The phenomenon of state-led development has been persistent throughout modern history and remains significant today. Latecomers in the world's development, from Russia in the 19th century to contemporary China, persistently resorted to the state as a developmental instrument in economic...

What major insights have emerged from development economics in the past decade, and how do they matter for the World Bank? This challenging question was recently posed by World Bank Group President David Malpass to the staff of the Development Research Group. This paper assembles a set of 13...

This paper presents a review of studies that estimate the cost of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Although the Sustainable Development Goals provide useful benchmarks for fiscal authorities and donors, typical cross-country costing exercises can be misleading, for a variety of...