World Bank

The Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) is an annual assessment of the quality of a country's present policy and institutional framework. "Quality" means how conducive that framework is to fostering sustainable, poverty-reducing growth and the effective use of development assistance. Gender equality, one of the sixteen criteria included in the CPIA process, is the extent to which the country has enacted and put in place institutions and programs to enforce laws and policies that: (a) promote equal access for men and women to human capital development opportunities; (b) promote equal access for men and women to productive and economic resources; and (c) give men and women equal status and protection under the law.

The World Bank’s Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM: www.worldbank.org/kam) is an online interactive tool that produces the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI)–an aggregate index representing a country’s or region’s overall preparedness to compete in the Knowledge Economy (KE). The KEI is based on a simple average of four subindexes, which represent the four pillars of the knowledge economy:  Economic Incentive and Institutional Regime (EIR)  Innovation and Technological Adoption  Education and Training  Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Infrastructure The EIR comprises incentives that promote the efficient use of existing and new knowledge and the flourishing of entrepreneurship. An efficient innovation system made up of firms, research centers, universities, think tanks, consultants, and other organizations can tap into the growing stock of global knowledge, adapt it to local needs, and create new technological solutions. An educated and appropriately trained population is capable of creating, sharing, and using knowledge. A modern and accessible ICT infrastructure serves to facilitate the effective communication, dissemination, and processing of information.

The Logistics Performance Index overall score reflects assessments of a country's logistics based on efficiency of the customs clearance process, quality of trade- and transport-related infrastructure, ease of arranging competitively priced shipments, quality of logistics services, ability to track and trace consignments, and frequency with which shipments reach the consignee within the scheduled time. The index ranges from 1 to 5, with a higher score representing better performance. Data are from Logistics Performance Index surveys conducted by the World Bank in partnership with academic and international institutions and private companies and individuals engaged in international logistics. 2011 round of surveys covered more than 6,000 country assessments by nearly 1,000 international freight forwarders. Respondents evaluated eight markets on six core dimensions using a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best). The markets are chosen based on the most important export and import markets of the respondent's country, random selection, and, for landlocked countries, neighboring countries that connect them with international markets. Scores for the six areas are averaged across all respondents and aggregated to a single score using principal components analysis. Details of the survey methodology and index construction methodology are in Connecting to Compete 2012: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy (2012).

Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All, a World Bank Group flagship publication, is the 14th in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 190 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time. Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business. Ten of these areas are included in this year’s ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year’s ranking. Data in Doing Business 2017 are current as of June 1, 2016. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.