The 2008-09 global economic crises have shown that no country is immune to external challenges. When policy controls are missing or not used efficiently, crises can reverse progress even in advanced economies. This unexpected outcome has increased concerns about the ability of governments in...

This paper uses firm-level data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys to study the process of convergence of transition countries with developed market economies. The study focuses on competition and market structure, finance and the structure of lending to firms, and...

The main purpose of this work is to develop a case study assessing the recent patterns and impacts of ODA (official development assistance) and DAH (development assistance for health) to Liberia on overall government spending and domestic revenue generation as well as domestic government health...

This paper estimates country-specific costs and benefits of scaling up key nutrition investments in Nigeria. Building on the methodology established in the global report scaling up nutrition: what will it cost? Authors first estimate the costs and benefits of a nationwide scale up of ten...

Nigeria is the most populous country in sub-Saharan Africa. It also has a very young population. The majority of the population is below the age of 25 years, with 22 percent of the country?s population between the ages of 10-19 years. Data on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes in...

This note analyzes levels and trends of health expenditures by country, income group, and region in the context of overall government revenue, expenditure, and GDP trends between 1995 and 2010. The study uses available data from the World Health Organization's (WHO) National Health Accounts, the...

This paper builds on the global experience and Mali?s context to identify an effective nutrition approach as well as costs and benefits of key nutrition programs, as part of a resilience agenda after the crisis. It is intended to help guide the selection of the most cost-effective interventions...

This paper analyzes changes in the allocation of child labor within the household in reaction to exogenous shocks created by a social program in Nicaragua. The paper shows that households that randomly received a conditional cash transfer compensated for some of the intra-household differences,...

This paper was developed for World Bank task team leaders (TTLs) and teams designing results-based financing (RBF) programs in family planning (FP). It explores the rationale for introducing such incentives based on insights from classical and behavioral economics, to respond to supply- and...

Bangladesh has made significant economic progress and remarkable strides in many areas of human development. The last three-year trend in gross domestic product was an upturn of more than 6 percent a year, which is equal to some of the best performing Asian economies. Despite its economic...