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From World Development Reports:              Selected World Development Indicators
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World Development RWeport 2018 : Learning to Realize Education's Promise

World Development Report 2016
The Digital Dividens

Digital technologies have spread rapidly in much of the world. Digital dividends—the broader development benefits from using these technologies—have lagged behind. In many instances digital technologies have boosted growth, expanded opportunities, and improved service delivery. Yet their aggregate impact has fallen short and is unevenly distributed. For digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere requires closing the remaining digital divide, especially in internet access. But greater digital adoption will not be enough. To get the most out of the digital revolution, countries also need to work on the “analog complements”—by strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, by adapting workers’ skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that institutions are accountable.

World Development Report 2015
Mind, Society and Behaviour

"Every policy relies on explicit or implicit assumptions about how people make choices. Those assumptions typically rest on an idealized model of how people think, rather than an understanding of how everyday thinking actually works. This year’s World Development Report argues that a more realistic account of decision-making and behavior will make development policy more effective. The Report emphasizes what it calls 'the three marks of everyday thinking.' In everyday thinking, people use intuition much more than careful analysis. They employ concepts and tools that prior experience in their cultural world has made familiar. And social emotions and social norms motivate much of what they do. These insights together explain the extraordinary persistence of some social practices, and rapid change in others. They also offer new targets for development policy. A richer understanding of why people save, use preventive health care, work hard, learn, and conserve energy provides a basis for innovative and inexpensive interventions. The insights reveal that poverty not only deprives people of resources but is an environment that shapes decision making, a fact that development projects across the board need to recognize. The insights show that the psychological foundations of decision making emerge at a young age and require social support. The Report applies insights from modern behavioral and social sciences to development policies for addressing poverty, finance, productivity, health, children, and climate change. It demonstrates that new policy ideas based on a richer view of decision-making can yield high economic returns. These new policy targets include: the choice architecture (for example, the default option); the scope for social rewards; frames that influence whether or not a norm is activated; information in the form of rules of thumb; opportunities for experiences that change mental models or social norms. Finally, the Report shows that small changes in context have large effects on behavior. As a result, discovering which interventions are most effective, and with which contexts and populations, inherently requires an experimental approach. Rigor is needed for testing the processes for delivering interventions, not just the products that are delivered."

World Development Report 2014
Risk and opportunity. Managing risk for development

The past 25 years have witnessed unprecedented changes around the world—many of them for the better. Across the continents, many countries have embarked on a path of international integration, economic reform, technological modernization, and democratic participation. Although challenges and inequalities remain, economies that had been stagnant for decades are growing, people whose families had suffered deprivation for generations are escaping poverty, and hundreds of millions are enjoying the benefits of improved living standards and scientific and cultural sharing across nations. As the world changes, a host of opportunities arise constantly. With them, however, appear old and new risks, from the possibility of job loss and disease to the potential for social unrest and environmental damage. If ignored, these risks can turn into crises that reverse hard-won gains and endanger the social and economic reforms that produced these gains. The solution is not to reject change in order to avoid risk but to prepare for the opportunities and risks that change entails. Managing risks responsibly and effectively has the potential to bring about security and a means of progress for people in developing countries and beyond.

World Development Report 2013: Jobs

Moving Jobs to the Center Stage
Recent world developments have put jobs at the center of the policy debate. The global financial crisis has resulted in massive job losses in both emerging and industrial countries. In the latter, there is concern about a jobless recovery; in the former, a comeback cannot hide workers’ vulnerability to shocks. Political upheavals in the Arab world highlight the discontent of educated youth whose employment opportunities fall far short of expectations. The political upheavals could boost transparency and accountability in the region, but if jobs do not follow they could lead to greater instability.
These developments create a sense of urgency, but they remind us that jobs are the cornerstone of economic and social development. Most development work is related to jobs, even if we, as development practitioners, do not always articulate it in that way. We approach jobs from different angles: infrastructure development, competition, innovation policies, or skills upgrading. But we tend to do so in silos.

World Development Report 2012. Gender Equality and Development

The lives of girls and women have changed dramatically over the past quarter century. The pace of change has been astonishing in some areas, but in others, progress toward gender equality has been limited—even in developed countries.
This year's World Development Report: Gender Equality and Development argues that gender equality is a core development objective in its own right. It is also smart economics. Greater gender equality can enhance productivity, improve development outcomes for the next generation, and make institutions more representative.
The Report also focuses on four priority areas for policy going forward: (i) reducing excess female mortality and closing education gaps where they remain, (ii) improving access to economic opportunities for women (iii) increasing women's voice and agency in the household and in society and (iv) limiting the reproduction of gender inequality across generations.

World Development Report 2011
Conflict, Security, and Development

With more than 1.5 billion people living in countries affected by conflict, the World Development Report 2011 (WDR) looks into the changing nature of violence in the 21st century. Interstate and civil wars characterized violent conflict in the last century; more pronounced today is violence linked to local disputes, political repression, and organized crime. The Report underlines the negative impact of persistent conflict on a country’s or a region’s development prospects, and notes that no low-income, conflict-affected state has yet achieved a single Millennium Development Goal.
The risk of major violence is greatest when high levels of stress combine with weak and illegitimate national institutions. Societies are vulnerable when their institutions are unable to protect citizens from abuse, or to provide equitable access to justice and to economic opportunity. These vulnerabilities are exacerbated in countries with high youth unemployment, growing income inequality, and perceptible injustice. Externally driven events such as infiltration by foreign combatants, the presence of trafficking networks, or economic shocks add to the stresses that can provoke violence.
The WDR 2011 draws on the experiences of countries that have successfully managed to transition away from repetitive violence, pointing to a specific need to prioritize actions that build confidence between states and citizens, and develop institutions that can provide security, justice, and jobs. Government capacity is central, but technical competence alone is insufficient: institutions and programs must be accountable to their citizens if they are to acquire legitimacy. Impunity, corruption, and human rights abuses undermine confidence between states and citizens and increase the risks of violence. Building resilient institutions occurs in multiple transitions over a generation, and does not mean converging on Western institutional models.
The WDR 2011 draws together lessons from national reformers escaping from repetitive cycles of violence. It advocates a greater focus on continuous preventive action, balancing a sometimes excessive concentration on postconflict reconstruction. The Report is based on new research, case studies, and extensive consultations with leaders and other actors throughout the world. It proposes a toolkit of options for addressing violence that can be adapted to local contexts, as well as new directions for international policy intended to improve support for national reformers and to tackle stresses that emanate from global or regional trends beyond any one country’s control.



2010 Development and Climate Change

Thirty years ago, half the developing world lived in extreme poverty—today, a quarter. Now, a much smaller share of children are malnourished and at risk of early death. And access to modern infrastructure is much more widespread. Critical to the progress: rapid economic growth driven by technological innovation and institutional reform, particularly in today’s middle-income countries, where per capita incomes have doubled. Yet the needs remain enormous, with the number of hungry people having passed the billion mark this year for the first time in history. With so many still in poverty and hunger, growth and poverty alleviation remain the overarching priority for developing countries.
Climate change only makes the challenge more complicated.
First, the impacts of a changing climate are already being felt, with more droughts, more floods, more strong storms, and more heat waves—taxing individuals, firms, and governments, drawing resources away from development.
Second, continuing climate change, at current rates, will pose increasingly severe challenges to development. By century’s end, it could lead to warming of 5°C or more compared with preindustrial times and to a vastly different world from today, with more extreme weather events, many fewer species, and whole island nations submerged. Even our best efforts are unlikely to stabilize temperatures at anything less than 2°C above preindustrial temperatures, warming that will require substantial adaptation.




2009 Reshaping Economic Geography
Spatial Disparities and Development Policy
Economic growth will be unbalanced, but development still can be inclusive—that is the message of this year’s World Development Report. As economies grow from low to high income, production becomes more concentrated spatially. Some places—cities, coastal areas, and connected countries—are favored by producers. As countries develop, the most successful ones also institute policies that make living standards of people more uniform across space. The way to get both the immediate benefi ts of the concentration of production and the long-term benefi ts of a convergence in living standards is economic integration.
Although the problems of economic integration defy simple solutions, the guiding principle does not have to be complex. The policy mix should be calibrated to match the diffi culty of the development challenge, determined by the economic geography of places. Today, policy discussions about geographic disparities in development often start and end with a consideration of spatially targeted interventions. The Report reframes these debates to include all instruments for economic integration—institutions, infrastructure, and incentives. The bedrock of integration efforts should be spatially blind institutions. As the challenges posed by geography become more diffi cult, the response should include connective infrastructure. In places where integration is hardest, the policy response should be commensurately comprehensive: institutions that unite, infrastructure that connects, and interventions that target.

2008 Agriculture for Development
– The latest World Development Report calls for greater investment in agriculture in developing countries and warns that the sector must be placed at the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 are to be realized.
Titled ‘Agriculture for Development’, the report says the agricultural and rural sectors have suffered from neglect and underinvestment over the past 20 years. While 75 percent of the world’s poor live in rural areas, a mere 4 percent of official development assistance goes to agriculture in developing countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region heavily reliant on agriculture for overall growth, public spending for farming is also only 4 percent of total government spending and the sector is still taxed at relatively high levels.

2007 Development and the next generation
With 1.3 billion young people now living in the developing world-the largest-ever youth group in history-the report says there has never been a better time to invest in youth because they are healthier and better educated than previous generations, and they will join the workforce with fewer dependents because of changing demographics. However, failure to seize this opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions.

2006 Equity and Development (final version)
Inequity within countries: individuals and groups - Equity from a global perspectivey - Why does equity matter? - Equity and well-being - Inequality and investment - Equity, institutions, and the development process - Leveling the economic and political playing fields - Human capacities - Justice, land, and infrastructure - Markets and the macroeconomy - Achieving greater global equity
- Selected World Development Indicators


2006 Equity and Development (draft)

2006 Equity and Development (outline)

2005 Improving the investment climate(final version)
The Investment Climate, Growth, and Poverty - Confronting the Underlying Challenges - Tackling a Broad Agenda - Delivering the Basics - Stability and Security - Regulation and Taxation - Finance and Infrastructure - Workers and Labor Markets - Going beyond the basics - Selective Interventions - International Rules and Standards - How the International Community Can Help
- Selected Indicators: Measuring the Investment Climate & Selected World Development Indicators


2005 Improving the investment climate(draft)

2004 Making Services work for poor people
Services can work for poor people but too often they fail - Governments should make services work - The framework for service provision - Clients and providers - Citizens and politicians - Policymakers and providers - Basic education services - Health and nutrition services - Drinking water, sanitation, and electricity - Public sector underpinnings of service reform - Donors and service reform
- Selected World Development Indicators


2003 Sustainable Development in a dynamic economy
Achievements and Challenges - Managing a Broader Portfolio of Assets - Institutions for Sustainable Development - Improving Livelihoods on Fragile Lands - Transforming Institutions on Agricultural Land - Getting the Best from Cities - Strengthening National Coordination - Global Problems and Local Concerns - Pathways to a Sustainable Future
- Selected World Development Indicators


2002 Building Institutions for Markets
Building Institutions: Complement, Innovate, Connect, and Compete - Farmers - Building more secure and transferable rural land institutions - Governance of Firms - Financial Systems - Political Institutions and Governance - The Judicial System - Competition - Regulation of Infrastructure - Norms and Networks - The Media
- Selected World Development Indicators


2000/2001 Attacking Poverty
The Nature and Evolution of Poverty - Causes of Poverty and a Framework for Action - Growth, Inequality, and Poverty - Making Markets Work Better for Poor People - Expanding Poor People - Making State -Institutions More Responsive to Poor People - Removing Social Barriers and Building Social Institutions - Helping Poor People Manage Risk - Managing -Economic Crises and Natural Disasters - Harnessing Global Forces for Poor People - Reforming Development Cooperation to Attack Poverty
- Selected World Development Indicators


1999 Entering the 21st Century
New directions in development thinking - The changing world - The world trading system: the road ahead - Developing countries and the global financial - Protecting the global commons - Decentralization: rethinking government - Dynamic cities as engines of growth - Making cities livable - Case studies and recommendations - Selected Indicators on Decentralization, Urbanization, and the Environment
- Selected World Development Indicators


1998 Knowledge for Development
The Power and Reach of Knowledge - Acquiring Knowledge - Absorbing Knowledge - Communicating Knowledge - Information, Institutions, and Incentives - Processing the Economy's Financial Information - Increasing Our Knowledge of the Environment - Addressing Information Problems That Hurt the Poor - What Can International Institutions Do? - What Should Governments Do? - Appendix: International Statistics on Knowledge
- Selected World Development Indicators


1997 The state in a changing world
The evolving role of the state - Refocusing on the effectiveness of the State - Securing the economic and social fundamentals - Fostering markets: liberalization, regulation and industrial policy - Building institutions for a capable public sector - Restraining arbitrary state action and corruption - Bringing the state closer to people - Facilitating international collective action - The challenge of initiating and sustaining reforms - The agenda for change - Appendix: selected indicators on public finance
- Selected World Development Indicators

1997 The state in a changing world (overview)

1996 From plan to market
Understanding transition - Patterns of reform, progress, and outcomes - Liberalization, Stabilization, and growth - Property rights and enterprise reform - People and transition - Legal institutions and the rule of law - Building a financial system - Toward better and slimmer government - Investing in people and growth - Transition and the world economy - Conclusions, and the unfinished agenda
- Selected World Development Indicators

1996 From plan to market. Selected World Development Indicators

1995  English PDF  Workers in an Integrating World - World Development Indicators

1994  English PDF  Infrastructure for Development - World Development Indicators

1993  English PDF  Investing in Health - World Development Indicators

1992  English PDF  Development and the Environment - World Development Indicators

1991 The Challenge of Development
The world economy in transition - Paths to development - Investing in people - The climate for enterprise - Integration with the global economy - The macroeconomic foundation - Rethinking the state - Priorities for action
- World Development Indicators

1990 Poverty
Diverging trends in the world economy - What do we know about the poor? - Progress on poverty: lessons for the future - Promoting economic opportunities for the poor - Delivering social services to the poor - Transfers and safety nets - The 1980s: shocks, responses, and the poor - International factors in reducing poverty - Prospects for the poor
- World Development Indicators


1989  English PDF  Financial Systems and Development -  World Development Indicators

1988  English PDF  Opportunities and Risks in Managing the World Economy -  Public Finance in Development -  World Development Indicators

1987  English PDF  Barriers to Adjustment and Growth in the World Economy -  Industrialization and Foreign Trade -  World Development Indicators

1986 Agriculture
The hesitant recovery and prospects for sustained growth - Trade and pricing policies in world agriculture - Agricultural policies in developing countries: exchange rates, prices, and taxation - Agricultural policies in developing countries: marketing and stabilization, subsidies, and policy reform - Agricultural policies in industrial countries
- World Development Indicators


1985  English PDF  International Capital and Economic Development -  World Development Indicators

1984 English PDF   Recovery or Relapse in the World Economy? -  Population Change and Development Population Data  Supplement - World Development Indicators

1983  English PDF  World Economic Recession and Prospects for Recovery -  Management in Development -  World Development Indicators

1982  English PDF  International Development Trends -  Agriculture and Economic Development -  World Development Indicators

1981  English PDF  National and International Adjustment - Annex World Development Indicators

1980 English PDF  Part I Adjustment and growth in the 1980s -  Part II Poverty and human development -  Annex World Development Indicators

1979 The Development Experience, 1950-75 - 2
Development Prospects and International Policy Issues - Structural Change and Development Policy - Urbanization: patterns and Policies - Approaches to Poverty Alleviation - Growth and Equity: the Record - Sustaining Economic Growth in a Changing World - Development in Primary Producing Countries - Policies to Increase Productive Employment and Alleviate Poverty
- Annex: World Development Indicators


1978 The Development Experience, 1950-75 - 1
The Development Experience, 1950-75 - International Policy Issues - Prospects for Growth and Alleviation of Poverty - Low Income Asia - Sub-Saharan Africa - Development Priorities in the Middle Income Developing Countries - Conclusions
- Annex: World Development Indicators


Public Disclosure Authorized
Address to the U.N. Economic and Social Council by
Mr. Robert S. McNamara, President of the World Bank,
the International Finance Corporation, and the
International Development Association,
December 5, 1968: United Nations, N.Y.
Our common enterprise is to drive back poverty, to lift living standards and to enhance the dignity of man. At present, the best one can say is that  the prospects for.that enterprise are mixed. Only slow progress is being made toward enabling the less developed countries of the world to earn more in world trade. The availability of international finance for development programs still lags behind the growing ability of the poor countries of the world to put capital to good use.
World Development Report Background Papers

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