As Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) approaches end 2015, this report takes stock of the progress to date and draws out lessons for the next stage of ASEAN's connectivity journey. The realization of an integrated ASEAN community demands connectedness vis improved and expanded...

Can regionalism do what multilateralism has so far failed to do-promote greater openness of services markets? Although previous research has pointed to the wider and deeper legal commitments under regional agreements as proof that it can, no previous study has assessed the impact of such...

Cities can increase economic growth and participate in global economic flows by acting as hubs or gateways to regional corridors, that are supported by three dimensions of connectivity: physical (infrastructure) connectivity, digital connectivity, and economic integration. Integrating these...

The South Asia region is lagging behind many regions in the world in regional electricity cooperation and trading, despite the huge anticipated benefits. This study uses an electricity planning model that produces optimal expansion of electricity generation capacities and transmission...

This report reviews the status of Maghreb countries' economic integration with the world, with the Arab world, and within the Maghreb itself. It focuses on trade in goods and services, labor and capital flows, financial integration and cross-border infrastructure integration. It discusses the...

This paper examines systematically the growth effects of trade integration in Sub-Saharan Africa. It complements and improves upon the empirical literature in two aspects: first, it jointly estimates the impact of different dimensions of trade integration, namely, trade volumes, export/trade...

This paper exploits information from two different datasets to provide a novel and multi-dimensional picture of the engagement of all sub-Saharan African countries in global value chains (GVCs). It documents in detail the nature of the underlying data and the way it is used to construct several...

This report provides a cross-country overview of the policy and regulatory framework for digital financial services (DFS) in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries from a financial inclusion perspective. It was carried out at the request of the ASEAN Working Committee on...

This report is intended to support digital financial services (DFS) policymakers in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) and regulators endeavors, by providing a structured approach for the analysis of DFS and financial inclusion. It provides examples of how countries are...

Board gender diversity has improved across all regions over the last two decades. In the early 2000s, there were only a handful of countries in Western Europe where women held more than ten percent of board seats. Today, many countries exceed the double-digit threshold. There is also increasing...