The competitiveness of firms in a global economic environment is an essential element in development strategy, but simply creating an open economy will not suffice to stimulate competitiveness if innovation is lacking. This is the major finding of this cross-country and multi-industry study...

This report reviews the experience of Panama in designing, implementing and evaluating innovation policy. It provides a comparative analysis of Panama’s innovation performance and reviews the design and implementation of the national innovation policy focusing on the National Plan (2010-2014)....

This report reviews the policy mix to support knowledge-based start-ups in six countries in Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. It discusses role of public policies in supporting the creation of start-ups, it presents an overview of the rationale and...

This book demonstrates that in the case of very poor countries, policies aimed at universal provision of education and health services benefit the poor significantly more than more expensive targeted schemes. The book draws attention to the absolute need for coherence and co-ordination so that...

When setting spending priorities in education and health, countries all too often target expensive schemes which can be shown only to benefit specific sections of the population, often the non-poor. The building of certain urban hospitals and universities may fall into this category. Wherever...

When setting spending priorities in education and health, countries all too often target expensive schemes which can be shown only to benefit specific sections of the population, often the non-poor. The building of certain urban hospitals and universities may fall into this category. Wherever...

Egypt is lagging behind other countries in the Mediterranean region in reforming its economy. This book explains why. The authors contend that the Egyptian political system, based to a large extent on discrete patronage and dominated by powerful interest groups was inherently resistant to...

This book looks at the impact of OECD-country policies on East Asia in a variety of areas: trade, investment, agriculture, finance and aid, as well as macroeconomic policies and regional co-operation. Further, and most importantly, the book examines the interaction of these OECD-country policies...

The world has made good progress in improving global livelihoods. More than two billion people have emerged from extreme poverty over the last four decades. Other notable improvements include real increases in wages for unskilled workers, better life expectancy, greater gender equality and more...