The material within these pages shows that Barbados, a Caribbean country with just over a quarter of a million people, embodies many of the classic vulnerabilities of an island with a small open economy, yet aspires to developed-country status, and is already well advanced on the road to...

This paper explores whether the level of financial integration of banks in a country increases the incidence of systemic banking crises. The paper uses a de facto proxy for financial integration based on network statistics of banks participating in the global market of interbank syndicated...

Although financial development is good for long-term growth, not all countries pursue policies that render full financial development. This paper builds on an extensive political economy literature to construct a theoretical model showing that the intensity of opposition to financial development...

En esta edición de Microempresa se presentan dos artículos principales. En el primero, se examina por qué siendo las instituciones microfinancieras (IMF) una oportunidad atractiva para los inversores privados, son tan pocos los inversores financieros y sociales privados que proveen fondos a...

This report (RE-305) presents the evaluation conducted by the Office of Evaluation and Oversight of the Bank's program with Panama from 1991 to 2003. Its intent is to describe for the Bank's Directors the outcomes of the institution's activity in Panama and extract lessons that can help make...

In the course of the last few years, the Bank has assigned greater importance to the evaluation of the outcomes of its investments in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This study on the Bank's lending program was conducted to examine project "evaluability," meaning the degree...

This report (RE-252) describes the role of evaluation as an integral part of improving public sector management by providing regular feedback on the results of public action. It lays out some of the present challenges for the Bank in this area, as well as some considerations for the future...