Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean analyzes whether economic reforms have been beneficial to growth in the region. In doing so, it recognizes that growth is driven by a variety of factors - in some cases poor growth is due to insufficient structural reforms (e.g., low trade...

In 2013, the Board of Governors endorsed two new goals for the World Bank Group (WBG). First, the WBG would commit its full energies to bringing an effective end to extreme poverty by 2030. This means reducing to no more than 3 percent the fraction of the world’s population living on less than...

The objective of this report is to design an integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil. It contains an updated and detailed profile of the rural poor in the northeast and southeast regions of Brazil; identifies key determinants of rural poverty in these regions; and proposes a...

A Unified Approach to Measuring Poverty and Inequality: Theory and Practice is an introduction to the theory and practice of measuring poverty and inequality, as well as a user's guide for analyzing income or consumption distribution for any standard household dataset using the World Bank's...

The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is a major initiative, undertaken jointly by the World Bank and the IMF, in response to the financial crises of the late 1990s. The ultimate objectives of the program are (i) the identification and resolution of financial sector vulnerabilities and...

The World Bank Group will focus its financial and technical resources to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner, especially in fragile states, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. To this end, it is pulling its specialized agencies (IBRD, IDA, IFC, MIGA) to...

The paper provides an overview of household welfare, labor markets, and social programs in Albania, outside of its capital, in 1996. At the time, Albania was in a cross roads, from a period of phenomenal growth, to a series of economic crisis, though still ranking as the poorest country in the...

Balancing the Development Agenda examines the evolution of the World Bank and its operations during the presidency of James Wolfensohn. It examines the modernization of this global economic institution which is now focused on home-grown development planning where borrowing countries are in the...

This evaluation builds upon OED's earlier work to assess how well the PRS Initiative has helped thus far in putting the CDF principles into action, how relevant it is to countries' quest for sustainable poverty reduction, and how effectively the Bank has supported and aligned its own programs...

This is the address to the Board of Governors, delivered by Mr. James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank. It was indicated that the development community has confirmed the Millennium Development Goals as our framework for action. Our thinking and action must be local, regional, and...