All high-performing education systems fulfil these eight teacher policy goals to a certain extent in order to ensure that every classroom has a motivated, supported and competent teacher. These goals were identified through a review of research studies on teacher policies, as well as an analysis...

The main goals of reforming the Norwegian old-age pension system toward nonfinancial defined contributions (NDC) in 2011 were to improve long-run fiscal sustainability and labor supply incentives. Maintaining much of the redistributive effects of the former public pension system was also an...

The Ethiopia Urban Land Supply and Affordable Housing Study (EULSAH) responds to the request fromthe Government of Ethiopia (GoE), Ministry of Urban Development and Construction to carry outfollow-on technical assistance to the Ethiopia Urbanization Review (EUR) jointly published by theWorld...

This paper combines local election results and geo-referenced road construction data over 1993-2012 to investigate political bias in road infrastructure investment in a democratic setting, focusing on the case of Mexico. Using a regression discontinuity design, the paper finds strong evidence of...

Although emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) weathered the global recession a decade ago relatively well, they now appear less well placed to cope with the substantial downside risks facing the global economy. In many EMDEs, the room for monetary and fiscal policies to respond to...

This paper attempts to quantify the impact of economic policy uncertainty on overall trade and trade linked to global value chains. Using new data on policy uncertainty for 18 countries and 24 years, it finds a statistically significant negative impact of policy uncertainty on overall trade...

Ethiopia's framework for managing its monetary and foreign exchange policy has relied on some standard instruments of financial repression. Over time, the framework has led to the buildup of large macro-financial imbalances. Exiting financial repression while maintaining macroeconomic stability...

This paper investigates the costs and benefits of concluding double tax treaties with investment hubs. Based on a sample of 41 African economies from 1985-2015, the results suggest that signing treaties with investment hubs is not associated with additional investments; yet, these treaties tend...

After a sharp fall in 2017, economic growth in MENA is projected to rebound to 3.1 percent in 2018, thanksto the positive global outlook, oil prices stabilizing at relatively higher levels, stabilization policies andreforms, and recovery and reconstruction as conflicts recede. The outlook for...