We exploit a 2004 credit reform in Brazil that simplified the sale of repossessed cars used as collateral for auto loans. We show that the change has led to larger loans with lower spreads and longer maturities. The reform expanded credit to riskier, low-income borrowers for newer, more...

The World Bank is sharing the seventh edition of the Economic Update of Madagascar, which presents our analysis for the period up to the beginning of October 2017 and provides our medium-term economic outlook. Despite a challenging start due to two climatic shocks, we project growth at 4.1...

This report reviews South Africa's recent economic and social developments. It underlines that South Africa's current economic rebound may not be sustained if the fundamental factors undermining its growth potential are not boldly addressed. This includes in particular income inequality, which...

The Economic Update (SEU) evaluates the recent (2016-17) growth performance and macroeconomic policies in Senegal, thus providing a basis for the policy dialog with the Government and other stakeholders. The first section of the Economic Update evaluates the drivers of growth and the...

We analyze the link between economic conditions and the quality of suicide terrorism. While the existing empirical literature shows that poverty and economic conditions are not correlated with the quantity of terror, theory predicts that poverty and poor economic conditions may affect the...