Several studies have examined the determinants of training in developing countries but only few have paid attention to the potential importance of international standards such as ISO 9000 or ISO 14000 on the firm's training decision. This paper examines training determinants using recent...

The World Bank is financing an increasing number of community-based social services projects. The objective of this paper is to review and categorize the extent, scope and mechanisms of these projects in the current Bank portfolio, and to identify good practices and potential pitfalls. The...

This paper provides an overview of labor market trends, and key policy issues worldwide. It begins with a statistical overview of major indicators relating to the labor market, highlighting the diverging experiences between the high-income countries, and many developing regions. It then reviews...

This paper takes stock of the World Bank's risk and vulnerability analysis from FY2000 to FY2007. It complements recent assessments of Social Protection and Labor (SP&L) sector's lending and analytic activities on labor markets, pensions, social safety nets, and social funds. The review of 155...

This study combines quantitative data from the Living Standards Measurement Study and qualitative information from an in-depth qualitative study of poverty and exclusion conducted in 10 villages in Guatemala. Both data sources were designed to capture issues related to vulnerability, risks, and...

The objective of this paper is to review and compare the performance of social assistance non-contributory income support programs for the poor within the context of the Social Protection (SP) systems in European and other advanced economies. The performance and design of targeted income support...

The purpose of this paper is to gather information in both developed and developing countries, on design and delivery of community based social service initiatives. While the field is sufficiently new that best practice may not yet be fully identifiable, there are many initiatives funded by...

This paper approaches labor markets through multisector modeling. The first main substantive section presents the essence of multisector modeling, in particular, the role of labor market dualism. Given that labor markets often consist of quite distinct segments, a useful and insightful...

The regulation and supervision of pension funds is a critical part of building public confidence in a funded-pension system. This report argues that confidence is best bolstered by an independent, autonomous, and transparent supervision agency, particularly when previous systems have failed. The...

The theoretical literature has pointed at the importance of access to credit market in determining the household decisions concerning children's activities and the reaction of households to adverse shocks. In this paper we address these issues making use of a unique data set for Guatemala that...