This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000, spells out the guiding principles of the Bank's work: country ownership, long-term integrated approach, partnership, and results focus. This vision was put into practice under a pilot approach, the Comprehensive...

This annual report covers the period from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002, and is prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The first of two volumes discusses the World Bank's...

This Annual Report covers the period from July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2001, and details the World Bank strategy for meeting the poverty challenge. After the Introduction, Chapter 1 provides an overview of Bank activities in 2001 that focused on multi-dimensional support, improved development...

The World Bank Annual Report for 2003, reviews the strategy and action pursued by the Bank, based on the Strategic Framework, and Strategic Directions (and Management Action Plan), focused on meeting the development challenges embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To this end, the...

"Drawing on the World Bank Investment Climate Assessment surveys, this paper investigates the relationship between firm-level technical efficiency and the investment climate for 22 developing economies and eight manufacturing industries. The authors first propose three measures of firms'...

"During the 1990s, foreign direct investment in producer service sectors in Latin America was massive. Such investment may increase the quality of services, reduce their cost, and offer opportunities for knowledge spillovers to downstream users of the services. This paper examines the effects of...

"Using recent matched employer-employee data from the manufacturing sector in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, the authors analyze how the supply of skills and legal origin of the country affect the wage setting process. The wage analysis yields three main findings. First, increasing returns to...

"The author studies the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) for manufacturing firms in Bangladesh using data from a recent survey. She obtains TFP measures by making use of firm-specific deflators for output and inputs. Controlling for industry, location, and year fixed effects, she...