The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a multi-donor consortium dedicated to advancing microfinance, is a global resource center for microfinance standards, to provide operational tools, training, and advisory services, committed to building more inclusive financial systems for the...

Infrastructure development has made a major contribution to East Asia's enviable record on growth and poverty reduction. However, substantial new investments in infrastructure and service delivery improvements will be required to sustain progress in the future, and to address new challenges...

The development of wind-and solar-generating capacity is growing rapidly around the world as policy makers pursue various energy policy objectives. This paper will describe the challenges in integrating wind and solar generation, the lessons learned, and recommended strategies from both...

Children regularly receiving health visits and education, the sick receiving proper and timely health care, safe water flowing out of the tap, electricity reliably reaching homes and businesses-these apparently simple events are taken for granted in developed countries. In Latin America, despite...

This analyzes, based on more than seventy company case studies across 13 Russian regions during the spring, summer, and fall of 2000, and the summer of 2001, examines four key issues that Russian firms face in carrying out business transactions in Russia's regional markets: 1) the state of...

This book examines the effects of the changing global geography of production for the growth prospects of East Asian economies. The authors conclude that in the face of a global environment, economies in East Asia need to adapt to the changing character of global production networks and to...

This study is timely because several investments are planned for container terminals in Sub-Saharan Africa. From a public policy perspective, disentangling the reasons behind cargo delays in ports is crucial to understanding:a) whether projects by the World Bank and other donors have addressed...

China is the second largest energy consumer in the world and the largest producer and consumer of coal. Owing to its large coal resources, it is and will remain in the foreseeable future largely energy self-sufficient, although crude oil imports have steadily increased since 1993. In just 17...

The emergence of low-cost carriers (LCCs) has been a key catalyst for the development of the aviation industry in the last decade. Indeed, extensive research has been undertaken to analyze the business model and impact on the aviation sector and beyond. Despite recent developments in the LCC...