At the border between India and Bangladesh, a new digital platform is helping authorities process trucks faster and make trade more efficient—an important and encouraging first step toward…

Shruti Vijayakumar, Mitali Nikore |

Digital public infrastructure can enable essential society-wide functions and services such as identification, payments, and data exchange.

Vyjayanti T Desai, Jonathan Marskell, Georgina Marin, Minita Varghese |

As the dust settles on the road to the Dawki Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Meghalaya, near the India-Bangladesh border, a winding queue of some 750 trucks can be seen lined up on the side. The…

Cecile Fruman |

More than ever, governments need to tap private sector expertise and financing for deploying battery energy storage systems (BESS). A new report provides insights on their merits and…

Ludovic Delplanque, Kwawu Mensan Gaba |

Even though migration is critical to South Asia’s recovery and resilience to future shocks, the region faces several barriers in labor mobility, with high costs and frictions in credit and labor…

S. Amer Ahmed, Jean Nahrae Lee, Moritz Meyer |

A new World Bank study finds that collaboration across borders could slash the cost of tackling air pollution, while delivering better results

Martin Raiser |

in India, it is crucial to ensure that urban mobility systems and public spaces are designed to be safe, inclusive and gender-responsive. This is an essential element for achieving a new, self-…

Mitali Nikore, Sarah Natasha |

This blog is a biweekly feature highlighting recent working papers from around the World Bank Group. It introduces six papers published in January of 2023 on various topics, including gender,…

Marcelo Buitron, Policy Research Working Paper team |

Pollution is undermining the competitiveness and growth of economies today and setting economies up to fail tomorrow. 1 in 3 children have blood lead levels at or above 5 micrograms/deciliter when…

Valerie Hickey |

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed two of the most disadvantaged groups out of work: women and youth.

Valerie Mercer-Blackman, Vanessa Olakemi Dovonou |