L'Afrique a connu une forte croissance economique au cours des 2 dernieres decennies. Cependant, les indices de pauvrete chronique restent tres eleves, alors que la frequence des chocs auxquels sont confrontes les menages pauvres s'accentue et que l'ecart entre les differents groupes de revenus...

La CSU a pour objectifs de s'assurer que tous peuvent avoir acces a des services de sante de qualite, de preserver l'ensemble des individus contre les risques a la sante publique et de proteger toutes les personnes contre l'appauvrissement attribuable a la maladie. Des pays aussi divers que le...

Africa needs power-power to enhance the welfare of its people and expand its economies. But Sub-Saharan Africa's power sector has the lowest generation capacity in the world. Two-thirds of the regional population remains without electricity and even those with access consume the least among the...

Can clusters be made to order? By Shahid Yusuf. Lessons from the development of silicon valley and its entrepreneurial support network for Japan by Martin Kenney. The emergence of Hsinchu science park as an IT cluster by Tain-Jy Chen. Coping with globalization of production networks and digital...

Despite a spectacular expansion of the higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of tertiary education has generally failed to keep pace with demand and the region continues to lag all other regions in terms of access to tertiary education. This is in part a consequence of deeply...

Sub-Saharan Africa's natural resource-rich countries have poor human development. Children in these countries are more likely to die before their first birthday, more likely to be stunted, and less likely to attend school than children in other countries with similar income. Despite the current...

The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) at its core. A dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6) declares a commitment to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.” Monitoring progress toward...

High levels of trade costs persist in the world trading system, despite recent progress in tariff reduction, trade facilitation, and logistics. At least some of these costs can be attributed to non-tariff measures (NTMs), policies imposed by governments other than ordinary customs duties which...

The electricity sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) suffers from a major paradox. Indeed, while the region continues to hold the world’s largest oil and gas reserves and has been able to maintain electricity access rates of close to 100 percent in most of its economies, it may...

Sri Lanka has shown remarkable persistence in low female labor force participation rates—at 36 percent in the past two years, compared with 75 percent for same-aged men—despite overall economic growth and poverty reduction over the past decade. The trend stands in contrast to the country’s...