Public R&D and Brazil’s agricultural revolution
It is often argued that returns to R&D are low in developing countries, making imported technologies a better path to growth. Yet technologies designed for
Transforming schools for better learning outcomes
Education is the pathway to jobs and the surest way out of poverty, empowering generations to drive economic growth. Yet, for many students, this promise
Coffee beans meet green rules: Reconciling climate and development goals
The average resident of the European Union spends €150 annually on coffee, a small price for what many consider one of life’s necessities. This morning
Reimaging public finance management: From spending control to delivering outcomes
For as long as governments have existed, so has public financial management (PFM). This approach has always been explicitly designed to ensure the efficiency and
Is AI adoption impacting job markets in South Asia?
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the global economy and reshaping labor markets. What does this mean for the South Asia region?
Strengthening governance and trust in AI-based data dissemination with Proof-Carrying Numbers
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a new gateway to development data, a quiet but significant risk has emerged. Large language models (LLMs) can now summarize
Trade finance: A lifeline for jobs and businesses
When a farmer in Ghana can’t import fertilizer to grow maize or a pharmacy in Pakistan runs short of antibiotics, the barrier is rarely the
The unbearable lightness of promises
When reforms are judged by their plans rather than their impact, they risk drifting into the lightness of promises unmet. An “outcome reflex” mindset restores gravity—anchoring
This new dataset tracks urban emissions from space
Cities worldwide can now track their carbon and methane emissions from space, thanks to a new dataset from the World Bank that puts high-resolution, real-time
The impact of interest: How loan rates shape firm investment
Monetary policy moves aggregate investment, but the underlying drivers remain unclear. This column opens the black box with a German firm survey. A one percentage
