This report analyzes five critical public investment bottlenecks cutting across the project cycle. The selection of these bottlenecks was informed by these previous assessments and discussions with government counterparts. At the upstream level, this report reviews recent developments in...

The UK has committed to ambitious targets for clean power. A key constraint in achieving these targets is how quickly renewable energy generators can connect to the transmission network. To address this, new policies (including CNDM, SSEP, and the CP30 Action Plan) are being introduced to reform...

With the liberalization of the electricity markets in 1998, Germany opted for a single, nationwide wholesale price. Regional differences in supply and demand are not taken into account. In the event of grid congestion, electricity generators are paid to adjust their output. This leads to rising...

• In March 2026, the Strait of Hormuz is closed. The shutdown blocks roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and one-quarter of its liquefied natural gas, triggering severe welfare losses in energy-dependent developing countries worldwide. • Standard trade models underestimate the impact...

This paper estimates growth-maximizing levels of public capital and investment across countries using a structural framework that accounts for three critical features: public investment efficiency, human capital levels, and congestion effects. A harmonized panel data set covering 166 countries...

This paper proposes a game-theoretic model to analyze the strategic behavior of inc-dec gaming in market-based congestion management (redispatch). We extend existing models by considering incomplete information about competitors’ costs and a finite set of providers. We find that inc-dec gaming...

In September 2021, the city of Bogota' introduced a major market-based reform to its odd-even driving restriction, known as Pico y Placa. Since then, drivers have had the option to pay a daily congestion fee to be exempt from the restriction. We find t hat while the reform increased traffic, it...

I study the efficient design of a queue to dynamically allocate a scarce resource to long‐lived agents. Agents can be served multiple times, and their valuations fluctuate over time with some persistence. Each agent privately learns whether his prevailing valuation is high or low only when...

Although there is ample empirical evidence that congestion charges can effectively reduce traffic congestion and its detrimental effects, this instrument has only been implemented in a handful European cities. On the basis of a randomized information experiment that was embedded in a survey...

Background: South Africa's pome fruit industry serves over 60 international markets, competing with Chile, New Zealand, and the United States. Inefficiencies in the beginning stages of South Africa's pome fruit supply chain compromise competitiveness as global quality standards rise and...

While Botswana achieved strong post-independence growth supported by prudent macroeconomic management and diamond revenues, economic performance has weakened over the past two decades, with slower growth, persistently high unemployment, and erosion of fiscal and external buffers. Declining...

This paper analyzes the major bottlenecks to private sector development in sub-Saharan Africa using novel methods based on firm-level data. Employing both perception-based and proxy-based methodologies, we identify and measure seven key obstacles to development. Our findings reveal significant...

This paper uses principal component analysis (PCA) to identify bottlenecks to effective public investment management in LIDCs. The paper describes the current state of affairs regarding public investment and public investment management in LIDCs, drawing on the results of IMF Public Investment...

The power exchange and the real-time markets used by the system operator differ in how system constraints are managed. This can result in regulatory arbitrage, which can increase consumer costs, increase the risk of power outages and distort investment incentives. This paper uses a...

We study how preference heterogeneity affects travel behavior and congestion pricing in a dynamic flow congestion model. We formulate and solve a multi-point optimal control problem using a Hamiltonian-based method to derive the social optimum. The properties of the travel equilibrium are...

Highly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments (VUCA) complicate and condition project management. With the emergence of agile project management, it is proposed to co-construct it with the client's active participation. Two used agile methodologies are Scrum and Kanban. Scrum is...

In early 2024, the European Commission proposed a 90% emissions reduction target for the year 2040 in reference to the year 1990. Achieving this target largely relies on the deployment of distributed renewable generation. Currently the deployment of renewable capacity is mostly focusing on...

In early 2024, the European Commission has proposed a climate target of 90% emissions reduction by 2040. The associated scenarios are relying heavily on the deployment of variable renewables, such as wind and solar PV. Deployment that focuses on resource-rich areas - where wind and solar...