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JUNE, 2021

Global Economic Prospects, June 2021

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Global Economic Prospects. The world economy is experiencing a very strong but uneven recovery, with many emerging market and developing economies facing obstacles to vaccination. The global outlook remains uncertain, with major risks around the path of the pandemic and the possibility of financial stress amid large debt loads. Policy makers face a difficult balancing act as they seek to nurture the recovery while safeguarding price stability and fiscal sustainability.
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MARCH, 2021

World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives

Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic and social value in applications far beyond those originally anticipated. But many barriers stand in the way, ranging from misaligned incentives and incompatible data systems to a fundamental lack of trust. World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies. To address this tension between the helpful and harmful potential of data, this Report calls for a new social contract that enables the use and reuse of data to create economic and social value, ensures equitable access to that value, and fosters trust that data will not be misused in harmful ways.
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FEBRUARY, 2021

Women, Business and the Law 2021

Women, Business and the Law 2021 updates all indicators as of October 1, 2020 and builds evidence of the links between legal gender equality and women’s economic inclusion. By examining the economic decisions women make throughout their working lives, as well as the pace of reform over the past 50 years, Women, Business and the Law 2021 makes an important contribution to research and policy discussions about the state of women’s economic empowerment.
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MARCH, 2021

Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy

Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy analyzes the tax-disruptive aspects of digital business models and reviews current tax initiatives in light of traditional tax theory principles. The analysis concludes that market countries’ tax claims are unsubstantiated and contravene the most basic foundations of tax theory, giving rise to a series of legal, economic, tax policy, and tax administration issues that policy makers cannot overlook. The authors propose establishing a digital data tax (DDT) that is a license-type consumption tax, rather than an income tax, on the international supply of Internet bandwidth to access digital markets.
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New Content

World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives
Book
World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives

Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic ...

Global Economic Prospects, January 2021
Book
Global Economic Prospects, January 2021

Although the global economy is emerging from the collapse triggered by the pandemic, the recovery is uneven, halting, and subdued. Global economic output is expected to expand 3.8 percent in 2021. Notwithstanding this recovery, global GDP will still be ...

Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition
Book
Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition

The Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners was first published in 2011 by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, a joint initiative of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and the World Bank focused on encouraging and facilitating a ...

International Debt Statistics 2021
Book
International Debt Statistics 2021

International Debt Statistics (IDS), a long-standing annual publication of the World Bank, features external debt statistics and analysis for the 120 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System. IDS 2021 includes ...

World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives
Book
World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives

Today’s unprecedented growth of data and their ubiquity in our lives are signs that the data revolution is transforming the world. And yet much of the value of data remains untapped. Data collected for one purpose have the potential to generate economic ...

Read More
Global Economic Prospects, January 2021
Book
Global Economic Prospects, January 2021

Although the global economy is emerging from the collapse triggered by the pandemic, the recovery is uneven, halting, and subdued. Global economic output is expected to expand 3.8 percent in 2021. Notwithstanding this recovery, global GDP will still be ...

Read More
Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition
Book
Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners, Second Edition

The Asset Recovery Handbook: A Guide for Practitioners was first published in 2011 by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, a joint initiative of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime and the World Bank focused on encouraging and facilitating a ...

Read More
International Debt Statistics 2021
Book
International Debt Statistics 2021

International Debt Statistics (IDS), a long-standing annual publication of the World Bank, features external debt statistics and analysis for the 120 low- and middle-income countries that report to the World Bank Debtor Reporting System. IDS 2021 includes ...

Read More
Religion and Sanitation Practices
Article
Religion and Sanitation Practices

In India, infant mortality among Hindus is higher than among Muslims, and religious differences in sanitation practices have been cited as a contributing factor. To explore whether religion itself is associated with differences in sanitation practices, ...

What Aspects of Formality Do Workers Value? Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Bangladesh
Article
What Aspects of Formality Do Workers Value? Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Bangladesh

This study uses a choice experiment among 2,000 workers in Bangladesh to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for job attributes: a contract, termination notice, working hours, paid leave, and a pension fund. Using a stated preference method allows calculation ...

The Profits of Wisdom: The Impact of a Business Support Program in Tanzania
Article
The Profits of Wisdom: The Impact of a Business Support Program in Tanzania

Business training programs in low-income settings have shown only limited impacts on firm revenues and profits, particularly for female entrepreneurs. A randomized design was used to compare the impacts of two types of business training programs targeting ...

Estimating Treatment Effects with Big Data When Take-up is Low: An Application to Financial Education
Article
Estimating Treatment Effects with Big Data When Take-up is Low: An Application to Financial Education

Low take-up of interventions is a common problem faced by evaluations of development programs. A leading case is financial education programs, which are increasingly offered by governments, nonprofits, and financial institutions, but which often have very ...

Religion and Sanitation Practices
Article
Religion and Sanitation Practices

In India, infant mortality among Hindus is higher than among Muslims, and religious differences in sanitation practices have been cited as a contributing factor. To explore whether religion itself is associated with differences in sanitation practices, ...

Read More
What Aspects of Formality Do Workers Value? Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Bangladesh
Article
What Aspects of Formality Do Workers Value? Evidence from a Choice Experiment in Bangladesh

This study uses a choice experiment among 2,000 workers in Bangladesh to elicit willingness to pay (WTP) for job attributes: a contract, termination notice, working hours, paid leave, and a pension fund. Using a stated preference method allows calculation ...

Read More
The Profits of Wisdom: The Impact of a Business Support Program in Tanzania
Article
The Profits of Wisdom: The Impact of a Business Support Program in Tanzania

Business training programs in low-income settings have shown only limited impacts on firm revenues and profits, particularly for female entrepreneurs. A randomized design was used to compare the impacts of two types of business training programs targeting ...

Read More
Estimating Treatment Effects with Big Data When Take-up is Low: An Application to Financial Education
Article
Estimating Treatment Effects with Big Data When Take-up is Low: An Application to Financial Education

Low take-up of interventions is a common problem faced by evaluations of development programs. A leading case is financial education programs, which are increasingly offered by governments, nonprofits, and financial institutions, but which often have very ...

Read More
Organizational Resources, Country Institutions, and National Culture behind Firm Survival and Growth during COVID-19
Working Paper
Organizational Resources, Country Institutions, and National Culture behind Firm Survival and Growth during COVID-19

This paper provides one of the first comprehensive and most updated studies on the effects of firms' organizational resources, country institutions, and national culture on the survival and growth of private firms around the world during the COVID-19 ...

How to End the COVID-19 Pandemic by March 2022
Working Paper
How to End the COVID-19 Pandemic by March 2022

How can the world reach herd immunity against COVID-19 before the second anniversary of the pandemic, or March 2022? A study of vaccine demand and supply answers this question. A target of vaccinating 60 percent of the population in each country by March ...

The Economic Ripple Effects of COVID-19
Working Paper
The Economic Ripple Effects of COVID-19

What are the effects of a large temporary shock to the economy such as a temporary lockdown in response to a pandemic? Are the effects propagated and made persistent by firms' deteriorating balance sheets and labor market frictions? This paper develops a ...

A General Equilibrium Assessment of the Economic Impact of Deep Trade Agreements
Working Paper
A General Equilibrium Assessment of the Economic Impact of Deep Trade Agreements

This paper explores the economic impacts of preferential trade agreements, focusing on the provisions they contain, beyond phasing out tariffs. Clustering 278 preferential trade agreements based on 906 provisions grouped into 18 policy areas, three ...

Organizational Resources, Country Institutions, and National Culture behind Firm Survival and Growth during COVID-19
Working Paper
Organizational Resources, Country Institutions, and National Culture behind Firm Survival and Growth during COVID-19

This paper provides one of the first comprehensive and most updated studies on the effects of firms' organizational resources, country institutions, and national culture on the survival and growth of private firms around the world during the COVID-19 ...

Read More
How to End the COVID-19 Pandemic by March 2022
Working Paper
How to End the COVID-19 Pandemic by March 2022

How can the world reach herd immunity against COVID-19 before the second anniversary of the pandemic, or March 2022? A study of vaccine demand and supply answers this question. A target of vaccinating 60 percent of the population in each country by March ...

Read More
The Economic Ripple Effects of COVID-19
Working Paper
The Economic Ripple Effects of COVID-19

What are the effects of a large temporary shock to the economy such as a temporary lockdown in response to a pandemic? Are the effects propagated and made persistent by firms' deteriorating balance sheets and labor market frictions? This paper develops a ...

Read More
A General Equilibrium Assessment of the Economic Impact of Deep Trade Agreements
Working Paper
A General Equilibrium Assessment of the Economic Impact of Deep Trade Agreements

This paper explores the economic impacts of preferential trade agreements, focusing on the provisions they contain, beyond phasing out tariffs. Clustering 278 preferential trade agreements based on 906 provisions grouped into 18 policy areas, three ...

Read More
Conversation with the Lowy Institute
Book
Conversation with the Lowy Institute

World Bank Group President David spoke about the World Bank's response for Coronavirus (COVID-19) was to make health programs available in a lot of countries. The Bank wanted to get as many people vaccinated as possible in countries around the world. The ...

Remarks at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate
Book
Remarks at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate

David Malpass, President of the World Bank, discussed the core plan of the World Bank’s climate change action plan. The World Bank Group has reached its highest-ever levels of climate finance in the past two years. The Bank plan commits to big increases ...

Mobilizing Technology for Development
Book
Mobilizing Technology for Development

Disruptive and transformative technologies (DTT) have far-reaching implications for development. Traditional development models are being disrupted by the accelerating pace of technological change and the convergence of multiple technologies, among other ...

Albania Country Program Evaluation
Book
Albania Country Program Evaluation

This evaluation assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s country engagement in Albania over the period Fiscal Years 11-19. The Bank Group made a substantial contribution to many reforms relevant to Albania’s development priorities, ...

Conversation with the Lowy Institute
Book
Conversation with the Lowy Institute

World Bank Group President David spoke about the World Bank's response for Coronavirus (COVID-19) was to make health programs available in a lot of countries. The Bank wanted to get as many people vaccinated as possible in countries around the world. The ...

Read More
Remarks at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate
Book
Remarks at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate

David Malpass, President of the World Bank, discussed the core plan of the World Bank’s climate change action plan. The World Bank Group has reached its highest-ever levels of climate finance in the past two years. The Bank plan commits to big increases ...

Read More
Mobilizing Technology for Development
Book
Mobilizing Technology for Development

Disruptive and transformative technologies (DTT) have far-reaching implications for development. Traditional development models are being disrupted by the accelerating pace of technological change and the convergence of multiple technologies, among other ...

Read More
Albania Country Program Evaluation
Book
Albania Country Program Evaluation

This evaluation assesses the development effectiveness of the World Bank Group’s country engagement in Albania over the period Fiscal Years 11-19. The Bank Group made a substantial contribution to many reforms relevant to Albania’s development priorities, ...

Read More
March 25, 2021

Mark Your Calendars for the 2021 Virtual Spring Meetings

Join us online during the 2021 Spring Meetings April 5-11 for four flagship events covering climate change, debt, vaccines and economic recovery. Learn more and sign up to receive reminders.

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January 4, 2021

ASSA 2021

Attending ASSA 2021? Check out the World Bank Publications Virtual exhibit for show specials on our latest and upcoming books and more.

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October 13, 2020

Join the World Bank Annual Meetings

This year's World Bank Group/IMF Annual Meetings will take place virtually and will center around "Supporting a Resilient Recovery." Share your thoughts & watch the virtual Annual Meetings October 12-18.

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Click to see the World Development Report Series

Forthcoming Content

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Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement
Primer on Large-Scale Assessments of Educational Achievement
Impact Evaluation in International Development: Theory, Methods, and Practice
Impact Evaluation in International Development: Theory, Methods, and Practice
An Investment Perspective on Global Value Chains
An Investment Perspective on Global Value Chains
Doing Business 2021
Doing Business 2021
Employment in Crisis: The Path to Better Jobs in a Post-COVID-19 Latin America
Employment in Crisis: The Path to Better Jobs in a Post-COVID-19 Latin America
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