Below are a series of background papers that have informed some of the research in the World Development Report 2026:
- Artificial Intelligence and International Trade in Services: Evidence from the United States. Paulo Bastos and Gaurav Nayyar
- Can EdTech Close Learning Gaps? Global Evidence from Digital Interventions. Alegria Burneo, Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, Carolina Lopez, and Ezequiel Molina
- Competition in AI Markets. Paul Phumpiu Chang, Jan Orlowski, and Yauheni Rahatsen
- AI Adoption in Developing Countries: Lessons from the Adoption of other Advanced Digital Technologies. Xavier Cirera, Diego Comin, Marcio Cruz1, and Kyungmin Lee
- De-Risking the Digital Foundations of AI Capital, Risk, and the Diffusion of AI. Mariana Dahan, Junaid Ahmad and David Savage
- Adopting Fast and Slow: Cross-Country Evidence on Business Adoption of Artificial Intelligence. Elwyn Davies, David Francis, Filip Jolevski, Gaurav Nayyar, Katherine Stapleton and Shu Yu
- Concentrated Production, Distributed daptation: Pathways for AI Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (draft). Samuel P. Fraiberger and Sharif Kazemi
- Disruption without Dividend ? How the Digital Divide and Task Differences Split GenAI’s Global Impact. Paweł Gmyrek, Mariana Viollaz, and Hernan Winkler
- Generative AI and the Global Redistribution of Expertise. Pawel Gmyrek, Hector Segura, Hernan Winkler, Shu Yu
- Who Takes the Hit? The Uneven Impacts of Generative AI on Labor Demand Across Countries. Jingyun Huang, Yan Liu, He Wang, and Shu Yu
- The AI Exposure of Export-Linked Jobs. Hagen Kruse and Shu Yu
- Now Hiring: Firm-Level Adoption of Generative AI in China. Lixing Li, Zhencen Liu, Anqi Wang, He Wang, and Shu Yu
- Labor Demand in the Age of Generative AI : Early Evidence from the U.S. Job Posting Data. Yan Liu, He Wang, and Shu Yu
- Who on Earth Is Using Generative AI? Global Trends and Shifts in 2025. Yan Liu, Jingyun Huang, and He Wang
- How Is Government Using Artificial Intelligence? Timothy Lundy, Manuel Ramos-Maqueda, Shyam Jayanti Patel, Daniel Rogger, Flavia Sacco Capurro, and Josefina Silva Fuentealba
- Click, Code, Earn: The Returns to Digital Skills. Antonio Martins-Neto, Yan Liu, Saloni Khunara, and Juan Porras
- The Global Landscape of National AI Strategies. Roxana Radu
- Artificial Intelligence Interventions to Support Frontline Healthcare Workers in Low-Resource Settings: A Review. Anja Sautmann and Jonas Weinert
- AI Adoption Among Frontier Firms in Emerging Markets. Eveline Smeets and Liliana Olarte Rodriguez