Many developing countries have made progress in political openness and economic management but lag in terms of attracting private sector investments, at least outside of narrow resource-based enclaves.These countries may have recognized potential but have not yet established the reputation needed to...

Universal legal identity through birth registration has consistently remained as a potential target for the post-2015 agenda through several rounds of negotiation. However, as it has been put forth, it conflates legal identity and birth registration. This policy note clarifies the differences betwee...

The World Bank’s new Program for Results (PforR) instrument is only the third instrument approved by its Board and the first to directly link disbursements to results.

Natural resources are being discovered in more countries, both rich and poor.  Many of the new and aspiring resource exporters are low-income countries that are still receiving substantial levels of foreign aid. 

Sovereign wealth funds have traditionally invested in external securities but are increasingly being tapped to provide financing for domestic investments, including to help close infrastructure gaps.

We consider economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa from the perspective of slow convergence of productivity, both across sectors and across firms within sectors.

This paper offers a proposal to improve performance-based allocation systems of International Development Association (IDA) donors and others to better address the needs of fragile states and better link development allocations with performance.