The Southeast Asian Tigers feel threatened. Even though their growth rates have remained above the average for the world and also above the average for developing countries, their economic performance falls short of that in the first half of the 1990s. The underlying worry is that it presages...

The little data book on private sector development 2011 is based on world development indicators 2011 and it's accompanying CD-ROM, with a focus on the private sector in development. Access to reliable cross-country data on private sector development is crucial when formulating responses to...

The importance of transport corridors for trade and development, including for some of the poorest countries in the world, is widely recognized in this book. A new consensus has also emerged that reducing trade costs and improving access to corridors is not just a matter of building...

This report contributes to the effort to improve Middle East and North Africa's (MENA's) growth and employment performance by providing a diagnostic of MENA's financial systems and proposing a roadmap for more diversified, competitive, and inclusive financial systems. The report recognizes the...

Technological innovation drives economic progress. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be leveraged for development, but harnessing this potential depends on an enabling environment for their production, diffusion, and use. Otherwise, technology can widen rather than narrow...

This book is about development and measuring development progress. While precise definitions may vary, development is, at heart, a process of building wealth, the produced, natural, human, and institutional capital which is the source of income and wellbeing. A key finding is that it is...

In fiscal year 2012, a total issue of $2.7 billion in guarantees for projects in Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA's) developing member countries and an additional $10.6 million was issued under MIGA administered trust funds. This is another record high for new issuance by the...

The little data book on private sector development coincides with the unfolding of the global financial crisis. There is strong evidence that crises can stimulate reform of the investment climate. A better investment climate makes economic adjustment easier and helps attract capital to create...

In broad terms, the sources of economic growth are well understood, but relatively few countries have succeeded in effectively harnessing this knowledge for policy purposes so as to sustain high rates of growth over an extended period of time. Among the ones that have done so, China stands out....

The main messages of poor places, thriving people: how the Middle East and North Africa can rise above spatial disparities can be summarized in four words: people, connections, clusters, and institutions. This report shows how smart investments and policies in transport can connect poor places...