The effect of structural reforms on growth in Europe and Central Asia is assessed by looking separately at each supply-side channel: capital, labor, and productivity, with the last estimated using the stochastic frontier approach. By controlling for the interaction with the economic cycle, the...

Financial inclusion can help promote development. Inclusive financial systems allow people to invest in their education and health, save for retirement, capitalize on business opportunities, and confront shocks. In the Europe and Central Asia region, there is great variation in financial...

The share of immigrants in Western and Eastern Europe has increased rapidly over the past four decades.Today, one of every three immigrants in the world goes to Europe. Furthermore, although globally onlyone-third of migration takes place within regions, intraregional migration is especially...

The paper formalizes and tests the hypothesis that greater exposure to big shocks induces stronger societal responses for adaptation and protection from future big shocks. Support for this hypothesis is found in various strands of the literature and in new empirical tests using cross-country...

This paper outlines an extension of the Human Capital Index that addresses the specific challenges in education and health faced by countries in Europe and Central Asia. Good basic education will not be enough, as job markets today demand higher levels of human capital than in the past. As the...