Using unique survey data from Georgia, Mongolia, and the Philippines, we examine gender gaps in entrepreneurship. The overall incidence of entrepreneurship is highest in Cavite, Philippines, while the gender gap in ownership is highest in Mongolia. On average, enterprises operated by men have...

This policy note synthesizes the results of collaboration between the Government of Mongolia (GoM) and the World Bank that produced a body of analytic and advisory work that can be used to generate policy-relevant knowledge to manage and finance Nature-based Solutions (NbS) to address...

Mongolia's coal-driven economic growth since 2023 has elevated the country to upper-middle-income status (UMIC) in 2024. Real gross domestic product (GDP) growth has remained robust, driven by mining and transport services, despite a sharp contraction in the agriculture sector. On the demand...

This note, prepared at the request of the Ministry of Economy and Development, aims to analyze selected opportunities for Mongolia to diversify its economy and identifies specific policy options to realize them. Mongolia's growing dependence on mining exports, primarily to China creates...

This study examines economic activity measured with firm performance indicators using the changes in intensity of night-time light in four CAREC economies: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. The empirical analysis is based on the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data for 2019 and...

This paper examines the effects of a mortgage interest rate subsidy on booms and busts in the housing market by analyzing the Housing Mortgage program in Mongolia. We find that the most recent housing boom in Mongolia occurred from the second quarter (Q2) of 2012 to first quarter (Q1) of 2014,...

Mongolia was one of the East Asian economies hardest hit by the global downturn, as copper prices collapsed and external demand fell. With the recovery in economic activity currently well underway, but the policy challenges highlighted by the crisis yet to be fully addressed, this economic...

Mines represent Mongolia’s present, while minds - broadly defined to include people and institutions - are its future. Current policies are excessively focused on preserving the mining-driven prosperity at the risk of future stagnation. Such complacency is ill-timed when climate change...

This paper uses firm-level survey data matched with official tax records to estimate the unobserved true sales of formal firms in Mongolia. Taking into account firm-level incentives to comply with taxes and a production function technology linking unobserved true sales with observable firm-level...

Why do politicians distort public investments? And given that public investments are poor because presumably that is what is politically rational, what types of reforms are likely to be both efficiency improving and compatible with the interests of politicians? This paper explores these two...