A new paradigm for power sector reform emerged during the 1990s, under the influence of the Washington Consensus, and began to spread across the developing world. This approach advocated restructuring of national power utilities to create scope for competition, while delegating responsibilities...

Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Main Messages -- Abbreviations -- Overview: Key Findings and Policy Recommendations -- What are the main sources of fiscal risks from infrastructure? -- Off-budget modalities drain public finances more often and on a...

The transition to net zero requires full decarbonization of the transport sector, currently one of the leading sources of emissions globally. Transport-related carbon emissions are growing fastest in the developing world. This makes it particularly critical to understand whether low- and...

Treating data collected pre- and post-COVID-19 as a quasi-experiment, this paper examines the importance of presumed enablers and safeguards in driving the observed expansion of digital payments and digital financial inclusion. The analysis interacts drivers of digital payment usage with a...

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the infrastructure research done over more than three decades, using a database of over a thousand estimates from 221 papers reporting outcome elasticities. The analysis casts a wide net to include the transport, energy, and digital or information and...

Policy makers have long used investing in public infrastructure as a means of reducing geographical disparities and promoting growth. The goal of this paper is to provide insights to development practitioners on designing interventions to maximize the development impact of infrastructure. For...

This Live Wire-based on Off the Books: Understanding and Mitigating the Fiscal Risks of Infrastructure (2023)-presents a systematic assessment of the magnitude and prevalence of fiscal risks from power investments and their root causes across a range of low- and middle-income countries. Drawing...

"The Economics of Electric Vehicles for Passenger Transportation" provides answers to three critical questions: Why should developing countries pursue e-mobility? When does an accelerated transition to electric vehicles (EVs) make sense for developing countries? How can governments make this...