A Message from Asli Demirguc-Kunt, World Bank Director of Research—October 2017

Welcome to this month’s World Bank Research E-Newsletter, a monthly summary of research conducted by our department.

This month our Policy Research Talk focused on migration, a topic that has been filling headlines around the world. For most people, and especially the poor, labor is their key asset. Despite the large increase in returns to their labor that the poor experience when they migrate, only 3.5 percent of the world’s population lives in a country in which they were not born. In this talk, Caglar Ozden highlighted the main policy messages of the forthcoming Policy Research Report Global Migration and Labor Markets. The report comprehensively reviews the current state of research and data on global migration to inform the debate on this often contentious issue. If you missed the talk, make sure to check out the video.

Looking forward, we will be launching Global Financial Development Report 2017/2018: Bankers without Borders next week. Successful international integration has underpinned most experiences of rapid growth, shared prosperity, and reduced poverty. Perhaps no sector of the economy better illustrates the potential benefits—but also the perils—of deeper integration than banking. The fourth in the series, the Global Financial Development Report 2017/2018: Bankers without Borders brings to bear new evidence on the benefits and costs of international banks, particularly for developing countries. The report launches at 4PM EST on November 7 at https://www.worldbank.org/financialdevelopment. Also tune in for our launch event on November 9.

This month’s newsletter focuses on urbanization. Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia will experience unprecedented growth in their urban populations over the next few decades. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, cities will become home to an extra 400 million new residents within the next 25 years. Cities can be a driver of dynamism and growth, but if poorly planned and managed, they will become crowded, disconnected, and costly for their residents. Recent papers on the issue examine better approaches to measuring urbanization; the role of land governance; urban land markets; road investments; and public transit.   

Enjoy!

—Asli