While public education is often intended to be progressive in its effects on income distribution, in reality its incidence is often skewed toward the rich. This paper argues that the extent of this bias is directly related to institutional weaknesses in governance. We present a simple dynamic...

Adoption and adaptation of foreign technology is an important catch-up mechanism for developing countries and can contribute towards the achievement of the millennium development goals. Despite this until now very little foreign aid has been specifically targeting innovation in developing...

In recent years, the private sector has been recognized as a key engine of Africa's economic development. Yet, the most simple and fundamental question remains unanswered: how large is the African private sector? We present novel estimates of the size of the private sector in 50 African...

The Vietnamese government has been conducting economic and administrative reforms to create a sustain market conditions for the growth of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam since 1986. In fact, the inconsistency in the government policy, slow pace of market reform, insufficient...

Interventions designed to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are popular among policy makers, given the role SMEs play in job creation around the world. Business support interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are often based on the assumption that market failures and...

The use of challenge funds to promote economic and social development continues to grow, but has been the subject of relatively little research. This paper develops a definition of what challenge funds are and how they differ from other development funding mechanisms, taking into account their...

Despite its many advantages, the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean region remains relatively backward in economic and social terms and is rightly considered a potential source of social and political instability. Its average GDP per capita lags behind the global average and is increasing slowly...

The study examines the official bilateral donors’ current aid practice for private sector development (PSD). In particular, it reviews the donors’ major instruments and channels for aid delivery and the extent to which official flows have catalytic effects on private direct foreign capital...

The objective of the study is to identify how micro-enterprises can be integrated into local value chains by using the so-called "value chain approach". The "value chain approach" has become a relatively popular approach among donor agencies and NGOs engaged in Private Sector Development in...

This paper identifies the rationale behind the emergence of private sector development (PSD) as a special area of development assistance. It describes PSD policies’ main elements and instruments and provides an overview of the differences and similarities between the PSD activities of...