Health care costs are escalating rapidly in many countries. While many factors contribute to rising costs, health insurance plays a part by shielding patients and physicians from the real cost. In an effort to contain costs, governments, employers, and insurers have modified payment schemes and...

As governments struggle with rising health care costs, public-private partnerships in constructing and managing public hospitals can provide innovative ways to control costs and improve service. Experience shows that such partnerships offer significant benefits as long as policymakers structure...

In economies characterized by low labor demand and high rates of youth unemployment, entrepreneurship training has the potential to enable youth to gain skills and create their own jobs. This paper presents experimental evidence on a new entrepreneurship track that provides business training and...

With food prices on the rise, understanding the transmission of price shocks, both internationally and domestically, is central for trade policy analysis. This paper examines spatial market integration and its determinants for ten key food products in Bolivia, across the four most important...

Deposit insurance is widely offered in a number of countries as part of a financial system safety net to promote stability. An unintended consequence of deposit insurance is the reduction in the incentive of depositors to monitor banks, which leads to excessive risk-taking. This paper examines...

This paper reassesses what works in banking regulation based on the new World Bank survey (Survey IV) of bank regulation and supervision around world. The paper briefly presents new and official survey information on bank regulations in more than 125 countries, makes comparisons with earlier...