Resource information
Policymakers in developing countries are
increasingly recognizing the necessity of developing
strategies and identifying specific investment programs to
reduce spatial differences in living standards within their
national territories. Choosing among alternate policy
instruments to support spatial convergence is not
straightforward. Should the focus be social policies that
support human development in lagging regions and promote
migration to leading regions? Or infrastructure policies
that connect lagging regions with markets in leading ones?
Or investment and regulatory policies to create new clusters
of economic activity in regions not favored by the market?
The 2009 World Development Report (WDR) provides a policy
framework for integrating lagging and leading areas within
countries, prioritizing and sequencing policy instruments
based on the severity of the territorial integration
challenge. To operationalize the WDR's policy
priorities, this report discusses analytic tools to measure
the magnitude of regional disparities and identify where and
in what activities specific policies and investments can be
most effective. It also highlights potential economic and
social tradeoffs of alternative policy instruments for
pursuing spatial equity. Country case studies are provided
to illustrate how these tools either inform a specific
policy debate on territorial development or have been
directly used to guide ongoing policy discussions between
the Bank and counterparts in national and sub national governments.
