{"title":"Global Waves of Debt: Causes and Consequences","authors":"M. Kose, P. Nagle, F. Ohnsorge, Naotaka Sugawara","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1544-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1544-7","url":null,"abstract":"ADVANCE EDITION OF BOOK EXPECTED IN 2020. The global economy has experienced four waves of debt accumulation over the past fifty years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging and developing economies. The latest, since 2010, has already witnessed the largest, fastest and most broad-based increase in debt in these economies. Their total debt has risen by 54 percentage points of GDP to a historic peak of almost 170 percent of GDP in 2018. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood of the current debt wave ending in crisis and, if crises were to take place, alleviate their impact. To shed light on the implications of the rapid debt accumulation, Global Waves of Debt presents the first in-depth analysis of the main features of global and national debt accumulation episodes, analyzes the linkages between debt accumulation and financial crises, and draws policy lessons.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125748927","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"MIGA Annual Report 2020","authors":"Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency","doi":"10.1596/34544","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/34544","url":null,"abstract":"The report discusses the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) activities for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2000. Highlights discussed in this report include: 1) country membership; 2) guarantee operations; 3) MIGA's financial statements; and, 4) technical assistance services, i.e., privatization, business opportunities, and information technology.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"116 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114641661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dingyong Hou, Karina Acevedo, J. Laat, Jennica Larrison
{"title":"Building the Right Skills for Human Capital: Education, Skills, and Productivity in the Kyrgyz Republic","authors":"Dingyong Hou, Karina Acevedo, J. Laat, Jennica Larrison","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1636-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1636-9","url":null,"abstract":"THIS IS A CONFERENCE EDITION FOR PUBLICATION EXPECTED IN NOVEMBER 2020. Building the Right Skills for Human Capital summarizes the findings from the 2019 skills survey for the adult Kyrgyz population. The skills measures used in the survey focus on literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology rich environments (PSTRE) and followed the same questions and approach as the OECD’s PIAAC surveys. Most jobs in the Kyrgyz Republic require regular use of reading, writing, numeracy, and ICT skills, and higher skilled groups of people earn higher wages, suggesting that the labor market rewards higher skills. However, skills levels among the workforce are consistently low in absolute terms, among varying sociodemographic groups, and relative to countries that implemented PIAAC surveys. Results are not improving across cohorts, except for PSTRE. There is evidence that a substantial share of people is overschooled, but underskilled. The lack of quality of education is an important driver for low skills performance. The report finds that higher levels of education are associated with higher skills levels, but even among the most educated, a large share has low skills scores, which helps explain why we find that a large share can be overeducated but underskilled for the jobs they occupy. Skill levels of secondary school teachers were also assessed. Teachers outperform the general population in both literacy and numeracy but underperform compared to professionals. Overall, one-third of teachers still have low proficiency in literacy and numeracy. With regards to ICT skills, the results suggest that nearly all secondary school teachers are currently not well equipped to impart ICT skills on their students. The book concludes with a series of policy recommendations at different levels of education, from early childhood education through life-long learning, including providing upskilling opportunities for those teachers with specific skill deficiencies.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129899607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
F. Blanco, P. Saavedra, Friederike N. Koehler-Geib, Emilia Skrok
{"title":"Fiscal Rules and Economic Size in Latin America and the Caribbean","authors":"F. Blanco, P. Saavedra, Friederike N. Koehler-Geib, Emilia Skrok","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1382-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1382-5","url":null,"abstract":"Following the collapse of commodity prices in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in 2014-15, many countries in the region were unable to cushion the impact of the shock in order to experience a more gradual adjustment, to a large extent because they had not built adequate fiscal buffers during the commodities’ windfall from 2010-14. Many LAC countries entered 2020 and the COVID-19 crisis in an even more difficult position, with rising debt and limited fiscal space to smooth the negative impacts of the pandemic and adequately support their economies. Fiscal policy in most LAC countries has been procyclical. Public expenditure and debt levels have expanded in good times and contracted in severe downswings due to insufficient fiscal buffers, making crises deeper. Fiscal rules represent a promising policy option for these and other economies. If well-designed and implemented, they can help build buffers during periods of strong economic performance that will be available during rainy days to smooth economic shocks. This book—which was prepared before the COVID-19 crisis—reviews the performance and implementation of different fiscal rules in the region and world. It provides analytical and practical criteria for policy makers for the design, establishment, and feasible implementation of fiscal rules based on each country's business cycle features, external characteristics, type of shocks faced, initial fiscal conditions, technical and institutional capacities, and political context. While establishing new fiscal rules would not help to attenuate the immediate effects of this pandemic crisis, higher debt levels in the aftermath of COVID-19 will demand rebuilding better and stronger institutional frameworks of fiscal policy in LAC and emerging economies globally. Having stronger fiscal mechanisms that include fiscal rules can help countries prepare for the next crisis and should be on the front burner for policy makers in coming years. The findings and lessons discussed apply to economies of different sizes, with some differences under certain scenarios in terms of the technical design and criteria needed for implementation. In this book, policy makers will find that fiscal rules, if tailored to country characteristics, can work and be an essential fiscal tool for larger and particularly smaller economies.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"77 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116522332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B. Aritua, Lu Cheng, Richard van Liere, H. D. Leijer
{"title":"Blue Routes for a New Era","authors":"B. Aritua, Lu Cheng, Richard van Liere, H. D. Leijer","doi":"10.1016/978-1-4648-1584-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/978-1-4648-1584-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125057639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A. Ciani, Marie Hyland, Nona Karalashvili, Jennifer L. Keller, A. Ragoussis, T. Tran
{"title":"Making It Big","authors":"A. Ciani, Marie Hyland, Nona Karalashvili, Jennifer L. Keller, A. Ragoussis, T. Tran","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1557-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1557-7","url":null,"abstract":"Economic and social progress requires a diverse ecosystem of firms that play complementary roles. Making It Big: Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms constitutes one of the most up-to-date assessments of how large firms are created in low- and middle-income countries and their role in development. It argues that large firms advance a range of development objectives in ways that other firms do not: large firms are more likely to innovate, export, and offer training and are more likely to adopt international standards of quality, among other contributions. Their particularities are closely associated with productivity advantages and translate into improved outcomes not only for their owners but also for their workers and for smaller enterprises in their value chains. The challenge for economic development, however, is that production does not reach economic scale in low- and middle-income countries. Why are large firms scarcer in developing countries? Drawing on a rare set of data from public and private sources, as well as proprietary data from the International Finance Corporation and case studies, this book shows that large firms are often born large—or with the attributes of largeness. In other words, what is distinct about them is often in place from day one of their operations. To fill the “missing top” of the firm-size distribution with additional large firms, governments should support the creation of such firms by opening markets to greater competition. In low-income countries, this objective can be achieved through simple policy reorientation, such as breaking oligopolies, removing unnecessary restrictions to international trade and investment, and establishing strong rules to prevent the abuse of market power. Governments should also strive to ensure that private actors have the skills, technology, intelligence, infrastructure, and finance they need to create large ventures. Additionally, they should actively work to spread the benefits from production at scale across the largest possible number of market participants. This book seeks to bring frontier thinking and evidence on the role and origins of large firms to a wide range of readers, including academics, development practitioners and policy makers.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130681666","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Youth Employment Programs in Ghana: Options for Effective Policy Making and Implementation","authors":"C. Dadzie, M. Fumey, Suleiman Namara","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1579-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1579-9","url":null,"abstract":"Unemployment and underemployment are global development challenges. The situation in Ghana is no different. In 2016, it was projected that, given the country’s growing youth population, 300,000 new jobs would need to be created each year to absorb the increasing numbers of unemployed young people. Yet the employment structure of the Ghanaian economy has not changed much from several decades ago. Most jobs are low skill, requiring limited cognitive or technology know-how, reflected in low earnings and work of lower quality. An additional challenge for Ghana is the need to create access to an adequate number of high-quality, productive jobs. This report seeks to increase knowledge about Ghana’s job landscape and youth employment programs to assist policy makers and key stakeholders in identifying ways to improve the effectiveness of these programs and strengthen coordination among major stakeholders. Focused, strategic, short- to medium-term and long-term responses are required to address current unemployment and underemployment challenges. Effective coordination and synergies among youth employment programs are needed to avoid duplication of effort while the country’s economic structure transforms. Effective private sector participation in skills development and employment programs is recommended. The report posits interventions in five priority areas that are not new but could potentially make an impact through scaling up: (1) agriculture and agribusiness, (2) apprenticeship (skills training), (3) entrepreneurship, (4) high-yielding areas (renewable energy–solar, construction, tourism, sports, and green jobs), and (5) preemployment support services. Finally, with the fast-changing nature of work due to technology and artificial intelligence, Ghana needs to develop an education and training system that is versatile and helps young people to adapt and thrive in the twenty-first century world of work.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125341921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kathy A. Lindert, T. G. Karippacheril, Inés Rodríguez Caillava, Kenichi Nishikawa Chávez
{"title":"Sourcebook on the Foundations of Social Protection Delivery Systems","authors":"Kathy A. Lindert, T. G. Karippacheril, Inés Rodríguez Caillava, Kenichi Nishikawa Chávez","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1577-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1577-5","url":null,"abstract":"The Sourcebook synthesizes real-world experiences and lessons learned of social protection delivery systems from around the world, with a particular focus on social and labor benefits and services. It takes a practical approach, seeking to address concrete “how-to” questions, including: How do countries deliver social protection benefits and services? How do they do so effectively and efficiently? How do they ensure dynamic inclusion, especially for the most vulnerable and needy? How do they promote better coordination and integration—not only among social protection programs but also programs in other parts of government? How can they meet the needs of their intended populations and provide a better client experience? The Sourcebook structures itself around eight key principles that can frame the delivery systems mindset: (1) delivery systems evolve over time, do so in a non-linear fashion, and are affected by the starting point(s); (2) additional efforts should be made to “do simple well”, and to do so from the start rather than trying to remedy by after-the-fact adding-on of features or aspects; (3) quality implementation matters, and weaknesses in the design or structure of any core system element will negatively impact delivery; (4) defining the “first mile” for people interface greatly affects the system and overall delivery, and is most improved when that “first mile” is understood as the weakest link in delivery systems); (5) delivery systems do not operate in a vacuum and thus should not be developed in silos; (6) delivery systems can contribute more broadly to government’s ability to intervene in other sectors, such as health insurance subsidies, scholarships, social energy tariffs, housing benefits, and legal services; (7) there is no single blueprint for delivery systems, but there are commonalities and those common elements constitute the core of the delivery systems framework; (8) inclusion and coordination are pervasive and perennial dual challenges, and they contribute to the objectives of effectiveness and efficiency.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129719143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Handbook of Deep Trade Agreements","authors":"A. Mattoo, N. Rocha, M. Ruta","doi":"10.1596/978-1-4648-1539-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-1539-3","url":null,"abstract":"Deep trade agreements (DTAs) cover not just trade but additional policy areas, such as the international flows of investment and labor, and the protection of intellectual property rights and the environment. Their goal is integration beyond trade, or deep integration. DTA rules influence how countries transact, invest, work, and, ultimately, develop. The rules and commitments in DTAs should be informed by evidence and shaped by development priorities rather than international power or domestic politics. An impediment to this goal is that data and analysis on trade agreements have not captured the new dimensions of integration. Little effort has been made to identify the content and consequences of DTAs. This Handbook takes a step towards filling this gap in our understanding of international economic law and policy. It presents detailed data and analysis on the content of the policy areas most frequently covered in DTAs, focusing on the stated objectives, substantive commitments, and other aspects such as transparency, procedures, and enforcement. Each chapter, authored by lead experts in their respective fields, explains in detail the methodology used to collect the information and provides a first look at the evidence by policy area.","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"05 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129112136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Peszko, D. Mensbrugghe, A. Golub, J. Ward, Dimitri Zenghelis, Cor Marijs, Anne Schopp, John A Rogers, Amelia Midgley
{"title":"Diversification and Cooperation in a Decarbonizing World","authors":"G. Peszko, D. Mensbrugghe, A. Golub, J. Ward, Dimitri Zenghelis, Cor Marijs, Anne Schopp, John A Rogers, Amelia Midgley","doi":"10.1016/978-1-4648-1340-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/978-1-4648-1340-5","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":300390,"journal":{"name":"World Bank Publications","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123937325","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}