Public Policy Journals

The Public Policy Journals are two series of policy briefs addressing public policy for the private sector. Crisis Response assesses the policy responses to the financial crisis, shedding light on financial reforms currently under debate. Viewpoint focuses on public policy innovations for private-sector led and market-based solutions for development. The journals are sponsored by the Rapid Response team and are open to submissions. A writer's guide is available for download (PDF, 22KB).

Crisis Response Policy Briefs

State Financial Institutions -- Can They Be Relied on to Kick-Start Lending (PDF, 405KB) The need to kick-start lending to the real sector in response to the global financial crisis is leading many countries to expand the role of state-owned financial institutions. While it is too early to evaluate their effectiveness, past experience with the use of such institutions is sobering.

The Leverage Ratio: A New Binding Limit on Banks (PDF, 107KB) Excessive leverage by banks is widely believed to have contributed to the financial crisis. To address this, the international community has proposed the adoption of a non-risk-based capital measure, the leverage ratio, as an additional prudential tool.

Financial Paradigms -- What Do They Suggest about Regulatory Reform? (PDF, 140KB) What market and regulatory issues led to the subprime crisis? How should prudential regulation be fixed? The answers depend on the interpretative lenses - or “paradigms” - through which one sees finance.

Banks in Crisis -- When Governments Take Temporary Ownership (PDF, 96KB) In most of the developed countries affected by the financial crisis, governments initially improvised solutions that eventually led to substantial investments in systemically important banks. Lessons from earlier crises show that governments acting as temporary owners can minimize costs to taxpayers. Quickly developing the exit strategy is also important.

Credit Rating Agencies -- No Easy Regulatory Solutions (PDF, 492KB)
Dynamic Provisioning: The Experience of Spain (PDF, 492KB)
Macro-Prudential Regulation: Fixing Fundamental Market (and Regulatory) Failures (PDF, 92KB)
Trust Less, Verify More: Financial Supervision in the Wake of the Crisis (PDF, 186KB)
Blanket Guarantees: Necessary during the Crisis, but What Next? (PDF, 176KB)
Smaller but safer? The Shape of Financial Systems to Come (PDF, 674KB)
The Reform Agenda: Charting the Future of Financial Regulation (PDF, 102KB)
Dealing with the Crisis: Taking Stock of the Global Policy Response (PDF, 104KB)

For more information, visit the World Bank webpage on the financial crisis or view data on the financial crisis's impact on six Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries.

Viewpoints

Privatization Trends: A Record Year for Initial Public Offerings in 2007: An update of the World Bank Group’s Privatization Database shows that in 2007 privatizations in developing countries amounted to US$133 billion -- a record in nominal terms.

Recent issues of Viewpoints 
No. 321   Privatization Trends: A Record Year for Initial Public Offerings in 2007
No. 320   Oil Price Risks: Measuring the Vulnerability of Oil Importers
No. 319   Doing Privatization Right: What It Takes to Maximize Gains in Low-Income Countries
No. 318   Reform Teams: How the Most Successful Reformers Organized Themselves
No. 317   Privatization Trends: A Record Year in 2006
No. 316   Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It
No. 315   Financing Innovation: How to Build an Efficient Exchange for Small Firms
No. 313   Entrepreneurship: How Much Does the Business Environment Matter?
No. 312   Self-Dealing: Sneaking Corporate Value through the Back Door
No. 311   Public-Private Partnership Units: What Are They, and What Do They Do?

Viewpoints sorted by topic
Private infrastructure: competition, regulation & market structure (multisector)
Private infrastructure: finance and subsidies (multisector)
Private infrastructure: water
Private infrastructure: energy (oil, gas, electricity)
Private infrastructure: telecommunications & information technology
Private infrastructure: transport (airports, seaports, rail, roads)
Private provision of health and education
Investment climate and globalization
Impact of privatization
Future of the aid industry