Social scientists frequently rely on the cardinal comparability of test scores to assess achievement gaps between population subgroups and their evolution over time. This approach has been criticized due to the ordinal nature of test scores and the sensibility of results to order-preserving...

Using firm-level data for Jordan, the paper estimates the extent to which growth spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) to local firms stem from persistent learning externalities (i.e., they endure even after foreign investment leaves as knowledge has been transferred to local firms) or...

Remarks delivered by Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, review the commitment to the U.N. Decade for Sustainable Energy for All. The initiative is a multi-stakeholder partnership working with governments, businesses, civil society, banks and international institutions to meet three...

This study was undertaken by the World Bank to inform the potential areas and means ofassistance to the Government of Uzbekistan in scaling up energy efficiency (EE) investmentsin residential, commercial, and public buildings, focusing on energy use and efficiency inspace heating. Considering...

InfoDev - innovation and entrepreneurship report green sectors, such as renewable energy and sustainable agriculture, are some of the most important economic sectors for meeting the targets agreed in the Paris climate accord, achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs), and realizing...

Local and Community Driven Development (LCDD) is an approach that gives control of development decisions and resources to community groups and representative local governments. Poor communities receive funds, decide on their use, plan and execute the chosen local projects, and monitor the...

The objective of this report is to assess the usefulness of providing guidance for scaling up good practices in core ARD business lines, and to test the prospects for doing so. The output of the document is a guide for a systematic discussion on scaling up of Competitive Grant Schemes (CGSs) for...

This paper builds on global experience and Guinea-Bissau's specific context to identify an effective nutrition approach along with costs and benefits of key nutrition interventions. It is intended to help guide the selection of the most cost-effective interventions as well as strategies for...

In the past decade, hundreds of impact evaluation studies have measured the learning outcomes of education interventions in developing countries. The impact magnitudes are often reported in terms of "standard deviations," making them difficult to communicate to policy makers beyond education...

'Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Protection: Concepts and Applications' provides the conceptual and analytical framework for assessing social protection (SP) programs, as well as provides a practical guide for users seeking to conduct analysis, particularly using the World Bank's Software...