Intro -- Contents -- Cover -- Title -- Foreword vii -- Acknowledgments viii -- Abbreviations and Acronyms ix -- 1 The Private Sector and Poverty Reduction 1 -- 2 The Investment Climate 17 -- 3 Public Intervention to Promote Supply Response 71 -- 4 Private Participation and Markets for Basic...

Ever since the rise of large firms in the 18th century, debate has been raging about how to combine economic efficiency and productivity with socially desirable behavior of firms. This paper reviews the debate starting with the classic corporate governance argument about shareholder rights. It...

Foreign direct investment is a key ingredient of successful economic growth and development in developing countries--partly because the very essence of economic development is the rapid and efficient transfer and cross-border adoption of "best practices." Foreign direct investment is especially...

The paper lays out basic design options for infrastructure policy. It first sketches mechanisms to asses demand. Then it sets out a hierarchy of issues starting with choice of market structure followed by conduct regulation. Ownership options are largely a function of market structure choices....

Social impact investors, philanthropists, or corporations pursuing social responsibility try to demonstrate that they are indeed "doing good." This essay classifies the various types of measures that currently exist to capture social and environmental impact in a simple scheme. It argues that...

The paper lays out basic design options for infrastructure policy. It first sketches mechanisms to asses demand. Then it sets out a hierarchy of issues starting with choice of market structure followed by conduct regulation. Ownership options are largely a function of market structure choices....

This essay first sets out the "business model" problems entailed by corruption and their effects as well as implications for economic growth. Key issues are the need for secrecy and co-operation with partners in crime. Dealing with these leads to behavior which is ostensibly bizarre and...

Mobile banking is growing at a remarkable speed around the world. In the process it is creating considerable uncertainty about the appropriate regulatory response to this newly emerging service. This paper sets out a framework for considering the design of regulation of mobile banking. Since it...

The paper lays out basic design options for infrastructure policy. It first sketches mechanisms to asses demand. Then it sets out a hierarchy of issues starting with choice of market structure followed by conduct regulation. Ownership options are largely a function of market structure choices....