How firms react to a given shock may depend on the degree to which rivals are present and on whether potentially viable entrants to that market exist. A preferred supplier market presence and threat of entry lessen a nonmember country's price reaction to most-favored-nation trade liberalization...

"The claim by global trade modelers that the potential contribution to global economic welfare of removing agricultural subsidies is less than one-tenth of that from removing agricultural tariffs puzzles many observers. To help explain that result, the authors first compare the OECD and...

This report shows how business registers employ information and communication technology (ICT) to perform their functions more efficiently while at the same time providing businesses with more user-friendly services. Particular attention is paid to achieving innovative solutions, that is,...

As part of its technical assistance initiative to develop (and strengthen) the regulatory framework for business, the single window system to stimulate the development of the private sector, the World Bank commissioned ICRA Management Consulting Services Limited (IMaCS) to conduct a detailed...

The objective of this assessment is to provide background information about GBV issues, policies, programming, and gaps in Malawi, for the purpose of assisting the World Bank (WB) to 1) consider how to directly support efforts to address GBV in Malawi; 2) inform strategies for integrating...

"Previous work has shown that firms in low and middle-income countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia that feel greater pressure to innovate from their competitors are more likely to introduce new products and services than firms that do not feel pressure (Carlin and others 2001; World Bank...