Finance & Private Sector Development

A well-functioning financial system and a vigorous private sector are important drivers of growth and poverty reduction. Finance is central to private sector development and vice versa, and large parts of both sub-disciplines revolve around the behavior and performance of firms.

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The Global Findex, Financial Inclusion & Resilience
Policy Research Talk, November 15, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic increased digital adoption worldwide, as people sought alternative ways to address daily needs without face-to-face contact. Results from the latest Global Findex survey—conducted in 2021 in 123 countries with more than 125,000 respondents during the COVID-19 pandemic—offer insights into how digitalization of payments contributed to increases in financial inclusion. In this Policy Research Talk, World Bank Lead Economist and Global Findex founder Leora Klapper will discuss the latest Global Findex findings, how technology has expanded access to financial services, the opportunities to close the remaining gaps, and the areas that countries need to focus on moving ahead.
Video | The Global Findex Database | Event Information | Presentation
The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19
Global Database, June 2022
Financial inclusion is a cornerstone of development, and since 2011, the Global Findex Database has been the definitive source of data on global access to financial services from payments to savings and borrowing. The 2021 edition, based on nationally representative surveys of over 125,000 adults in 123 economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, contains updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services and digital payments, and offers insights into the behaviors that enable financial resilience.
The Global Findex Database 2021 | Blog Post | Video | Press Release | Download Report | Executive Summary
World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery
Flagship Report, March 2022
This report examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from COVID-19. Based on an in-depth look at the consequences of the crisis most likely to affect low- and middle-income economies, it advocates a set of policies and measures to mitigate the interconnected economic risks stemming from the pandemic, risks that may become more acute as stimulus measures are withdrawn at both the domestic and global levels.
World Development Report 2022 | Launch Event | Report Overview | Video
Data from Secondary Markets: Insights and Implications for Development
Policy Research Talk, March 22, 2022
Since the Great Recession cross-border financial assets have grown nearly 60 percent. While cross-border bank lending has stayed relatively constant, cross-border portfolios and market-based finance have grown tremendously. In this talk, World Bank economist Alvaro Pedraza sheds light on this pressing issue with recent insights from the Colombian Stock Exchange (CSE).
Video | Presentation | Event Page | More About Alvaro Pedraza
World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives—Research Directions and Measuring Country Capacity
Policy Research Talk, May 25, 2021
In this Policy Research Talk, members of the report team illustrate the potential to combine private and public intent data to yield timelier, more granular insights to confront policy challenges, as well as research findings from data quality experiments and assessments. The team presents new data sources released in conjunction with the report.
Event Information | Video | Presentation (Part 1 & 2) | Presentation (Part 3) | World Development 2021: Data for Better Lives

LATEST WORKING PAPERS

Global Bank Lending under Climate Policy
Asli Demirguc-Kunt, Alvaro Enrique Pedraza Morales, Fredy Pulga, Claudia Ruiz Ortega
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10266, December 2022

Capacity Building as a Route to Export Market Expansion: A Six-Country Experiment in the Western Balkans
Ana Paula Cusolito, Ornella Darova, David J. Mckenzie
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10256, December 2022

Field and Natural Experiments in Migration
David J. Mckenzie, Dean Yang
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10250, December 2022

Give Me a Pass: Flexible Credit for Entrepreneurs in Colombia
Lasse Florian Brune, Xavier Gine, Dean S. Karlan
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 10135, November 2022

More Working Papers

LATEST JOURNAL ARTICLES

Mission and the Bottom Line: Performance Incentives in a Multigoal Organization
Xavier Gine, Ghazala Mansuri, Slesh Shrestha
Review of Economics and Statistics 104 (4): 748–763, July 2022

Aspirations and Financial Decisions: Experimental Evidence from the Philippines
David McKenzie, Aakash Mohpal, Dean Yang
Journal of Development Economics, vol. 156, May 2022 | Working Paper Version

Financial (Dis-)information: Evidence from a Multi-country Audit Study
Xavier Gine, Rafael Keenan Mazer
Journal of Public Economics vol. 208: 104618, April 2022

Improving Business Practices and the Boundary of the Entrepreneur: A Randomized Experiment Comparing Training, Consulting, Insourcing, and Outsourcing
Stephen J. Anderson and David McKenzie
Journal of Political Economy vol. 130 (1), January 2022 | Working Paper Version

The Interplay of Policy and Institutions during COVID-19
Sheng Fang, Mike W. Peng, L. Colin Xu, Yuanyuan Yi
The International Trade Journal vol. 35 (6), September 2021 | Working Paper Version

BOOKS AND REPORTS

World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery
World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery examines the central role of finance in the economic recovery from the pandemic.

The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19
The 2021 edition of the Global Findex Database contains updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services and digital payments, and offers insights into the behaviors that enable financial resilience.

World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives
This report explores the tremendous potential of the changing data landscape to improve the lives of poor people, while also acknowledging its potential to open back doors that can harm individuals, businesses, and societies.

Global Financial Development Report 2019 / 2020: Bank Regulation and Supervision a Decade after the Global Financial Crisis
Drawing on 10 years of data and analysis, the 5th edition of the report reflects on the causes of the crisis and the regulatory remedies adopted to prevent future financial troubles.

Report | Video | Dataset | Blog | Previous Reports

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LATEST BLOGS

Are jobseekers looking too narrowly for jobs?
David McKenzie | Development Impact, February 15, 2023
The VoxDevLit series and how you can contribute to living literature reviews
David McKenzie | Development Impact, January 30, 2023
Climate Change Regulations: Bank Lending and Real Effects
Alvaro Pedraza, Faruk Miguel Liriano, Claudia Ruiz | All About Finance, January 24, 2023
Bringing informative priors into your experiment: Bayesian impact evaluation
David McKenzie | Development Impact, January 17, 2023
Remembering Martin Ravallion
Berk Özler, David McKenzie | Development Impact, January 17, 2023
Helping firms expand exports through a six-country capacity building experiment – and measuring impacts through digital presence
Ana Paula Cusolito, Ornella Darova, David McKenzie | Development Impact, December 12, 2022
Summing up our job market blog series 2022
David McKenzie, Florence Kondylis, Berk Özler, Kathleen Beegle | Development Impact, December 09, 2022
Responsible finance and its role in improving financial resilience and well-being
Leora Klapper | Let's Talk Development, November 2, 2022
What are the long-term effects of high school financial education?
Miriam Bruhn, Gabriel Garber, Sérgio Mikio Koyama, Bilal Zia | All About Finance, October 25, 2022

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Robert Cull

World Development Report 2021 Co-Director and Research Manager, Finance and Private Sector

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Featured

The Global Findex, Financial Inclusion & Resilience

The Global Findex Database 2021: Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of COVID-19

World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery

Data from Secondary Markets: Insights and Implications for Development

World Development Report 2021: Data for Better Lives—Research Directions and Measuring Country Capacity

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The Global Findex, Financial Inclusion & Resilience

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