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 |

Detailed data on the spatial distribution of jobs is crucial, but such data are rarely available. This study develops a machine learning algorithm that relies on widely available public data to…

Paolo Avner, Jun Rentschler, Samira Barzin, Neave O'Clery |

Senegal is a country with great potential: it has a young and dynamic population, natural resources, and a strategic location at the western tip of Africa. To harness this potential and unleash…

Meriem Ait Ali Slimane, Laurent Gonnet |

Las empresas privadas son la columna vertebral de la mayoría de las economías en desarrollo. Proporcionan 9 de cada 10 empleos, generan ingresos fiscales para financiar proyectos de…

Martin Spicer |

Houses under construction. © John Hogg/World Bank [[tweetable]]Affordable housing is a major challenge across West Africa, where fewer than 7 percent of households can afford to buy their own home…

Martin Spicer |

Few countries can match Cabo Verde’s development progress over the past quarter of a century. Its Gross National Income per capita (GNI) grew six-fold. Extreme poverty fell by two-thirds from 30%…

Rob Swinkels, Rohan Longmore |

Also available in: Français Brainstorming session at the Bamako Policy Hackathon. Photo: World Bank What would happen if you put all the relevant players for the entrepreneurial ecosystem —…

Alexandre Laure, Jon Stever |

Also available in: Français Entrepreneurs participating in the e-Takara competition to address specific challenges expressed by Nigerien public administrations. Credit: Niger Digital “The training…

Alexandre Laure, Simon Duchatelet |

People in Saint-Louis, Senegal. © Ibrahima BA Sané/World Bank [[tweetable]]Massive investment is needed to meet the ambitious goal of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity by 2030…

Hartwig Schafer |

One of the great frustrations of top-down reform is that it rarely works out as planned.In the 58 years since independence, Senegal has undertaken public administration reform 68 times—and on 14…

Thomas Dickinson, Bronwyn Grieve |