This blog is a biweekly feature highlighting recent working papers from around the World Bank Group. It introduces four papers published from November 1 to November 15 on various topics, including…

Marcelo Buitron, Policy Research Working Paper team |

Initial evidence suggests smoking is also a risk factor for COVID-19.

Patricio V. Marquez |

Three measures to ensure no one is left behind by this pandemic.

Michal Rutkowski |

New Zealand’s success story is often told in terms of its lamb, wool, kiwifruit and agricultural exports. But our country’s greatest asset has always been our people who have been equipped to do…

Annette Dixon |

Globally, 56 percent of children live in countries with Human Capital Index (HCI) scores below 0.5. As these countries gear up to improve their human capital outcomes, it is vital to set a target…

Zelalem Yilma Debebe |

The 2018 World Development Report (WDR), Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, launched this week.  While it draws on research and collective experience—both from within and outside the World…

Deon Filmer, Halsey Rogers |

Entering data. Photo: World Bank In the fiscal transparency arena, people often hear two conflicting claims. First, governments complain that few people take advantage of fiscal information that…

Paolo de Renzio, Massimo Mastruzzi |

Photo credit: Graham Crouch/World Bank In my blog “The Governance Gap – can we bridge it?”, I stressed that strengthened institutions and improved governance are especially critical for the world’…

Deborah Wetzel |

Translations available in Chinese and Spanish. Many of you are already familiar with the PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) Group’s Private Participation in Infrastructure (PPI) Database. As a…

Clive Harris, Jenny Chao |