Countries the world over have launched ambitious privatization programs to improve the efficiency of state enterprises, free up resources for social services, and mobilize capital for expansion and modernization. A universal concern in this process is the effect privatization has on labor. Many...

Six years into the transition from planned to market economies in Central and Eastern Europe, high unemployment rates, including a growing proportion of the long-term unemployed, represent a serious challenge to social welfare systems and policymakers. This paper analyzes labor market...

Digital identification systems, integrated with civil registration, can play a transformational role across many development areas, such as financial inclusion, expanding access to services and social safety nets, and effective humanitarian response. But while the opportunity is great, so are...

Digital identification systems, integrated with civil registration, can play a transformational role across many development areas, such as financial inclusion, expanding access to services and social safety nets, and effective humanitarian response. But while the opportunity is great, so are...

The post disaster needs assessment (PDNA) assesses the impact of the April 25, 2015 earthquake in Nepal and defines a recovery strategy. In the analysis, damage is defined as the cost to replace durable physical assets (buildings, equipment, facilities, and machinery) that were damaged or...

This Report examines if and how expert witnesses impact the integrity, impartiality and efficiency of adjudication in four countries—Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The report is part of a broader World Bank initiative to raise awareness of reform...

The national economy of Vietnam was affected by the April 2020 lockdown meant to contain the domestic spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) virus and subsequent outbreaks in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. Nevertheless, the economy showed exceptional resilience. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by...

This note analyzes the short-term effects of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shock during the first year of the crisis and presents alternative medium-term recovery scenarios. It asks a set of questions, and in answering those questions, provides policy suggestions for the Vietnamese...

This report is part of a larger series of stocktaking and analytical products on plastic pollution in South Asia. It supports the Bank's commitment to work with countries of South Asia to pursue and scale-up policies and programs that help them move toward a circular plastic economy and, in...