Country Finance

In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

And Evaluation of Local Automotive Taxation. 8. Other Urban Taxes. Policy Objectives. Local Income Taxes. General Sales Taxes. Local Taxes on Industry, Commerce, and Professions. "Terminal" Taxes. Local Sumptuary Taxes. Entertainment Taxes. Minor Local Taxes, Licenses, and Fees. Summary and Evaluation -- Pt. III. User Charges for Urban Services. 9. Issues in Pricing Urban Services. The Efficiency Argument for User Charges. Fiscal Considerations and Full Cost Pricing. Income Distribution Considerations. The Politics and Institutions of Public Service Pricing. 10. Charging for Urban Water Services. Pricing Water Supply Services. Sewerage and Drainage. Summary. 11. Charging for Other Urban Services. Electricity and Telephone Services. Collecting and Disposing of Solid Waste. Mass Transit. Housing. Development Charges -- Pt. IV. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations. 12. The Structure of Urban Governance. Fiscal Decentralization. The National Structure of Urban Government.

"Global Development Finance-the World Bank's annual report on the external financing of developing countries-provides monitoring and analysis of development finance, identifying key emerging trends and policy challenges in international financial flows that are likely to affect the growth prospects of developing countries.Over the past two years, the world has seen turmoil in a relatively small segment of the U.S. credit markets morph into a severe global economic and financial crisis. Although aggressive monetary policy, fiscal stimulus, and guarantee programs to shore up the banking industry have begun to stabilize financial markets and slow the pace of economic contraction, policy makers face an extended battle to revive the global economy. Going forward, national and international policy makers must support emerging signs of recovery with persistent, robust efforts to restore confidence in the financial system and transform the adverse feedback loop between the financial sector and the real economy into a positive one. With analysis and data extending from short-term bank lending to long-term bond issuance in both local and foreign currency, Global Development Finance 2009: Charting a Global Recovery is unique in its breadth of coverage of the trends and issues of fundamental importance to the financing of the developing world, including coverage of capital originating from developing countries themselves. The report is an indispensable resource for governments, economists, investors, financial consultants, academics, bankers, and the entire development community.

This guide is a road map for navigating the waters that have been charted over years of accumulated expertise in trade financing. It is intended as a practical work of reference that draws on and adapts traditional and new techniques, mechanisms, instruments and in situations with the intent to stimulate trade finance practices through changes, especially in the private sector and with particular reference to the needs and concerns of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries and transition economies.

The 2008 financial crisis rippled across the globe and triggered a worldwide recession. Unlike the American banking system which experienced massive losses, takeovers, and taxpayer funded bailouts, Canada’s banking system withstood the crisis relatively well and maintained its liquidity and profitability. The divergence in the two banking systems can be traced to their distinct institutional and political histories. From Wall Street to Bay Street is the first book for a lay audience to tackle the similarities and differences between the financial systems of Canada and the United States. Christopher Kobrak and Joe Martin reveal the different paths each system has taken since the early nineteenth-century, despite the fact that they both originate from the British system. The authors trace the roots of each country’s financial systems back to Alexander Hamilton and insightfully argue that while Canada has preserved a Hamiltonian financial tradition, the United States has favoured the populist Jacksonian tradition since the 1830s. The sporadic and inconsistent fashion in which the American system have changed over time is at odds with the evolutionary path taken by the Canadian system. From Wall Street to Bay Street offers a timely and accessible comparison of financial systems that reflects the political and cultural milieus of two of the world’s top ten economies.