At the UN General Assembly of September 2015, countries around the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By 2030, counties committed to attain poverty and hunger eradication, healthy lives, quality education, gender equality and sustainable development. Countries also...

This report is based on a study of the costs and savings of retail payments in Albania using a methodology (A Practical Guide for Measuring Retail Payment Costs) developed by the World Bank's Payment Systems Development Group, part of the Financial Inclusion, Infrastructure, and Access at the...

This note investigates the nature of corporate savings in South Africa. The first part focuses on the empirical impact of uncertainty on investment in the manufacturing sector, while the second part discusses factors influencing corporate cash hoarding and assesses whether South African firms'...

Micro and small enterprise (MSME) insolvency is particularly likely to impact not only the business, but also the personal and family life of the owner-operator(s) of such businesses, raising particular concerns that apply much less frequently in the context of corporate insolvency. This report...

The objectives of a well-designed pension system are poverty reduction in old age and income smoothing throughout an individuals' lifetime. Over the last thirty years, changing demographic trends have caused a shift from 'pay as you go' and occupational defined benefit (DB) schemes - where the...

The report discusses key policy issues that enable and constrain digital savings market development and offers policy considerations within the context of the G20's High-Level Principles for Digital Financial Inclusion. Based on current market observations, three policy considerations seem most...

All UK employers now offer a pension scheme including the use of automatic enrollment. More than 9 million people have started saving into a workplace pension as a consequence. NEST is a pension scheme that any employer can use to meet its auto enrollment obligations. It was set up to serve...

After Uganda enjoyed two decades of strong growth and poverty reduction in the 1990s and early 2000s, its economy slowed down, and social progress decelerated amid a steady increase of the population. Several constraints continue to undermine progress and social and economic transformation in...

This paper investigates household preferences for improved cook stoves using a choice experiment administered in rural Ethiopia, and the cost-effectiveness of an improved stove for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. In Ethiopia, about 96 percent of household energy demand is fulfilled by...

In a polygamous society, all monogamous women are potentially at risk of polygamy. However, the anthropological and economic literatures are silent on the potential impact of the risk of polygamy on the economic decisions of monogamous wives. This paper explores this issue in Senegal, using...