Last month, the World Bank issued a five-year outcome bond that aims to provide clean drinking water to around two million school children in Vietnam. A lack of clean drinking water causes an…

In advance of the next meeting of the Sovereign Debt Roundtable on April 12, I want to provide a quick update on recent developments and reiterate my call for prompt action toward debt…

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

While infrastructure has been perceived as gender-neutral, it can be deeply exclusionary if masculine sensibilities solely determine the design. How can private investors incentivize gender…

While eager to embrace the fintech promise, financial authorities—including those with an explicit financial inclusion mandate—need to be able to do so in a safe and responsible way. Innovation…

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The financial services industry around the world has been transformed by technology-enabled financial services—known as fintech. This disruptive technology is reshaping financial products,…

The average Pakistani worker produces 40 percent more value added today than 30 years ago. Compare that to the average Vietnamese worker, who is 328 percent more productive today. Put differently…

The sharp rise in U.S. interest rates over the past year poses a significant threat to emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). Its monetary tightening on financial conditions and…

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,…