This report examines three interrelated issues - digital connectivity, digital entrepreneurship, and taxation of digital platforms - that are closely aligned with Malaysia's goal of becoming the e-commerce hub of the region. By leveraging the internet, smartphones, Big Data, the internet of...

Poverty has remained stubbornly high in Africa for decades. Top-down plans and donor driven investment programs have been less than successful. Past experience suggests that decentralization will not work without vibrant, participatory communities. And enhanced participation will at some point...

This note examines the implications of digital innovation for market structure and attendant policies, including financial and competition regulation. There have been several surveys of regulatory responses. This note takes a step back, to look at what the economic theory of banking and...

Since its adoption in December 2015 by the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 175 countries to date have ratified the Paris Agreement. These countries have made commitments Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in...

Digital technologies have significant potential to improve efficiency, equity, and environmental sustainability in the food system. A range of digital technologies are already leading to: better informed and engaged consumers and producers, smarter farms, and improved public services. Adoption...

This note analyzes the evolution of Credit Information Systems, including the emergence of new technologies that use alternative data in credit decisioning and the opportunities and risks associated with these trends. This paper also predicts the potential development effect of these disruptive...

This report examines Ukraine's economic decline and development through the lens of technology upgrading. The technology upgrading framework assumes that economic growth is a function of technology capability, whereby upgrading occurs through technological, industrial, and organizational change....

Lesotho is a landlocked country with a population of about 2.0 million people. Lesotho's private sector makes limited use of digital technologies. In the private sector, digital technology can change the way economies of scale are achieved, particularly through e-commerce and digital payments....

Universal adoption and effective application of digital technologies are expected to characterize economies of the future, shaping their ability to succeed in the global marketplace and offer a better quality of life for their citizens. Disruptive technologies are already altering traditional...

The report is structured as follows. Chapter 1 discusses the labor market constraints facing different segments of the working-age population, which can inform how to make work attractive. Chapter 2 explores the factors that are discouraging older people from re-entering the labor market and the...