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Most cited papers from World Bank

What are the most cited papers from World Bank?

The most cited paper from World Bank is "A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010" (Stephen S Lim et al., 2012), with 12,027 citations. Next come "Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right" (8,704) and "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015" (7,829).

Showing 50 of 60 papers. Every paper with more than 1,440 citations is listed.

Most cited papers, sortable by citations and release date
#Paper
1 A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 Stephen S Lim et al. · The Lancet Open access209 authors Dec 2012 12,027
2 Finance and Growth: Schumpeter Might Be Right Robert G. King, Ross Eric Levine · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Aug 1993 8,704
3 Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015 Mohammad Hossein Forouzanfar et al. · The Lancet Open access654 authors Oct 2016 7,829
4 Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation Steve Knack, Philip Keefer · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Nov 1997 7,598
5 Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimation with Spatially Dependent Panel Data John C. Driscoll, Aart Kraay · The Review of Economics and Statistics Nov 1998 6,735
6 Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 Theo Vos et al. · The Lancet Open access679 authors 7 Jun 2015 6,558
7 Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions William Russell Easterly, Ross Eric Levine · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Nov 1997 5,730
8 The separation of ownership and control in East Asian Corporations Stijn Claessens, Simeon Djankov, Larry H.P. Lang · Journal of Financial Economics 2000 5,316
9 Estimating wealth effects without expenditure data—or tears: An application to educational enrollments in states of India Deon Filmer, Lant H. Pritchett · Demography Feb 2001 5,262
10 INSTITUTIONS AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE: CROSS‐COUNTRY TESTS USING ALTERNATIVE INSTITUTIONAL MEASURES Stephen Knack, Philip Keefer · Economics and Politics Nov 1995 5,188
11 The Lancet Commission on pollution and health Philip J. Landrigan et al. · The Lancet Open access 19 Oct 2017 4,954
12 High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution Margaret E. Kruk et al. · The Lancet Global Health Open access 5 Sep 2018 4,136
13 Finance, entrepreneurship and growth Robert G. King, Ross Eric Levine · Journal of Monetary Economics Dec 1993 3,574
14 Fractionalization Alberto Alesina, Arnaud Devleeschauwer, William Russell Easterly et al. · Journal of Economic Growth Open access Jun 2003 3,343
15 Returns to investment in education: A global update George Psacharopoulos · World Development Sep 1994 3,160
16 The Global Syndemic of Obesity, Undernutrition, and Climate Change: The Lancet Commission report Boyd Anthony Swinburn et al. · The Lancet Open access 27 Jan 2019 3,118
17 Safeguarding human health in the Anthropocene epoch: report of The Rockefeller Foundation–Lancet Commission on planetary health Sarah Whitmee et al. · The Lancet Open access 16 Jul 2015 2,978
18 Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages Beata Smarzynska Javorcik · American Economic Review May 2004 2,930
19 Private credit in 129 countries☆ Simeon Djankov, Caralee McLiesh, Andrei Shleifer · Journal of Financial Economics Open access 25 Jan 2007 2,889
20 A new scenario framework for climate change research: the concept of shared socioeconomic pathways Brian C. O’Neill, Elmar Kriegler, Keywan Riahi et al. · Climatic Change Open access 14 Oct 2013 2,814
21 Trust and Growth Paul J. Zak, Stephen Knack · The Economic Journal Open access Mar 2001 2,740
22 Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt · Journal of Banking & Finance 4 Jul 2006 2,629
23 Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk Taking?* Ulrike Malmendier, Stefan Nagel · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Open access Feb 2011 2,588
24 Future flood losses in major coastal cities Stéphane Hallegatte, Colin Richard Green, Robert J. Nicholls et al. · Nature Climate Change 16 Aug 2013 2,584
25 Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter? Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt, Vojislav Maksimovic · The Journal of Finance Open access 7 Jan 2005 2,542
26 Who Gives Foreign Aid to Whom and Why? Alberto Alesina, David Dollar · Journal of Economic Growth Open access Mar 2000 2,504
27 Designing payments for environmental services in theory and practice: An overview of the issues Stefanie Engel, Stefano Pagiola, Sven Wunder · Ecological Economics Open access 18 Apr 2008 2,471
28 Bank regulation and supervision: what works best? James R. Barth, Gerard Caprio, Ross Eric Levine · Journal of Financial Intermediation 22 Nov 2003 2,361
29 Finance, inequality and the poor Thorsten Beck, Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt, Ross Eric Levine · Journal of Economic Growth 5 Mar 2007 2,357
30 What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Tahmeed Ahmed, Robert E. Black et al. · The Lancet Feb 2008 2,307
31 Corporate governance, investor protection, and performance in emerging markets Leora F. Klapper, Inessa Love · Journal of Corporate Finance 13 May 2003 2,283
32 Climate-smart agriculture for food security Leslie Lipper et al. · Nature Climate Change 26 Nov 2014 2,203
33 Liberalization, Moral Hazard in Banking, and Prudential Regulation: Are Capital Requirements Enough? Thomas F. Hellmann, Kevin C. Murdock, Joseph E. Stiglitz · American Economic Review Mar 2000 2,149
34 Pollution and health: a progress update Richard Fuller et al. · The Lancet Planetary Health Open access 17 May 2022 2,132
35 Stock markets, banks, and growth: Panel evidence Thorsten Beck, Ross Eric Levine · Journal of Banking & Finance 21 Jan 2003 2,045
36 The Regulation of Labor Juan Carlos Botero, Simeon Djankov, R. L. Porta et al. · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Open access Nov 2004 2,039
37 Global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 306 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (HALE) for 188 countries, 1990–2013: quantifying the epidemiological transition Christopher J L Murray et al. · The Lancet Open access610 authors 28 Aug 2015 2,031
38 The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies Caroline O. N. Moser · World Development 1998 2,014
39 On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough * Alberto Alesina, Paola Giuliano, Nathan Nunn · The Quarterly Journal of Economics Open access 20 Feb 2013 1,895
40 International investment location decisions David Wheeler, Ashoka Mody · Journal of International Economics Aug 1992 1,832
41 Financial development and dynamic investment behavior: Evidence from panel VAR Inessa Love, Lea Zicchino · The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance May 2006 1,822
42 On exports and economic growth Gershon Feder · Journal of Development Economics Feb 1983 1,817
43 Entry regulation as a barrier to entrepreneurship Leora F. Klapper, Luc A. Laeven, Raghuram G. Rajan · Journal of Financial Economics Open access 26 Jul 2006 1,737
44 Measuring the Independence of Central Banks and Its Effect on Policy Outcomes Alex Cukierman, Steven B. Web, Bilin Neyaptı · The World Bank Economic Review 1992 1,728
45 New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth Klaus Deininger, Lyn Squire · Journal of Development Economics 1998 1,725
46 Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions to reduce diarrhoea in less developed countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis Lorna Fewtrell, Rachel B. Kaufmann, David A. Kay et al. · The Lancet Infectious Diseases Review 29 Dec 2004 1,698
47 Fiscal policy and economic growth William Russell Easterly, Sergio Tavares Rebelo · Journal of Monetary Economics Open access Dec 1993 1,694
48 Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 Nicholas J Kassebaum et al. · The Lancet Open access349 authors 2 May 2014 1,682
49 How does foreign entry affect domestic banking markets? Stijn Claessens, Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt, Harry Huizinga · Journal of Banking & Finance May 2001 1,673
50 Economic Development and Environmental Quality: An Econometric Analysis Nemat Shafik · Oxford Economic Papers Oct 1994 1,662

Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for an institution when any of its authors gave it as an affiliation; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.