Cities can increase economic growth and participate in global economic flows by acting as hubs or gateways to regional corridors, that are supported by three dimensions of connectivity: physical (infrastructure) connectivity, digital connectivity, and economic integration. Integrating these...

After nearly a decade of strong growth fueled by the boom in commodity prices, Ghana's economy remains undiversified and vulnerable to external shocks.This report strives to analyze the main challenges for economic diversification from a productivity angle.In looking at a set of high-growth...

This note takes stock of productivity trends of the Albanian non-agricultural private sector using granular firm-level data. To understand better the sources of jobs and productivity growth, this note analyzes firm-level data from the Albanian annual Structural Business Survey (SBS) collected by...

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...

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...

Russia's spatial disparities stem largely from its economic geography, which is unique and has no parallels even when compared to seemingly similar countries such as Australia and Canada. While Australia and Canada also have large land masses and even lower population densities than Russia, a...

On average, Vietnam has achieved remarkable improvements in nutritional status in recent decades, but improvements in national aggregates mask wide disparities and a persistent 'very high' burden among disadvantaged ethnic minority groups. Between 2000 and 2010, national stunting rates dropped...

Against the backdrop of increasing income inequality, this report uses spatial analysis to assesses whether disparities in access to basic infrastructure between Mozambique's lagging and leading regions are growing or declining and whether the public expenditure program is effective in...

In the context of Romania's push toward sustainable and inclusive development, the government has asked the World Bank to support the harmonization of public investments financed by the European Union and the state budget. The current report describes the national program for local development...