The World Bank Group (WBG) has focused on reducing the environmental impacts of its internal operations and improving corporate environmental practices since 2002, when the WBG President announced WBG's commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The objective of this document is to...

The Palestinian Authority is committed to improving state-citizen relations through various mechanisms including the complaints resolution. The objective of this technical assistance, which has been undertaken at the request of the DGC, is to strengthen the Complaint Handling Mechanisms (CHMs)...

Shared Prosperity through Inclusive Business: How Successful Companies Reach the Base of the Pyramid summarizes the practical lessons learned from IFC clients that successfully reach low-income people as suppliers or customers. There are lessons for each phase of the value chain-including...

If trade tensions between the United States and certain trading partners escalate into a full-blown trade war, what should developing countries do? Using a global, general-equilibrium model, this paper first simulates the effects of an increase in U.S. tariffs on imports from all regions to...

In the mid-2000s, the production of hearing aids shifted almost entirely to 3D printing. Using difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods, this paper examines the effects of this shift on trade flows. The analysis finds that trade increased roughly 60 percent following the...

Unexpected adverse events that affect areas or populations widely (covariate shocks) can have major consequences for the welfare of a society. Although the negative effects on households, especially among the poor, are well established in the economics literature, fewer studies have focused on...

This paper analyzes power utilities in 15 jurisdictions to understand the determinants of success for reforms aimed at improving financial viability and cost recovery in the power sector and the impacts of these reforms on metrics of sector performance. The analysis finds that electricity...

The paper employs the Commitment to Equity framework to present a first attempt at a comprehensive fiscal incidence analysis for Ukraine, encompassing the revenue and expenditures components of the fiscal system, including direct and indirect taxes, as well as direct, indirect, and in-kind...

This paper develops a classification of investor risks and surveys 51 private investors and financiers in the power sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper aims for a better understanding of what can be done to attract private solutions to fill the investment gap. It finds that the average...

A greater share of reported COVID-19 deaths occur at younger ages in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared to high-income countries (HICs). Based on data from 26 countries, people age 70 and older constitute 37 percent of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in LMICs on average, versus 87...