Since its emergence from a turbulent post-communist transition, Albania has achieved remarkable progress in economic and social development. Governance improvements, especially in the effectiveness of public administration, have been instrumental to the country's impressive economic performance...

For Croatia, the challenge is to create conditions that will attract investment and produce growth. These conditions can broadly be categorized as (a) stable, progressive and predictable laws and institutions; (b) efficient labor and financial markets; (c) macroeconomic and financial stability;...

For Croatia, the challenge is to create conditions that will attract investment and produce growth. These conditions can broadly be categorized as (a) stable, progressive and predictable laws and institutions; (b) efficient labor and financial markets; (c) macroeconomic and financial stability;...

Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across one hundred ninety-one economies. It is founded on the principle that economic activity benefits from clear rules: rules that allow voluntary exchanges between economic actors, set out strong property...

This note reviews the challenges in Mexico s social protection system and possible options to achieve an integral and effective system that is more than the sum of its parts. Mexico s social protection system includes contributory social security schemes, social assistance programs, and labor...

The Government of Romania (GOR), in agreement with the European Commission (EC), requested functional reviews of the Romanian public administration through an independent advisory service with the World Bank. The general objective of this advisory service is to review the current situation of...

The Government of Romania (GOR), in agreement with the European Commission (EC), requested functional reviews of the Romanian public administration through an independent advisory service with the World Bank. The general objective of this advisory service is to review the current situation of...

The Thailand Country Development Partnership for Social Protection (CDP-SP) is a collaborative program of policy development and technical assistance between the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and the Bank and was launched in July 2001. CDP-SP operates in three key policy areas: labor...

Interconnected and often devastating covariate shocks are a threat to human development. Covariate shocks are shocks that affect large numbers of people or communities at once and can be natural, economic, or political. Occurrence and the human devastation from natural disasters has increased...

Over the last several years, the Government of Togo has made important advances in the area of social protection. Although Togo has had limited social insurance and social assistance programs, the economic shock and natural disasters starting in 2008 brought the need for better mechanisms of...