"Infrastructure projects are often technically complicated and highly customized. Therefore, procurement competition tends to be limited. Competition is the single most important factor toward auction efficiency and anti-corruption. However, the degree of competition realized is closely related...

"Competition in public procurement auctions in the water supply and sanitation sector is largely limited. This is partly because of high technical complexity and partly because of auction design flaws. The division of lot contracts is an important policy choice for auctioneers to achieve...

"Limited competition has been a serious concern in infrastructure procurement. Importantly, however, there are normally a number of potential bidders initially showing interest in proposed projects. This paper focuses on tackling the question why these initially interested bidders fade out. An...

This report examines the potential use of auctions as a price discovery mechanism facilitating accelerated decommissioning of the global coal fleet. Despite widespread recognition of coal power's significant negative impact on climate and health as well as the urgency of acting in response to...

"The empirical evidence on whether participation in export markets increases plant-level productivity has been inconclusive so far. The authors explain this inconclusiveness by drawing on Arrow's (1962) characterization of learning-by-doing, which suggests focusing on young plants and using...

This report aims to identify the determinants of learning in Mexico, focusing on equity, cross-country comparisons and national studies. The present report provides new analytical work on the determinants of learning using international and national assessments, as well as new work on the...

The Philippines has made remarkable progress in improving the quality of basic education in recent decades. Even so, despite significant improvements in primary and secondary education, the number of students who drop out of school remains worryingly high. More than five million youths have...

Large-scale natural disasters are a frequent and common occurrence in Japan. Over the years, Japan has evolved its disaster management system to address all phases of a disaster: from disaster prevention, mitigation, and preparedness, to emergency response, recovery, and rehabilitation. This...

Policymakers and development experts seeking to improve the quality of education are interested in the role technology can play. Not only do they want to use technology to directly aid learning, but they also want to ensure that students in developing countries - and poor communities everywhere...