This note is part of a series of notes that explore new trends and developments in Fintech and analyze their potential relevance for WBG activities.
... See More + The note discusses how new technology can make insurance more inclusive and hold the potential to overcome barriers to inclusive insurance when suitably transferred to emerging countries.
See Less -
Economic Complexity is a set of network-based and algorithmic methods for the study of economic development and competitiveness. In this framework, Economic Fitness is an innovative approach that improves the mathematical and conceptual scheme.
... See More + For convenience, these methods were originally conceived on trade in goods. This paper extends the Economic Fitness methodology to include a trade in services element to yield a universal matrix of world trade and thus provide a more complete picture of a country's development and global competitiveness. The paper applies two algorithms to the universal trade in goods and services matrix to contrast country competitiveness and change in complexity and diversification when services are added to the traditional goods-only matrix. The results show that (i) the competitiveness of many countries was previously over- or underestimated, that is, many countries gain or lose positions in the ranking of economic fitness when services trade is considered alongside goods; and (ii) complex services tend to cluster with complex manufacturing, suggesting a common capabilities structure. These findings show how developing complex services aids diversification strategies for developing countries.
See Less -
Policy Research Working Paper WPS8485 JUN 21, 2018
Emerging technologies based on big data analytics offer potential for vastly enhanced data on forced migration flows, which can provide detailed and accurate information on the needs and motives of forced migrants.
... See More + Big data approaches offer policymakers and international organizations the potential to accurately measure, and even predict, forced migration flows, as well as instability and violent conflict that occur as a result. Traditional means of collecting data from refugees and IDPs remain useful, but need to be complemented by insights from new analytical capabilities.
See Less -
The objective of the Building Higher Standards for the National Statistical System Project for Peru is to support the National Statistics and Informatics Office (INEI) to develop the National Strategic Plan of Statistical Development 2018-2022, and to take steps to elevate the standards for the integration of data from administrative registries for statistical purposes; the production of more timely and complete national accounts, and the production of statistical information relevant to Peru’s engagement with the OECD.
... See More + The Government of Peru (GoP) has strongly committed to ambitious goals regarding service delivery. One of the strongest commitments is related to access of water and sanitation: The GoP intends to reach universal coverage in urban areas for 2021 and for rural areas before 2030. In recent years, the government has put a lot of emphasis in making informed decisions, especially after the introduction of performance-based budgeting in 2007. The successful story regarding the outstanding reduction of stunting rates is an iconic example of evidence-based policy in Peru. The GoP managed to secure an appropriate stream of resources through the Articulated Nutritional Program (Programa Articulado Nutricional, PAN); which were delivered through a results-based approach to the same districts prioritized by the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, known as Juntos. This context, jointly with higher incomes from economic growth, provided a virtuous cycle in which supply and demand for vital health services intertwined, resulting in decreased stunting. At the international level, the GoP has committed to making and monitoring progress on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda. Furthermore, it has aspirations to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as member by 2021, in preparation of which Peru is currently undergoing a thorough review in several policy areas as part of an OECD Country Program. Meeting these ambitious goals implies collecting better and more frequent data, improving monitoring and evaluation systems and continue strengthening evidence-based policies.
See Less -
The development objective of the Second State Statistical System Development Project for Russia is to assist the government of the Russian Federation to produce reliable, timely, and accurate economic, financial, socio-demographic, and other data for policy formulation and decision making in line with international good practice and frameworks.
... See More + The restructuring will include: (i) a 30-month extension of the closing date from December 31, 2018 to June 30, 2021; (ii) a change in components and costs caused by the increase of the Borrower’s counterpart funding to implement new activities; (iii) changes in the results framework to address new timeline and revised target values for some indicators as well as addition of three new indicators to monitor the progress of the activities; and (iv) changes in disbursement estimates and implementation schedule.
See Less -
Since its adoption in December 2015 by the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21), within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), 175 countries to date have ratified the Paris Agreement.
... See More + These countries have made commitments Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in some cases contingent on financing by developed countries, to limit or reduce their Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through a variety of measures including more significant deployment of renewable power, energy efficiency, land-use controls such as conservation of forests and grasslands, carbon pricing, and other measures compatible with each country’s national circumstances and capabilities. Even with full ratification of the Agreement by all 197 signatories, the aggregate effect is projected only to slow the rate of GHG emissions growth from the 24 percent increase, between 1990 and 2010, to an anticipated increase between 2010 and 2030 of between 11 and 23 percent. To foster higher ambition and sustainable development, and also encourage large-scale financing towards the most effective mitigation measures, Article 6 of the Agreement recognizes that countries may engage in cooperative approaches, including the use of internationally transferred mitigation outcomes (ITMOs) towards their individual NDC. In this new, complex and diverse environment, this paper aims to examine emerging digital technologies and architectures that could be used to enhance and connect the heterogeneous climate actions across countries, thereby supporting post-2020 climate markets that facilitate the most cost-effective achievement of the highest possible ambition. Given the speed with which information technology, system architectures, domestic policy, and other relevant elements are developing, the roadmap laid out in this paper will likely continue to evolve significantly over the next few years.
See Less -
This note shows how big data can help combine experimental with non-experimental approaches in impact evaluations when take-up is low. In this study, author have access to a large administrative data set (of 660 MB), which follows the monthly financial indicators of each client for up to 18 months prior to the intervention and 6 months after it.
... See More + Moreover, from the experimental approach their also had a large pool of clients randomly assigned to the control group. This data enables us to obtain credible estimates by combining the experiment with two non-experimental approaches. Their first use propensity score matching to find, among the clients in the control group, a subset of clients that best mimics the pre-intervention financial trajectories of clients in the treatment group that received treatment. The effects of the workshops on the treated clients are summarized. Under our preferred specification, the author finds that participating in the workshop increases by 11 percentage points the likelihood of paying more than the minimum payment, and reduces by 3.4 percentage points the likelihood of delaying payment. Monthly credit card spending increases by 63.7 percent, and the likelihood of owning a deposit account with our partner bank also increases by 2.7 percentage points. The two financial education interventions help clients reach the minimum payment and pay their bills on time more often, without reducing their credit card spending. Both interventions increase the likelihood that clients are profitable for the bank.
See Less -
With unprecedented speed and scale, digital transformation is affecting multiple industries, including energy. A combination of technologies, and a more complex world demanding greater agility and new competences impact all aspects of the energy sector and manifest themselves in changing patterns of consumption, new ways of asset optimization, and cross-industry partnerships.
... See More + 'Smart solutions' are a product of this transformation and energy data are its source. By nature, the energy sector generates vast amounts of big data through meters, sensor networks, customer payments, credit history, satellite imagery, etc. It is not surprising that private and public energy companies are turning to the idea of leveraging big data analytics for performance optimization and improved service delivery. The transition to a digitized energy sector will not happen on its own, and a number of enablers are required to facilitate this change. Beyond improved digital infrastructure, digital skills and analytics capabilities will need to be strengthened. This new solutions brief aims to encourage the use of big data analytics in the energy sector by outlining opportunities and identify cases for where the use of big data analytics could help better address challenges faced by the energy sector today.
See Less -
The Subcommittee of the Committee on Development Effectiveness met to consider the IEG report entitled Data for Development – An Evaluation of World Bank Support for Data and Statistical Capacity.
... See More + The Subcommittee welcomed the report and was pleased that Management broadly concurred with IEG’s findings and recommendations and that the WBG Development Data Council had endorsed the report. They highlighted the importance of data in meeting the SDGs and the need for a vision that sets out how to get there by 2030. Members noted the importance of supporting client countries to develop capacity to generate, use and share data and asked how this could be implemented most effectively. Some members stressed the importance of the CPF process as a policy dialogue that could promote the allocation of domestic resources to statistical capacity building, of focusing on both national and subnational statistics offices, of knowledge transfer and technology and the need to use IDA resources in low-income and fragile countries.
See Less -
This book is comprised of one study and three field evaluations of civic tech initiatives in developing countries. The study reviews evidence on the use of twenty-three information and communication technology (ICT) platforms designed to amplify citizen voices to improve service delivery.
... See More + Focusing on empirical studies of initiatives in the global south, the authors highlight both citizen uptake (yelp) and the degree to which public service providers respond to expressions of citizen voice (teeth). The first evaluation looks at U-report in Uganda, a mobile platform that runs weekly large-scale polls with young Ugandans on a number of issues, ranging from safety to access to education to inflation to early marriage. The following evaluation takes a closer look at MajiVoice, an initiative that allows Kenyan citizens to report, through multiple channels, complaints with regard to water services. The third evaluation examines the case of Rio Grande do Sul’s participatory budgeting - the world’s largest participatory budgeting system - which allows citizens to participate either online or offline in defining the state’s yearly spending priorities. While the comparative study has a clear focus on the dimension of government responsiveness, the evaluations examine civic technology initiatives using five distinct dimensions, or lenses. The choice of these lenses is the result of an effort bringing together researchers and practitioners to develop an evaluation framework suitable to civic technology initiatives.
See Less -
This toolkit attempts to address some of the challenges associated with difficulties inaccessing comparables data. While 'perfect' or ideal comparables may only rarely be available,commonly the data that is available will still allow a reasonably reliable analysis to be performedand a satisfactory approximation of an arm's length outcome to be determined.
... See More + Part II of thistoolkit thus focuses on making the best use of available data. It discusses the sources of data and how the use of available data may be optimized through widening the criteria for data-selectionand the use of comparability adjustments. It also stresses that the selection of the mostappropriate transfer pricing method, on the basis of a detailed factual analysis, is central to theapplication of the arm’s length principle, and in many cases, is likely to have a greater impact onthe outcome than the accuracy of the data used in the method’s application. Part III focuses on issues that arise, and solutions that may be available, where adequate data on transactions between independent parties are not available, including the potential for developing safe harbours or prescriptive approaches. It also explores how data in the possession of tax administrations, typically derived from tax returns, may be used to identify arm’s length results in a way that preserves confidentiality. Such data may have a part to play in setting safe harbour margins. Part III also includes a discussion of some of the policy considerations with regard to such approaches, as well as outlining a number of country practices, and providing practical tools in the form of sample legislation or regulations which could be used to implement such approaches. The final part, Part IV, sets out areas where further work is planned, and summarizes a number of conclusions.
See Less -
This toolkit attempts to address some of the challenges associated with difficulties inaccessing comparables data. While 'perfect' or ideal comparables may only rarely be available,commonly the data that is available will still allow a reasonably reliable analysis to be performedand a satisfactory approximation of an arm's length outcome to be determined.
... See More + Part II of thistoolkit thus focuses on making the best use of available data. It discusses the sources of data and how the use of available data may be optimized through widening the criteria for data-selectionand the use of comparability adjustments. It also stresses that the selection of the mostappropriate transfer pricing method, on the basis of a detailed factual analysis, is central to theapplication of the arm’s length principle, and in many cases, is likely to have a greater impact onthe outcome than the accuracy of the data used in the method’s application. Part III focuses on issues that arise, and solutions that may be available, where adequate data on transactions between independent parties are not available, including the potential for developing safe harbours or prescriptive approaches. It also explores how data in the possession of tax administrations, typically derived from tax returns, may be used to identify arm’s length results in a way that preserves confidentiality. Such data may have a part to play in setting safe harbour margins. Part III also includes a discussion of some of the policy considerations with regard to such approaches, as well as outlining a number of country practices, and providing practical tools in the form of sample legislation or regulations which could be used to implement such approaches. The final part, Part IV, sets out areas where further work is planned, and summarizes a number of conclusions.
See Less -
Harnessing the power of big data is the next frontier for governments. Big data analytics uses data science and machine learning for better understanding, tracking and prediction of trends to improve government delivery of existing public services in education, procurement, public safety, transportation, taxation and civic engagement, without compromising citizen rights and privacy.
... See More + In this technical analytics will inform and transform government decision-making and help solve complex problems that were once impossible. Governments around the world are beginning to utilize big data to solve a range of pressing policy problems. The Australian Ministry of Finance, for instance, has developed a big data strategy, which provides a whole-of-government approach to use big data in order to enhance existing services, deliver new services and provide better policy advice, while incorporating best practice privacy protections and leveraging existing ICT investments.
See Less -
