Commodity wealth demands a fiscal balancing act

Commodity booms are easy to celebrate but hard to manage. For resource-rich economies, commodity windfalls—if managed well—can finance investment, strengthen public finances and lift growth

What four charts reveal about the global jobs challenge

A record number of young people are approaching working age in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), creating a historic global jobs challenge. Generating sufficient job

Early-life experiences of labour markets faced by others can leave permanent scars on men’s willingness to work

Labour force participation among prime-aged American men has fallen for over half a century, and standard explanations leave much of the decline unaccounted for. This

From Strategic Investment to Tangible Results: Notable examples from the Human Capital Trust Fund

Two-thirds of the income gap between developed and developing countries can be attributed to disparities in human capital. Yet, budgets for critical human capital investments are

Extreme poverty: hard-won gains, new risks ahead

For decades, the world made remarkable progress in reducing extreme poverty. This transformation, driven in large part by economic growth, lifted more than a billion

The devil is in the tail: How firms’ beliefs about rare macroeconomic disasters shape investment

Little is known about how firms think about rare macroeconomic disasters and how these beliefs shape their decisions. This column uses survey evidence from a

The macroeconomic consequences of undermining central bank independence: Evidence from governor transitions

In recent years, several high-profile episodes have renewed concerns about central bank independence in practice. This column constructs a new cross-country dataset of central bank

Elevating the knowledge agenda for women entrepreneurs to boost jobs, growth, and access to finance

Women entrepreneurs represent a powerful yet largely untapped source of job creation and economic growth. Removing barriers faced by women entrepreneurs would significantly boost economic growth,

Introducing the World Bank Land Data Map

From urbanization to agriculture, land systems touch nearly every aspect of development. That’s why the World Bank Group has launched the Land Data Map, a new

When the cloud meets a thirsty world

Throughout history, water has been the quiet engine behind progress: farmers irrigate fields to grow crops; industry needs it to produce goods and generate energy;