Have you ever wondered how many women are in paid employment compared to men? We know they get unequal wages, but just how unequal is their pay? Meanwhile, who are the managers, and what is their gender makeup? Are women and men entering the higher...

Globalisation has brought benefits to the economies in the Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC) and Central Asia (CA), but compounded volatility and uncertainty associated with the transition to market economy. Labour markets have been put under...

The inaugural Policy Insight, "Towards an East Asian Free Trade Area", by Shujiro Urata, looks at the progress towards and consequences of an East Asian FTA, not only for the region itself, but also the world economy and for non members of the FTA....

Informal employment is a widespread phenomenon in Romania and a key challenge for the country’s development. Policies should target two distinct groups: those who voluntarily opt out of the formal system and those with no alternative. Transforming...

China’s and India’s strong appetite for energy and metal has boosted international prices and the volume and value of African exports. China in particular has become the main trade partner for a number of African countries providing cheap...

There is no unique model of reform for infrastructure that is equally applicable to all countries.Fixed-line privatisation has often failed due to weak economic and institutional endowments.Governments and International Financial Institutions (IFIs)...

Chinese Taipei; Hong Kong, China; Korea and Singapore (the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries or NICs) have been successful in attaining income convergence with high-income countries while Latin American countries remain caught in the...

Donors, aid agencies and recipient governments are having a hard time implementing their promises on aid. Options based on a better understanding of their diverse priorities would help make the aid system more effective. Policy makers pursuing...

Sustainable development requires well co-ordinated and functioning formal and informal institutions. In developing countries, courts, regulations and formal conventions are often observed in the breach or fail to function. By default, informal...

International development assistance from richer to poorer (“developing”) economies accounts for major flows of capital, human resources and technical assistance. While the net direction of these flows remains a topic of hot debate, there have been...

This policy insight introduces the Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base: a new tool to determine and analyse obstacles to women's economic development.

Over the past 20 years, public attitudes towards aid in OECD countries have remained steadily positive throughout economic ups and downs. At the same time, polling data shows that voters continue to strongly support aid to developing countries,...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been one of the principal beneficiaries of the liberalisation of capital flows over recent decades, and now constitutes the major form of capital inflow for many developing countries, including low-income ones like...

The financial crisis should give a new impetus to governments’ efforts to improve aid effectiveness. Over the last few months, the governments of OECD countries have pledged trillions of dollars in loans, guarantees, capital injections, and other...

Since the credit crisis first erupted, relatively little attention has been given to the consequences of the financial crisis on low-income countries’ indebtedness. Although in recent years developing countries as a group have benefited from...

The contagion of the global credit crisis from the industrialised countries to the emerging markets has taken some time to develop. Then, in October 2008, it spread rapidly, afflicting all emerging markets, without any distinction or regard to their...

The Democratic Banker (03/2007) (Other Languages : FR / ES) Policy Insights No.38 by Javier Santiso Banks contribute not only to the economic development of emerging countries but also to political development. International bank flows in an emerging...

The “raw materials curse” is far from being an inevitability, as shown by Norway and Chile. Both examples offer valuable lessons to developing countries on how to sensibly manage mining and oil resources. Following Norway’s example, Chile could build...

How can Mali and the donor community enhance competitiveness of the Malian cotton sector and realise its growth potential? Mali is already promoting the abolition of cotton export subsidies in Northern nations in the current WTO Doha Round. To...

Foreign investment in telecommunications in Latin America has amounted to over $110 billion since 1990, more than for all other developing countries combined. Only one in four of the poorest Latin Americans has a telephone line; competitive markets...