Economics & Development

This Completion and Learning Review (CLR) assesses the implementation of the World Bank Group (WBG) Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Belize for the period of FY18‑24. The assessment is based on the Results Framework of the CPF, discussed by the WBG’s Board of Directors on April 28, 2017, as revised by the Performance and Learning Review (PLR) on April 28, 2023 (Report No. 180534‑BZ). The two CPF focus areas ‑ fostering climate resilience and environmental sustainability and promoting financial inclusion and social resilience ‑ were derived from the Belize National Development Framework 2010‑2030 and the 2016 WBG Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) for Belize. The PLR : (i) validated the overall strategy; (ii) highlighted the program’s emphasis on responding to socioeconomic hardship that the COVID‑19 pandemic and climate change have caused, based on the priorities of the new administration, set under the medium‑term development strategy (Plan Belize 2022‑2026, launched in January 2023); (iii) maintained the CPF focus areas and replaced Objective 2b, “Improve youth employability and at‑risk youth inclusion,” with “Respond to socioeconomic hardship due to COVID‑19 and climate‑related challenges”; and (iv) extended the CPF period to June 2024 (from June 2023) to facilitate a smooth transition to the new CPF.

El presente documento, denominado Prototipo, ha sido diseñado como una herramienta de consulta rápida para orientar a municipios de Colombia en la implementación de mecanismos de coordinación interinstitucional que garanticen el diagnóstico oportuno y de alta calidad del cáncer de mama. Su enfoque parte de la necesidad de articular a las Empresas Administradoras de Planes de Beneficios (EAPB), las Instituciones Prestadoras de Servicios de Salud (IPS) y las direcciones locales de salud, con el fin de evitar la pérdida de pacientes, reducir demoras innecesarias y asegurar la culminación efectiva del proceso diagnóstico. El Prototipo sistematiza los aprendizajes y recomendaciones derivados de la Fase 1 del proyecto “Coordinación para el Diagnóstico Oportuno del Cáncer de Mama” (BCDC), desarrollado en Cali bajo el liderazgo de las Secretarías de Salud de Cali y del Valle del Cauca, con la participación de múltiples EAPB e IPS y la coordinación de ProPacífico y C/Can. Esta fase incluyó la construcción participativa de una ruta ciudad para el diagnóstico, el diseño de un mecanismo de coordinación tripartita, la incorporación progresiva de herramientas tecnológicas para el seguimiento de casos y el análisis de barreras estructurales, contractuales y operativas. Adicionalmente, el documento se fundamenta en referentes internacionales como las guías del CDC y el Faster Diagnosis Framework del NHS de Inglaterra. Con base en estas experiencias, se consolida un modelo operativo que integra herramientas técnicas, operativas y de gobernanza para mejorar la trazabilidad, reducir la fragmentación del proceso diagnóstico y apoyar la toma de decisiones orientadas a disminuir el tiempo entre la sospecha y la confirmación diagnóstica.

Industrial robots are rapidly changing global production processes, with large implications for patterns of foreign direct investments. The impact is ambiguous a priori. On the one hand, robotization may boost foreign direct investments since firms that have invested in robots increase their demand for complementary inputs. On the other hand, robotization may dampen foreign direct investments since firms have weaker incentives to outsource selected inputs and/or tasks. This paper finds that robotization at home boosts foreign direct investments, based on bilateral foreign direct investments data from 2003–21 across 65 countries. To uncover the underlying mechanism, the effect on foreign direct investments is decomposed into three components: capital per job (or capital intensity), jobs created per project (or labor intensity), and number of foreign direct investments projects. The positive effect of robotization in the source country on foreign direct investments is driven by increases in the number of projects and capital intensity, but not labor intensity. Decomposing foreign direct investments by business function reveals that this effect operates primarily through efficiency-seeking manufacturing investments rather than market-seeking activities, indicating that automation enhances firms' ability to establish complementary production networks abroad.