In recent years, electronic finance, especially online banking, and brokerage services, has reshaped the financial landscape. This paper reviews these developments, and analyzes their implications for consumers, governments, and financial service providers. First, it reviews the e-finance...

This report studies the Bulgarian labor market with a view to understand the interactions between the performance of the Bulgarian economy and the functioning of its labor market. The report assesses also the position of Bulgaria vis-a-vis compliance with the "acquis communautaire," and provides...

The countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are blessed with an extraordinary cultural patrimony, secular and religious, of huge importance for each country and for humankind at large. The region is home to 48 sites already inscribed on the world heritage list maintained by the...

The study provides two recent analyses, spurred by the recent East Asian crisis, of government responses to financial distress, and, also presents a comprehensive database on systemic, and borderline banking crises. In the first chapter, the authors review the tradeoffs involved in public...

The overall impact of financial globalization on the domestic financial sector is profound. Liberalization of capital flows has effectively made domestic financial repression obsolete. The consequences have not been uniformly favorable. Following liberalization, domestic interest rates in...

The report presents the macroeconomic setting, and fiscal developments in the 1990s in Croatia, a country facing an unparalleled opportunity towards sustainable growth, and integration into the European Union. Nonetheless, the country needs to sustain macroeconomic stabilization, and improve the...

This year's edition of the World Bank publication, African Development Indicators (ADI) 2004, depicts a diverse picture of development in Africa, with several countries making remarkable progress and others lagging seriously behind. ADI 2004 presents data for more than 500 indicators of...

The study reviews recent labor market developments in Poland, examining the factors behind the rise in unemployment, and, proposing actions that should contribute to increased job creation rates. Its main purpose is to inform - based on research findings - on the policy dialogue regarding the...

The study overviews the most relevant, current intergovernmental fiscal issues in the Czech Republic, centered on the options available to prod policy planning. Fragmentation at the lowest tier of government is the most striking feature of the administrative structure. This suggests a strategic...

Turkmenistan's unique approach to land reform and farm restructuring has produced a significant shift to individual or household-based farming, with more than three-quarters of the arable land leased to individual households or small groups. Most leaseholders consider this land to be rightfully...