A vibrant private sector - with firms investing, creating jobs, and improving productivity - is absolutely essential for promoting growth and expanding opportunities. In order to support the…

During the past few years, interest in high-frequency price data has grown steadily.  Recent major economic events - including the food crisis and the energy price surge – have increased the need…

When I heard the news last autumn that 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan had been shot simply for standing up for her right as a girl to get an education, I was horrified. It also reminded…

Sovereign difficulties have divided financial markets in the Euro area, thereby increasing differences in bank lending rates across countries. Policy makers in both Brussels and Frankfurt are…

Find a good longread on development? Tweet it to @worldbank with the hashtag #longreads.  China’s prospects stirred interest as the BRICs met in South Africa and a new survey by the Organization…

In a new study on gender equality, researchers asked 4, 000 people in 20 countries to describe the gender norms in their communities and the influence those norms have on their lives and their…

Cities have always been the driving forces of world civilizations. What Niniveh was to the Assyrian civilization, Babylon was to the Babylonian civilization.  When Peter the Great, third in the…

Available in ไทย Elephant ivory is on the march. Not elephants, but their ivory. The elephants are left bloodied and dead on the range. So are many rangers who work to protect a country’s natural…

Browsing through a large departmental store in Yerevan, I selected a tie, pair of trousers and a shirt to make up for having arrived in the city before my suitcases did. The store manager pointed…

Emerging Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is an interesting region because what you expect is not always what exists. Since this is written in honor of International Women's Day, discussing…