The country profile for Sweden is based
on data from the enterprise surveys conducted by the World
Bank in 2014. The Enterprise Surveys focus on the many
factors that shape the business environment. These factors
can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an
important role in whether a country will prosper or not. An
accommodating business environment is one that encourages
firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen

Many firms in the developing world --
including a majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises
-- operate in the informal economy. The informal firms face
a variety of constraints, making it harder for them to do
business and grow. Lack of access to finance is often cited
as the biggest operational constraint these firms face. This
paper documents the use of finance and financing patterns of
informal firms, highlights differences between use of

Agriculture and fisheries are the main pillars of Mozambique's economy, having contributed in the last few years to more than 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 7 to 11 percentage points of the rate of economic growth. Agricultural development in Mozambique has been part of the government agenda because it is crucial to reducing poverty within rural zones.

The accumulation of decent housing
matters both because of the difference it makes to living
standards and because of its centrality to economic
development. The consequences for living standards are
far-reaching. In addition to directly conferring utility,
decent housing improves health and enables children to do
homework. It frees up women's time and enables them to
participate in the labor market. More subtly, a home and its

This First Phase Report on Sierra Leone
growth poles is the result of a 9 months consultative
process led by the Office of the President which
specifically requested that the output of this diagnostic be
in an engaging format. The fundamental concept of growth
poles is that they exploit agglomeration economies and
spillover effects to spread resulting prosperity from the
core of the pole to the periphery. At the basis of this

This paper is a review of the experience of the Asian Coalition for Community Action (ACCA) Program operated by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR).

This paper contributes to the
long-standing debate on the merits of decentralized
beneficiary targeting in the administration of development
programs, focusing on the large-scale Malawi Farm Input
Subsidy Program. Nationally-representative household survey
data are used to systematically analyze the decentralized
targeting performance of the program during the 2009-2010
agricultural season. The analysis begins with a standard

After decades of turmoil and
instability, a period of calm and progress evolved in
Guinea-Bissau in 2009. A military coup in April 2012
interrupted it. A fresh start is needed to alter the
dynamics that kept Guinea-Bissau poor. In 2013, Gross
National Income per capita was US$590. Average economic
growth barely kept pace with population growth. In 2010,
poverty at the national poverty line of US$2 a day was 70

This report addresses the insolvency of
natural persons following this structure: a first part
introduces the objectives and nature of the report, deals
with general issues, and describes the foundations of a
system for the treatment of the insolvency of natural
persons. The second part of the report analyzes the core
legal attributes of system for the treatment of the
insolvency of natural persons: within this system, the most

Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, discusses fundamental issues in global development and
the World Bank Group's role in helping countries and
the private sector meet the greatest challenges in
development. He speaks
about the twin goals, to end extreme poverty
by 2030 and to boost shared prosperity. Due to television, everyone knows how everyone else lives. We must not remain voluntarily blind to the impact of economic choices on the poor and
vulnerable.

This paper revisits the identification
of the binding constraints to investment and growth in
Pakistan by rigorously applying the growth diagnostic
framework. It has a central finding: Pakistan's
economy faces two major groups of constraints emerging and
structural. The emerging constraints include infrastructure
(energy) deficit, high macro-fiscal risks, and inadequate
international financing (high country risks and low FDI

Pakistan's rebound from the global
financial crisis has been slow and fragile, and unless the
economy changes course swiftly, it could face its second
balance of payments crisis in five years. Its recovery from
the 2008-09 global financial crisis has been the weakest in
South Asia, with a double dip pattern. This report
identifies conditions for a sustainable job-enhancing growth
agenda for Pakistan. Policy must target both goals as they