The World Food Programme has world-class logistics, but its ability to manage financial risk is extremely limited. The WFP procures 100 percent of its food through spot markets, which subjects it to substantial commodity and transport price risks and significant delays delivering food. Relying...

The world has increasingly recognized that private capital has a vital role to play in economic development. African countries have moved to liberalize the investment environment, yet have not received much FDI. At least part of this poor performance is because of lingering skepticism toward...

Prior research has emphasized that the high costs and risks arising from a poor investment climate lack of clear property rights, macro-instability, the burden of regulation and taxation, poor infrastructure, lack of finance, and lack of human capital have impeded the development of the private...

The World Food Programme has world-class logistics, but its ability to manage financial risk is extremely limited. The WFP procures 100 percent of its food through spot markets, which subjects it to substantial commodity and transport price risks and significant delays delivering food. Relying...

Many countries in Africa suffer high rates of underemployment or low rates of productive employment; many also anticipate large numbers of people to enter the workforce in the near future. This paper asks the question: Are African firms creating fewer jobs than those located elsewhere? And, if...

Rice production in Africa has tended to be low-yielding, geographically dispersed, and uncompetitive against low-cost Asian imports, even when protected by high freight costs and substantial trade barriers. Skyrocketing prices in world markets in 2007-08 were a shock to African consumers,...

Block chain, or distributed ledger technology, has the potential to address many problems in emerging markets. In this note the authors consider whether block chain can be used to mitigate the problem of de-risking by financial institutions, which affects receivers of remittances, businesses...

Anti-money laundering and combating-the-financing-of-terrorism laws are grounded in reasonable national security concerns, preventing the cross-border flow of funds to terror or criminal groups. But these policies can have unintentional and costly consequences, in particular for people in poor...

The six chapters that follow provide an overview of the technology (chapter one) and its unfolding applications in emerging markets (chapter two). Chapter three examines whether blockchain can be used to mitigate de-risking by financial institutions. Chapters four and five look more closely at...

The development of the private sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is of crucial importance to the overall rate of economic growth of the region. Entrepreneurial firms have a prominent role in the private sector in many countries in the region. This analysis measures the impact of various...