The report opens with a brief description of the conceptual framework that guided the analysis as well as the data used. The next chapter presents the analysis of changes in household behavior and educational outcomes related to the implementation of the reforms, at both the primary and...

This paper explores Africa's economic performance and the creation of jobs over the decade and more since 1995, recognizing that some standard labor concepts are difficult to apply to conditions prevailing in Africa. The intent of the paper is to identify the economic factors behind the more...

In 1995, Latvia became the first country in Central and Eastern Europe to implement parametric reform of the Soviet-style PAYGO pension system, and the first in the world to implement the"notional defined contribution (NDC) system"originally designed for Sweden. The Government's intention was to...

A legacy of the command economy in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union is a social protection system that emphasizes institutional care for vulnerable individuals. It has been well established that in many cases institutionalization can be more expensive per client served and...

This paper focuses on the experience of the transition countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in providing adequate safety nets for the poor during the last ten years. The paper discusses the problem of poverty, and vulnerability, and looks at the typical types of interventions offered by...

This paper analyzes the design, coverage, implementation and enforcement of incomes policy in two transitional economies: Bulgaria and Romania. Lessons drawn from Bulgarian and Romanian experiences might also be relevant for other countries which are currently in the process of formulating and...

Sub-Saharan Africa has just experienced one of the best decades of growth since the 1960s. Between 2000 and 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than 4.5 percent a year on average, compared to around 2 percent in the prior 20 years (World Bank various years). In 2012, the region's GDP...

Estimates of the current and future structure of employment in sub-Saharan Africa (2005–20) are obtained based on household survey estimates for 28 countries and an elasticity-type model that relates employment to economic growth and demographic outcomes. Agriculture still employs the majority...

We use firm-level survey data from the manufacturing sector in 20 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and Doing Business (DB) country indicators to explore the links between employment protection regulation (EPR) and firm job growth during the period 2003–07. We find that EPR is uncorrelated...

This assessment, reflecting poverty's many dimensions in Mozambique, combines multiple disciplines and diagnostic tools to explore poverty. It draws on a combination of approaches and tools from three separate analytical diagnostics developed by the World Bank: poverty assessment, country gender...