Lessons from Korea’s Energy Efficiency Policies in the Industrial Sector
This report aims to give an overview of Korea’s energy efficiency policy experience for the benefit of policy makers and industry practitioners aiming to promote and scale up energy efficiency improvements in the industry sector, particularly in manufacturing. The report also aims to provide industry practitioners with lessons drawn from practices implemented by industry subsectors and groups of energy-intensive firms in Korea.
Zambia – Study on Resource Mobilization Through Adoption and Implementation of Optimal Export Policies
This study uses a desk review and stakeholder insights to explore the potential role of exports in DRM. While the traditional approach primarily views exports as a significant driver of economic growth, this paper makes a departure from the usual focus on traditional revenue sources (tax and non-tax) by recognizing them as viable revenue sources.
Stronger Social Protection and Labor Systems in Central America for a Resilient and Inclusive Recovery
This report presents an overview of the challenges of SPL systems before and in the aftermath of COVID-19, with the main objective to lay the base for directions for policy reforms. The next section presents an overview of the long-standing challenges of the SPL systems in the sub-re gion, how these challenges helped or constrained its capacity to mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the emerging challenges for SPL systems in the aftermath.
North Africa Economic Outlook 2023
In 2022, North African countries struggled with the challenges of rising inflation and growth recovery, which have been exacerbated by external shocks, including the long-lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the spillover effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The region registered moderate economic growth of 4.1 percent in 2022 against 5.4 percent in 2021.
The Leaders of the Twin Transition in Asia: Mapping Capabilities through Digital and Green Patents
The purpose of this paper is to (i) explore how technological relatedness conditions the progress in the digital and green transitions in Asian cities, (ii) identify the cities that are currently leading, as well as those that are most likely to take a prominent role in developing and implementing the Twin Transition technologies in the coming years, and (iii) determine which of these cities has the potential to leverage complementarities to develop green and digital technologies.
Clean oceans and the blue economy Overview 2023
Keeping the ocean clean and healthy is crucial for sustainable development and poverty reduction. This is reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 14: Life Below Water). Financial markets and institutions can play a pivotal role in driving the ocean sustainability agenda. Since 2017, the UN Ocean Conference and the Our Ocean Conference have collected around 1 800 measurable and financial commitments, mobilising $108 billion.
How to Identify Affordable High-Impact Digital Solutions for Public Services?
Digital projects in education, healthcare, and administrative services displayed net present values and low implementation costs, but wide variation was found in net benefits across policy options A fully digital solution is not always the best option for balancing costs and benefits. Adequate integration of digital and human inputs is often necessary. Since digital applications feature low or negligible marginal cost, scale is critical in producing large social net benefits.
Navigating Uncertainty: Investment Dynamics and Beyond
Countries have been increasingly decentralizing and devolving powers to lower levels of government in the hope of improving services delivery. Yet proliferation of governments, particularly in a developing country setting, may create fiscal and policy uncertainty and increase the tax and compliance burden for private businesses, with potentially detrimental effects for investment. This hypothesis is tested in the context of Indonesia, which has increased the number of districts from 284 in 1989 to 511 by 2014.
Lasting scars: The long term effects of school closures on earnings
Almost all countries closed schools and universities during the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting more than 90 per cent of the world’s learners. A growing literature aims to estimate the effects of these school closures on learning outcomes, future earnings and GDP. We contribute to this literature by estimating the impact of school closures on earnings in the long term using a natural experiment.
Antigua and Barbuda Project Profile: Road Infrastructure Rehabilitation
This project will rehabilitate 8.7 km of major road to improve efficiency, resilience, safety and accessibility along the Sir George Walter Highway and Friars Hill Road in Antigua. These roads are used by 75% of the population and serve as primary arteries, linking the capital St. John’s, the airport, and many of the island’s tourism attractions.