The Lao economy is projected to grow at 8 percent in 2013. The hydropower sector (both completed projects in operation and projects in the construction or development phase), construction, food processing, and services sectors remain the major contributors to this growth. Overall inflation has...

This learning note prepares policymakers to engage with their technical experts and staff in designing and implementing an evidence-informed response to the challenges of existing and future slum settlements. To that end, the note discusses a set of indicators and data analysis techniques needed...

High labor tax wedges and slow formal employment growth have combined to make labor tax reform an important economic policy issue in Turkey. This synthesis report presents the results of a series of empirical studies of the impact of a labor tax reform. The analysis was undertaken before the...

"In this paper, the authors use a highly disaggregate general equilibrium model to analyze the feasibility of a wage subsidy to unskilled workers in South Africa, isolating and estimating its potential employment effects and fiscal cost. They capture the structural characteristics of the labor...

Unemployment among young adults is a problem throughout the world, and it's of particular concern in the Middle East, where half the population is under the age of 25 and more than a quarter of those aged 15-24 are out of work. Young women fare worse than men when it comes to finding jobs....

"The economies of small developing states tend to be more fragile than those of large ones. This paper examines this issue in a dynamic context by focusing on the impact of the brain drain on North-South trade-related technology diffusion and total factor productivity growth in small and large...

"This paper analyzes the economic growth impact of organized political violence. First, the authors articulate the theoretical underpinnings of the growth impact of political violence in a popular model of growth under uncertainty. The authors show that, under plausible assumptions regarding...