The societal need for more accurate and reliable weather, climate, and hydrological information is growing fast as population density and migration increases and climate change takes place. Nowhere is this need more acutely felt than in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The four...

The importance of weather, climate, and water1 information is rising because of the need to serve more elaborate societal needs, minimize growing economic losses, and help countries adapt to climate change. Weather, climate, and water affect societies and economies through extreme events, such...

Efforts to improve weather and climate services involve both public and private actors in the meteorological value chain governed by two determinants, to protect society from the impact of extreme meteorological and hydrological events and to increase economic activity in range of weather...

This technical note is aimed primarily at professionals in national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs), who are trying to improve the quality and relevance of their services to match their societies’ growing needs for meteorological and hydrological information. At the same time,...

Over the past 20 years, developing countries have invested in upgrading hydrological and meteorological networks, often with the assistance of development partners. In most of these projects, the share of the investment in the modernization of networks has been between 40 and 50 percent of the...

The debate on whether natural disasters cause significant macroeconomic impacts and indeed hinder development is ongoing. Most analyses along these lines have focused on impacts on gross domestic product. This paper looks beyond this standard national accounting aggregate, and examines whether...

East Asia has experienced a dramatic decrease in output growth volatility over the past 20 years. This is good news, as output growth volatility affects poor households because of coping strategies that have long-term, harmful consequences, and the overall economy through its negative impact on...

This paper analyzes the drivers and consequences of sudden stops of capital flows. It focuses on the impact of external vulnerability on the depth and length of sudden stop crises. The authors analyze 43 developing and developed countries between 1993 and 2006. They find evidence that external...

This paper analyzes the impact of banking crises on manufacturing exports exploiting the fact that sectors differ in their needs for external financing. Relying on data from 23 banking crises episodes involving both developed and developing countries during the period 1980-2000 the authors...

High youth unemployment rates may be a signal of difficult labor market entry for youth or may reflect high churning. The European and United States literature finds the latter conclusion while the Latin American literature suggests the former. This paper uses panel data to examine whether Latin...