This study analyzes the difference in the decline in sales between small and medium-size enterprises and large firms (the "gap”) following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 19 developing countries. The decline in sales as a percentage of the pre-pandemic level was bigger for small and medium-size...

By means of counterfactual simulation methods, this paper quantifies the role of tax-benefit policies in mitigating the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic to household income in the European Union. The tax-benefit microsimulation model for the European Union EUROMOD is used to decompose changes in...

Countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia are in their third decade of independence. What impact does this have on the skills premium and does accession to the European Union have an impact on the returns to education. The returns to education in 28 transition and 20 non-transition...

The country opinion survey in Kosovo assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Kosovo perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral and bilateral agencies, media, academia, the...

The rise of the Circular Economy (CE) agenda reflects the objective of moving away from the current systems of production and consumption based on the take-make-use-waste linear economic model toward economies centered on minimizing the use of virgin materials without adversely affecting...

The initial idea for this compendium came out in 2016 of a collaboration between the Legal Vice Presidency and the Education Global Practice at the World Bank on the role of law to end child marriage. The discussions took place within the context of a global study being conducted by the World...

Doing Business provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across one hundred ninety-one economies. It is founded on the principle that economic activity benefits from clear rules: rules that allow voluntary exchanges between economic actors, set out strong property...

This paper describes a new survey designed to collect comprehensive and granular information about required skills and tasks for detailed occupations in Vietnam. The Survey of Detailed Skills asks workers in Vietnam about their skills and tasks for a set of 30 occupations that are in demand or...

Interconnected and often devastating covariate shocks are a threat to human development. Covariate shocks are shocks that affect large numbers of people or communities at once and can be natural, economic, or political. Occurrence and the human devastation from natural disasters has increased...

This training manual is intended to be used as a resource to guide a new Teach Secondary Trainer as they conduct the 5-day Teach Secondary observer training. Trainers are responsible for explaining the purpose of the tool, and ensuring all observers are equipped with the knowledge and skills to...