Böcker utgivna av World Bank Publications

News and money today travel fast, but in Central Asia the bulk of people and goods still travel by road. Hence, the main roads crisscrossing this vast region and related services are arteries supporting the life and activities of millions of people today.

This study is aimed at facilitating policy development leading to a demand-driven, high-quality and equitable education and training system conducive to lifelong learning. The intended audience includes policymakers in the Ministries of Education, Human Resources and Social Security, Agriculture and Finance and the Poverty Alleviation Office and National Development and Reform Commission.

This report quantifies labour mobility costs in developing countries and simulates the implied adjustment paths of employment and wages following a change in trade policy. High mobility costs are shown to reduce the potential gains to trade reform.

The demand for workforce skills is changing in Vietnam's dynamic economy. In addition to job-specific skills, Vietnamese employers value cognitive skills, like problem solving, and behavioural skills, like team work. This book presents an agenda of change for Vietnam's education system to prepare workers to succeed in Vietnam's modernizing economy.

This publication is part of the Banks multiyear program to enhance its knowledge of HRH policies. The programs ultimate objective is to strengthen knowledge and capacity to collect evidence, analyze, and evaluate the effectiveness of HRH interventions in the context of a countrys health system strengthening strategy. It specifically addresses the theoretical and empirical evidence on health labor markets in low- and middle-income countries. Health labor market analysis has much to contribute to resolving globally widespread HRH problems, and their continuing neglect provides some explanation for their persistence. Policy makers in countries promulgating or refining strategies for achieving universal health coverage will find it important to understand how key elements in their health labor market are likely to interact and how these interactions could helpor hinderprogress toward universal health coverage. These interactions are complex and multidimensional, and this publication highlights some areas where forces in the health labor market matter most.The purpose of this publication is to provide an overview of the key issues when attempting to apply economics to the analysis of health workers labor markets. Though much has been written and planned about health human resources, a major weakness with most of this analysis is that it does not use an economic perspective. The use of an explicit economic framework applied by trained economists moves the focus away from simplistic but costly policy responses such as training more doctors and nurses, toward understanding more carefully the role of incentives, productivity, and the distribution of health workers. The health workforce is but one part of the health system and a focus of analysis on only the health workforce is insufficient to be able to determine the optimal number of health workers. Market forces cannot be relied upon to solve health worker shortages or mal-distribution, due to well recognized market failures in health care. This also has implications for how labor economics and labor market analysis can be applied and used successfully in the health care sector.

H.M. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, United Nations Secretary-Generals Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development stated that the impact of helping migrants and their families will be lasting and global if we link remittances to other financial services and make them more affordable and more relevant to their needs. Remittances are a critical source of financing for most developing countries. The importance of remittances goes beyond numbers. For many households in developing countries, they are probably the most stable source of primary or additional income. At the same time, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks exposed the use and abuse of remittance channels for financing terrorism. In response to this threat, the international community issued new international anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standards on remittance transfers and their service providers. For the first time, remittance service providers were required to be brought under the government oversight and either registered with or licensed by a competent authority, and to be subject to AML/CFT obligations.While the FATF Recommendations appear straightforward on paper, regulating and supervising in practice the money transfer business has proved to be a very challenging task in both developed and developing countries. This book assists policy makers, regulators, and supervisors of money transfer businesses to craft effective regulatory and supervisory frameworks governing remittances that meet international AML/CFT standards, while at the same time ensuring that the neediest have access to these crucial services."

The unanticipated spike in international food prices in 2007-08 hit many developing countries hard. The food price increases were particularly hard on the poor and near-poor in developing countries. This evaluation assesses the effectiveness of the World Bank Group response in addressing the short-term impacts of the food price crisis and in enhancing the resilience of countries to future shocks.

Entrepreneurship has attracted global interest for its potential to catalyze economic and social development. Research suggesting that certain entrepreneurial mindsets and skills can be learned has given rise to the field of entrepreneurship education and training (EET). Despite the growth of EET, global knowledge about these programs and their impact remains thin. In response, this study surveys the available literature and program evaluations to propose a Conceptual Framework for understanding the EET program landscape. The study finds that EET today consists of a heterogeneous mix of programs that can be broken into two groups: entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurship training. These programs target a range of participants: secondary and post-secondary education students, as well as potential and practicing entrepreneurs. The outcomes measured by program evaluations are equally diverse but generally fall under the domains of entrepreneurial mindsets and capabilities, entrepreneurial status, and entrepreneurial performance. The dimensions of EET programs vary according the particular target group. Programs targeting secondary education students focus on the development of foundational skills linked to entrepreneurship, while post-secondary education programs emphasize skills related to strategic business planning. Programs targeting potential entrepreneurs generally are embedded within broader support programs and tend to target vulnerable populations for whom employment alternatives may be limited. While programs serving practicing entrepreneurs focus on strengthening entrepreneurs knowledge, skills and business practices, which while unlikely to transform an enterprise in the near term, may accrue benefits to entrepreneurs over time. The study also offers implications for policy and program implementation, emphasizing the importance of clarity about target groups and desired outcomes when making program choices, and sound understanding of extent to which publicly-supported programs offer a broader public good, and compare favorably to policy alternatives for supporting the targeted individuals as well as the overall economic and social objectives.

This book identifies reforms that can help manage environmental priority problems associated with transport's impacts on air quality, noise pollution, road safety, hazardous-materials transport, climate change, and urban sprawl. The policy options are contextualised in light of the Government of Pakistan's 2011 Framework for Economic Growth and its strategic objectives.