This report examines the role of infrastructure in explaining why the region lags so far behind the rest of the country. More importantly, it looks at how improved infrastructure may help the region catch up. Infrastructure is examined here through its impact on social as well as economic...

Policy makers across the Middle East and North Africa have for many years articulated plans to integrate their people spatially and economically. Wishing to bring communities together and narrow economic gaps, governments have made large capital investments in transport corridors and "new...

Worldwide, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is receiving increasing attention, particularly as a potentially useful instrument to address high unemployment rates among youth. In 2016, the World Bank started providing technical assistance to the self government of Poland's Swietokrzyskie...

Reforms spurred by accession to the European Union (EU) boosted productivity and integrated Romania into the EU economic space. Gross domestic product per capita rose from 30 percent of the EU average in 1995 to 59 percent in 2016. Today, over 70 percent of the country's exports go to the EU,...

Addressing regional disparities is key to unlocking Russia's potential to achieve stronger gains in growth and equity outcomes as well as to improve its institutional environment. While spatial disparities have been an important policy concern in Russia for a long time, inequalities across its...

Digital connectivity-access to affordable and reliable internet services-has become a key driver of economic and social development globally. Economic activities and government services are increasingly moving online. Lao PDR is well-positioned to take advantage of these trends to improve...

Though the European Union (EU) is a development conversion machine for national economies, it is less so for subnational regions. EU accession countries have been catching up to regional averages in terms of economic development since they joined the union. The economic success of the accession...

The report examines the current tourism development and market of the Presovsky Samospravny Kraj, Presov Self-Governing Region (PSK), focusing particularly on the lagging district of Snina and the National Park of Poloniny, and the opportunities for their improvement as potential drivers of...

The report examines the current tourism development and market of the Prešovský Samosprávny Kraj, Presov Self-Governing Region (PSK), focusing particularly on the lagging district of Snina and the National Park of Poloniny, and the opportunities for their improvement as potential drivers of...

Though the European Union (EU) is a development conversion machine for national economies, it is less so for subnational regions. EU accession countries have been catching up to regional averages in terms of economic development since they joined the union. The economic success of the accession...