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It is almost certain that the world economy is entering a recession of historic proportions; how bad things get will depend on how governments manage the Covid-19 pandemic. At the core of the problem lies a very difficult choice: whether to "flatten the curve" of the epidemic or whether to flatten the curve of the recession. It is unlikely that both can be achieved and, in this case, it is better to address the tradeoff heads-on rather than try to ignore it or assume it doesn't exist. Because developing countries are less prepared to deal with the consequences of an economic downturn, they might not be able to afford "social distancing" policies for extended periods.

Creating jobs and increasing productivity are at the top of agenda for policymakers across the world. Knowledge accumulation and skills are recognized as central in this process. More-educated workers not only have better employment opportunities, earn more, and have more stable and rewarding jobs, but also they are more adaptable and mobile. Workers who acquire more skills also make other workers and capital more productive and, within the firm, they facilitate the adaptation, adoption, and ultimately invention of new technologies. This is crucial to enable economic diversification, productivity growth, and ultimately raise the standards of living of the population. This report brings new ideas on how to build and upgrade job relevant skills, focusing on three types of training programs relevant for individuals who are leaving the formal general schooling system or are already in the labor market: pre-employment technical and vocational education and training (TVET); on-the-job training (OJT); and training-related active labor market programs (ALMPs). Several previous studies have discussed some of the flaws in current systems and outlined options for reform. As a consequence, there has been a shift away from the investment in pre-vocational training courses to programs to improve access to and the quality of general secondary education. There have also been calls to encourage a stronger involvement of the private sector in the provision of training, together with increased emphasis in the quality and relevance of the content. One result has been a push to rethink the governance and financing arrangements of training institutions. But overall policies at these three levels of the training systems remain disconnected and there has not been an integrated framework linking them to the market and government failures that need to be addressed. This

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Executive Summary -- Acronyms and Abbreviations -- Glossary -- 1. Overview -- Chapter 2: Initial Conditions for Pension Reform -- Chapter 3: Taking Stock of Pension Systems in the Middle East and North Africa -- Chapter 4: A Framework for Reform -- Chapter 5: Improving the Management of Pension Funds -- Chapter 6: Progress to Date and Prospects -- 2. The Initial Conditions for Pension Reform -- Demographics -- Macroeconomics -- Overview of the Financial Sector -- Conclusions -- 3. Mandatory Pension Systems in the Middle East and North Africa -- Institutional Organization and Coverage -- Size and Shape of the Schemes -- Incentives -- Equity within and across Genders -- Pension Costs, Financial Sustainability,and Fiscal Implications -- Conclusions -- 4. General Guidelines for a Comprehensive Reform Program -- Choosing the Mandate of the Public Pension System and Implementation Mechanisms -- Bringing Current Defined-Benefit, Pay-As-You-Go Systems up to the Standard -- Benefits and Costs of Higher Funding -- Expanding Coverage to the Vulnerable and Poor: A Role for Social Pensions? -- Improving the Institutional Configuration, Administration, and Regulation of Pension Systems -- 5. Management of the Public Pension Funds -- Lessons from International Experience in Pension Fund Management -- Pension Fund Management in the Middle East and North Africa Region -- Improving the Management of Public Pension Funds: Constraints and Opportunities -- Conclusions -- 6. Progress to Date and Prospects -- Countries in the Early Stages of Reform -- Countries in Motion -- Countries Leading Pension Reform -- Conclusions -- Appendices -- A Demographic Indicators -- B Methodology for Demographic and Employment Projections -- Life Expectancy, Total Fertility Rate, and Population Projections.

Abstract
Several middle income countries are considering reforms to their severance pay regulations to both increase flexibility for firms and better protect workers. Policy discussions then often revolve around whether to adopt an unemployment insurance (UI) scheme or unemployment individual savings accounts (UISAs). Proponents of the first emphasize its ability to pool risks and introduce an element of solidarity. Critics point to its potentially negative effects on labor supply as individuals could have fewer incentives to seek, take or keep jobs. In this paper, we show that UI and UISAs are, in fact, particular cases of a more general design and that the crucial policy choice is in terms of how redistribution - to cover benefits for those who could not save enough - is financed. We outline key features of this general design and identify trade-offs and possible solutions. We then discuss issues related to implementation and show how recent technological developments around biometric identification can facilitate the monitoring of conditionalities related to participation in job-search and training activities.

JEL codes

O15, J64, H55

"This paper develops a general equilibrium model to analyze the marginal and joint impacts that alternative macroeconomic, education, and social protection policies have on the dynamics of employment and unemployment by skill level. The model introduces a disaggregated treatment of the labor market that incorporates an informal sub-sector in every sector of the economy. The analysis explicitly models the distribution of skills in the labor force by following over time sex-age cohorts across various levels of the education system and in the labor market. And it integrates a module that projects the revenues and expenditures of the pension system. The model is applied to the case of Morocco. Simulations show that even under positive assumptions regarding economic growth, unemployment rates are likely to remain close to current levels in the next decade. The paper argues that only an integrated package of policies that affect the macro-economy, the investment climate, and the education and social protection systems would allow sustainable creation of enough "good quality" jobs. "--World Bank web site

Many governments use technology incentives as an important component of their greenhouse gas abatement strategies. These "carrots" are intended to encourage the initial diffusion of new, greenhouse-gas-emissions-reducing technologies, in contrast to carbon taxes and emissions trading which provide a "stick" designed to reduce emissions by increasing the price of high-emitting technologies for all users. Technology incentives appear attractive, but their record in practice is mixed and economic theory suggests that in the absence of market failures, they are inefficient compared to taxes and trading. This study uses an agent-based model of technology diffusion and exploratory modeling, a new technique for decision-making under conditions of extreme uncertainty, to examine the conditions under which technology incentives should be a key building block of robust climate change policies. We find that a combined strategy of carbon taxes and technology incentives, as opposed to carbon taxes alone, is the best approach to greenhouse gas emissions reductions if the social benefits of early adoption sufficiently exceed the private benefits. Such social benefits can occur when economic actors have a wide variety of cost/performance preferences for new technologies and either new technologies have increasing returns to scale or potential adopters can reduce their uncertainty about the performance of new technologies by querying the experience of other adopters. We find that if decision-makers hold even modest expectations that such social benefits are significant or that the impacts of climate change will turn out to be serious then technology incentive programs may be a promising hedge against the threat of climate change.

AbstractThis paper provides a review of the profiles of the subsistence entrepreneurs and their constraints, and the landscape of current entrepreneurship programs and the evidence on impacts, and discusses the potential role of public policies for the livelihoods of subsistence entrepreneurs. Worldwide over a half of workers are self-employed, but a significant fraction of these self-employed jobs are of low productivity subsistence entrepreneurs. The focus of the entrepreneurship programs to support these self-employed in poverty is to improve their livelihoods rather than promoting cutting-edge innovation and business growth. Evidence of successful programs is limited and program designs often seem ill suited to the needs and characteristics of these subsistence entrepreneurs. Given the market failures faced by subsistence entrepreneurs, interventions that complement safety net programs with well-targeted support to promote productive self-employment may hold some promise.Jel codes: O12, O16, J24

Abstract
This paper reviews international experiences with the implementation of wage subsidies and develops a policy framework to guide their design in developing countries. The evidence suggests that, if the goal is only to create jobs, wage subsidies are unlikely to be an effective instrument. Wage subsidies, however, could have a role in helping first-time job seekers or those who have gone through long-periods of unemployment or inactivity, to gain some work experience and in the process build skills and improve their employability. If these "learning" effects are large enough, the social benefits of wage subsidies could outweigh their cost. When wage subsidies are designed with these objectives in mind, there are important implications in terms of eligibility and targeting, how the subsidy is set, its duration, and the types of conditionalities on employers and beneficiaries. Given uncertainty regarding their impact, in all cases, programs should be piloted and evaluated prior to full scale implementation.

JELs

J2, J3, J6