The World Bank Group (WBG) has long recognized that the restoration and preservationof cultural heritage, urban regeneration, and sustainable tourism can play a vital role in developing countries' efforts to promote local economic development, accelerate social integration, and alleviate...

China is experiencing rapid and large scale urbanization, and the resulting local and global urban environmental challenges are unprecedented. The Chinese Government has fully recognized these challenges and is aiming to promote more sustainable urbanization in line with the objectives of the...

Portability of social benefits across professions and countries is an increasing concern for individuals and policy makers. Lacking or incomplete transfers of acquired social rights are feared to negatively impact individual labor market decisions as well as capacity to address social risks with...

This paper examines the state of reverse mortgage markets in selected countries around the world and considers the potential benefits and risks of these products from a financial inclusion and economic benefit standpoint. Despite potentially increasing demand from aging societies - combined with...

The housing finance market in Mali remains small and under developed. Few banks currently offer a full mortgage product with Banque Malienne de Solidarite, Mali Housing Bank (BHM), Bank of Africa, and EcoBank being the main lenders although at minimal levels. The total annual housing need in...

The global housing deficit in both developed and developing countries is increasing - driven by demographic and other mega-trends including urbanization and income inequality. Global pension fund assets, on the other hand, are both growing and increasingly looking for long-term, productive...

The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), which consists of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon, is one of the oldest regional groupings in Africa. Urbanization and growing population will put increasing pressure on...

Using a partially constructed panel database of 48 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2013, this paper analyzes the structure of housing finance in Africa, its determinants, and its impact on inclusive growth. The findings show that market capitalization and urbanization are key positive...

The housing deficit in Argentina is estimated to affect 6 million out of the 24 million households nationally. Macro-economic turmoil has contributed to this imbalance in two ways. First, the continuous inflation and currency depreciation made real estate a refuge investment protecting the...