How can the international community save more children's lives faster and more effectively in the 21st century? This working paper analyzes the extent to which quot;frontloadingquot; and predictable vaccine funding, as proposed by the International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm), is...

This paper proposes the creation of a "Stability and Social Investment Facility" (SSF) to be housed either at the IMF or the World Bank. It would be a long-term facility to help high-debt emerging market countries cope with and ultimately overcome what will otherwise remain a chronic structural...

Too many African state-owned enterprises (SOEs), particularly those in infrastructure sectors, have a long history of poor performance. African governments and donors labored through the 1970s and 1980s to improve SOE performance through "commercialization" - i.e., methods short of ownership...

Conditional and unconditional cash transfers have been effective in improving development outcomes in a variety of contexts, yet the costs of these programs to program recipients and implementing agencies are rarely discussed. The introduction of mobile money transfer systems in many developing...

Since its creation in 1997, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) has been recognized as a global leader in development. Described by the Economist as being a model for other rich countries, DFID has resolutely focused on reducing poverty in the poorest countries,...

From the recent G8 Summit to UN declarations, calls for a Big Push in official development assistance by OECD countries are becoming more frequent and pressing. Although there may be a consensus among the donor community to increase giving, what impact will this new aid have on recipient...

In the post-9/11 era, a new focus on failing states and their ability to threaten global security has influenced US foreign policy and aid policy. This paper explores the links between failing states and transnational threats such as terrorism, weapons proliferation, organized crime, and global...

In the last 25 years many thousands of formerly state-owned and operated firms have been privatized in developing and transition countries, generating over $400 billion (US) in sales proceeds. In addition, thousands of firms have been transferred by privatization processes in which no money was...

Much of the discourse on economic development and the private sector has focused on the role of foreign direct investment. While it is clear that FDI can play an important role in generating growth, it is also increasingly evident that countries cannot grow without a vibrant, domestic private...