"The authors describe the main trends of Brazil's fiscal policy during the past decade and analyze (1) the ability to raise the primary surplus in response to external shocks, (2) the pro-cyclical nature of fiscal policy, and (3) the long-run impact of government expenditure composition and...

"In this paper, the authors describe South Africa's value added tax (VAT), showing that (1) the VAT is mildly regressive, and (2) it is an effective source of government revenue, compared with other tax instruments in South Africa. They evaluate the VAT in the context of other distortions in the...

"Educated parents tend to have educated children. But is intergenerational transmission of human capital more nature, more nurture, or both? De Walque uses household survey data from Rwanda that contains a large proportion of children living in households without their biological parents. The...

The theme of the 2011 Philippines development report is 'generating inclusive growth, uplifting the poor and vulnerable'. This theme is follows from the priorities set in President Aquino's Social Contract and the emerging 2011-2016 Philippines Development Plan (PDP). The PDP details the vision...

The Philippines quarterly update provides an update on key economic developments and policies over the past three months. It also presents findings from recent World Bank work on the Philippines. It places them in a longer-term and global context, and assesses the implications of these...