Problem-driven political economy analysis holds considerable promise for development practitioners seeking to identify policies and strategies that are most likely to deliver solutions for difficult development challenges. This volume takes stock of the World Bank's experiences applying this approach. The eight good practice cases presented in this volume illustrate recent Bank achievements. Problem-Driven Political Economy Analysis: The World Bank's Experience shows how political economy ...

In Chasin' the Sound: Learning Jazz Improvisation through Historical Models, authors Brian Levy and Keith Waters use solos by famous jazz musicians to outline a melodic and rhythmic vocabulary of jazz improvisation. In contrast to mainstream approaches based on rote memorization and generic chord/scale pedagogies, Chasin' the Sound encourages hands-on learning with activities that highlight the intangible yet key aesthetics of sound, groove, and feel. By studying jazz fun...

**ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR: Los Angeles Times, Serious EatsGroundbreaking recipes for real desserts—sweetened entirely by fruit and other natural, unexpectedly sweet ingredients—from a pastry cook who’s worked at acclaimed restaurants in New York and France.**Brian Levy spent years making pastries the traditional way, with loads of refined sugar and white flour, at distinguished restaurants, inns, and private homes in the United States and Europe. But ...

Few concepts have captured the imagination of the conflict and development community in recent years as powerfully as the idea of a 'political settlement'. At its most ambitious, 'political settlements analysis' (PSA) promises to explain why conflicts occur and states collapse, the conditions for their successful rehabilitation, different developmental pathways from peace, and how to better fit development policy to country context. Yet not all is well in the world of PSA. Rival definition...

The development discourse has long been dominated by best practices prescriptions for reform, but these are not a useful way of responding to the governance ambiguities of the early 21st century. Working with the Grain draws on both innovative scholarship and Brian Levy's quarter century of experience at the World Bank to lay out an alternative-a practical, analytically grounded, "with-the-grain" approach to reducing poverty and addressing weaknesses in governance. Best practice p...

Fulfilling the Export Potential of Small and Medium Firms addresses the question, `How can economic policy contribute to a strong export performance by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries?' In today's increasingly integrated world economy, such a performance can make a significant difference to the growth, employment creation and income distribution of many developing countries. The study uses information from specifically designed surveys of SME exporters ...

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. All over the world, economic inclusion has risen to the top of the development discourse. A well-performing education system is central to achieving inclusive development - but the challenge of improving educational outcomes has proven to be unexpectedly difficult. A...

A 2012 ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEARMany of the United States' most innovative entrepreneurs have been immigrants, from Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, and Charles Pfizer to Sergey Brin, Vinod Khosla, and Elon Musk. Nearly half of Fortune 500 companies and one-quarter of all new small businesses were founded by immigrants, generating trillions of dollars annually, employing millions of workers, and helping establish the United States as the most entre...

In 2010, Haiti was ravaged by a brutal earthquake that affected the lives of millions. The call to assist those in need was heard around the globe. Yet two years later humanitarian efforts led by governments and NGOs have largely failed. Resources are not reaching the needy due to bureaucratic red tape, and many assets have been squandered. How can efforts intended to help the suffering fail so badly? In this timely and provocative book, Christopher J. Coyne uses the economic way of thinki...

This new textbook introduces students to the essential concepts, theories and perspectives of Global Marketing and these are supported by real-world case studies from North America, Europe and the emerging markets of China, India and Latin America. These emerging markets are given balanced coverage alongside developed markets and the text also includes a dedicated chapter on emerging markets multinationals.Practical in its orientation, the text equips students with the tools needed...

Today between forty and sixty nations, home to more than one billion people, have either collapsed or are teetering on the brink of failure. The world's worst problems--terrorism, drugs and human trafficking, absolute poverty, ethnic conflict, disease, genocide--originate in such states, and the international community has devoted billions of dollars to solving the problem. Yet by and large the effort has not succeeded. Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart have taken an active part in the effor...

Beat local companies at their game.If you need the best practices and ideas for gaining market share in developing economies--but don't have time to find them--this book is for you. Here are 10 inspiring and useful perspectives, all in one place.This collection of HBR articles will help you:- Manage risk in unstable environments- Ward off political threats to your business- Customize your business model for emerging markets- Tailor your strat...