A development e-story: Estonia
"Once upon a time in the faraway Baltic region was a tiny nation of Estonia. Newly independent, with a population of 1.3 million, and with 50 percent of its land covered in forests, it was saddled with...
View ArticleInternet or Toilets?
The following post is the first in a series exploring 'internet for development,' the theme of the World Bank's upcoming World Development Report 2016. Why should we invest in internet access in...
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Information as intervention: A visit to Digital Green
The tiny village of Narma Dih, off-grid in Bihar, India, was lit only by the full moon and the beam of a battery-powered pico projector. A makeshift screen hung on the outside wall of a modest...
View ArticleBuilding feedback into project implementation: A visit to the Social Observatory
“Do you decide on what types of clothes to wear based on your own preferences?” That’s a question on a survey instrument designed to assess whether Tamil Nadu’s Empowerment and Poverty Reduction...
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#MyDressMyChoice: Tackling gender discrimination and violence in Kenya one...
On September 19, 2014, a Kenyan middle-aged woman was waiting for a bus at a stop in Nairobi. When the bus stopped, a group of men surrounded her, and started to strip and assault her for wearing a...
View ArticleInternet access boosts firm performance – even in difficult business...
The Internet may boost private sector development in developing and emerging countries by improving access to market information, by facilitating more effective coordination of firms’ production and...
View ArticleDevelopment in the digital age
I have spoken only once before at the UN. I was then just a professor and was invited to speak on my research on labor market regulation. I was told it would be a distinguished audience. However, as I...
View ArticleOnline outsourcing: A global job opportunity for everyone?
“My life has totally changed. Now I am earning money from the Internet and I come to know a lot of new things. Internet is really amazing.” - Male, from Madurai, India, Age between 16-25, intermediate...
View ArticleEstonia’s digital dividends
Digital technology dominates our everyday lives, and with each passing day, even more so. How can the global community benefit from the new digital era? The World Bank’s World Development Report2016...
View Article#GenderMatters: From digital divides to digital dividends
Eighty percent of the population in developing countries owns a mobile phone, but—according to the most recent report on the subject by the global association of mobile operators, GSMA—more than 1.7...
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Myth or fact? New WDR examines the potential of digital technologies for...
Pop quiz: Which of these statements do you agree with? If you build “IT” they will come.Poor people don’t need mobile phones. They need clean water and food instead.Digital skills are only relevant...
View ArticleWhy have the digital revolution’s broader benefits fallen short for development?
The rapid spread of digital technologies has been a development success. But has it also resulted in successful development? No, not when the basic foundations of economic development are missing,...
View ArticleLabor market polarization in developing countries: challenges ahead
There is increasing evidence that labor markets in developed countries are polarizing or hollowing out. On the one hand, the share of employment in high-skilled, high-paying occupations (managers,...
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