Doing Business 2009 is the sixth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 181...

The pace of change in the overall performance of the developing world has not altered markedly over the past 20 years. The number of people living in extreme poverty declined from 1.5 billion in 1980 (40 percent of population), to 1.2 billion in 1990 (28 percent of population), to 1.1 billion in...

Over the past year, the response to the global financial crisis has continued to dominate development and the work of international institutions, including the World Bank Group. Challenges of poverty and fragile states, environment, and climate change remain daunting. But the manner in which...

By reviewing the Bank's experience with shelter lending, this paper seeks to address the question of whether the Bank has helped developing countries deal with the inevitable problems that arise with urbanization, particularly problems with the provision of shelter. It reviews the Bank's...

Women are a powerful force for sustainable economic growth. A growing body of microeconomic empirical evidence and emerging macroeconomic analysis shows that gender inequality limits economic growth in developing economies. Research also shows that considerable potential for economic growth...

This book finds that there is a strong positive association between including social development themes and project success. The Bank's social development resources are deployed in ways that are not optimally supportive of its social development goals, however. The study found that the Bank's...

This report concerns recent pension reforms in Europe. Over the last decade, pension reform has been a major issue on the political agenda across Europe. All European countries are profoundly affected by aging populations resulting from lower fertility and increased life expectancy. In order to...

The World Bank's Independent Evaluation Group examined the World Bank's experience in disaster prevention and response over the past 20 years and found that the scale of Bank operations has grown over the period. The report found that the Bank has demonstrated considerable flexibility in its...

Growth is good for the poor, but the impact of growth on poverty reduction depends on both the pace and the pattern of growth. A pattern of growth that enhances the ability of poor women and men to participate in, contribute to, and benefit from growth should not come at the expense of a slower...

This volume brings together multidisciplinary perspectives on poor people's mobility, a dynamic approach that hopefully will add to the reader's understanding of how and why people move into and out of poverty. The chapters draw on the latest longitudinal micro data to present a moving picture...