda, including to end extreme poverty by 2030. He speaks about working with UNIDO and the government of Ethiopia to...