WorldBank

Does the World Bank have a sense of humor?

Submitted by PSDBlog on Wed, 03/10/2010 - 14:36

Perhaps the title is a rhetorical question, but I felt obliged to ask it after seeing the latest parody of a World Bank initiative. If you've been ignoring CNN, you may have missed the news that the World Bank Institute recently launched a massively multiplayer game called Evoke designed to get people around the world to work collaboratively on pressing problems like food security, human rights, etc. Evoke builds a storyline based around a comic book (eh hem, sorry, graphic novel) to lay out a quest each week.

New publication on ICT convergence-strategies and regulation

Submitted by World Bank Blogs on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 13:00

With my co-author, Rajendra Singh, I had written two reports in 2008 on the topic of ICT convergence. These reports have been compiled with an updated introduction and are now available as a book published by the World Bank. I will be happy to answer any questions through this blog.
You may also browse through this book in its entirety by clicking on the preview at the bottom of the page.

FPD Forum Day 1

Submitted by PSDBlog on Tue, 03/02/2010 - 16:47

The first day of this year's Financial and Private Sector Development Forum is about to wind down. I had the opportunity to attend several fascinating discussions, including:

A workshop on catastrophic risk insurance in the Caribbean
A discussion on building venture capital opportunities in developing countries
A look at Africa's industrial future
An inspirational talk by Ingrid Munro on how she built Kenya's largest microfinance institution with a team of beggars

For those unable to attend this year's forum, we have an active Twitter feed, where every attendee can share his or her thoughts on what they've seen. Check it out.

Stop the Wars!

Submitted by PSDBlog on Mon, 03/01/2010 - 10:28

Does Haiti (or Chile) need a Marshall Plan to help recover from the ruins of natural disasters? How has the War on Poverty progressed in the United States? What about the Gates Foundation's War on Malaria?

Bureaucrats into bankers?

Submitted by PSDBlog on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 12:19

The World Bank's new chief economist for Financial and Private Sector Development, Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, has entered the blogosphere with the new All About Finance blog. In her first post, Asli considers whether the financial crisis ought to make us consider turning bureaucrats into bankers. She responds with a resounding "no"!

Unemployment and the Oligarchs

Submitted by PSDBlog on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 16:02

Mark Thoma takes a look at who pays the cost of the recession:

The recession is taking away opportunity for the young to gain employment experience, and many who are employed are working below their abilities in jobs they are likely to get stuck in for many years, if not forever.

Can Berlin learn from Abu Dhabi?

Submitted by PSDBlog on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 17:29

Bloomberg has announced that the worst is yet to come for the euro, thanks to ongoing Greek woes.
The last time I discussed Greece was in this post last November:

Obstacles to reform: South African bus edition

Submitted by PSDBlog on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 11:53

The New York Times has an interesting story on the controversy surrounding improvements to South Africa's bus lanes. The government has been building special bus-only lanes and modernizing its fleet with new Brazilian-made buses, making it cheaper and faster for workers to travel from townships to wealthier suburbs:

Kenyan Microfinance

Submitted by PSDBlog on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 11:24

Picking up from yesterday's microfinance discussion, let's have a look at what's happening in Kenya. Over at CGAP, Kate McKee discusses the relationship between microfinance and consumer protection. Through interviews with a Kenyan driver who runs his own taxi company, McKee highlights three potential consumer protection problems:

State Financial Institutions: Can They Be Relied on to Kick-Start Lending?

Submitted by PSDBlog on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 17:21

Editor's Note: Heinz P. Rudolph is a senior financial sector specialist in the Financial and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency of the World Bank Group.
This is the 12th in a series of policy briefs on the crisis—assessing the policy responses, shedding light on financial reforms currently under debate, and providing insights for emerging-market policy makers.