This Public Expenditure Review (PER) was prepared at the request of Peru's Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).The PER offers analysis, options for reform, and measures in selected areas and sectors to achieve efficiency gains and fiscal savings (where possible), while improving (at least not...

Zimbabwe is at a critical juncture. After dollarization and favorable economic factors fueled arecovery during 2009-12, Zimbabwe today faces slowing growth, a financial crisis, increasingly erratic weather patterns and rising poverty and inequality. To help respond to these issues, the...

The COVID-19 pandemic has, with alarming speed, dealt a heavy blow to an already-weak global economy, which is expected to slide into its deepest recession since the second world war, despite unprecedented policy support. The global recession would be deeper if countries take longer to bring the...

This paper uses survey data from 120 developing countries to compare the role of institutions with firm characteristics at the time of creation of the firm in explaining the size, growth, and productivity of firms over their lifecycle. The study finds that firm-level characteristics have...

Antipoverty policies in developing countries often assume that targeting poor households will be reasonably effective in reaching poor individuals. This paper questions this assumption, using nutritional status as a proxy for individual poverty. The comprehensive assessment for Sub-Saharan...

This paper investigates the effect of access to finance on job growth in 50,000 firms across 70 eveloping countries. Using the introduction of credit bureaus as an exogenous shock to the supply of credit, the paper finds that increased access to finance results in higher employment growth,...

This report is an output of the Better Regulation for Growth Program between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and IC, the Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group. The reports identifies a set of minimum...

The purpose of this report is to introduce and present key components of the regulatory governance agenda, and to discuss its relevance for developing countries. The paper identifies failings and knowledge gaps relevant to the implementation of regulatory governance initiatives, and it discusses...