This blog post argues that higher health spending is unlikely to be sustained because of the pandemic’s adverse impact on revenues, other spending pressures, and the resulting deteriorating fiscal position of LLMICs. This suggests that countries will need to undertake policy actions to create additi...

You’ve seen the headline; indeed, you’ve probably seen it from us. According to widely cited estimates, about one in three children around the world are lead-poisoned, or about 800 million total. This means that they have blood-lead levels exceeding 5 micrograms per deciliter, a common reference lev...

Many cost-effective education programs suffer implementation failures and political resistance when scaled up in government systems. But not all.

Suppose you’re the minister of education in a lower-middle income country. It’s budget season. You have a meeting tomorrow with the finance minister to make your case for more education spending. You know she’s skeptical that money is really what’s holding your school system back. The World Bank say...

Has the Modi government accelerated or decelerated poverty reduction? It’s hard to know, as India has effectively stopped measuring poverty. A new World Bank paper using private-sector survey data finds the share of people living below $1.90 per day has been falling, but is higher than we thought, a...

As developing countries recover from the pandemic, they will need to bring their public finances to a more sustainable position by streamlining public spending and strengthening the revenue base. The need to mobilize additional resources has been exacerbated by the recent economic turmoil triggered ...

The war in Ukraine is likely to have a profound impact on budget allocations, at least in developed countries. Pressures to raise military spending have intensified. Given the economic climate, other spending is likely to come under pressure.