This Country Economic Memorandum (CEM)
looks at the broad reform program, including institutional,
governance, and economic restructuring reforms Romania is
pursuing, which are anchored in its process for accession to
the European Union (EU). The challenge is to expand
integration with the EU more broadly throughout the economy,
by relying on market driven mechanisms in a predictable
rules-based policy environment, with the state sharply

A major problem in the Europe and
Central Asia (ECA) agricultural sector and rural areas
during the transition was the breakdown of the relationships
of farms with input suppliers and output markets. The
simultaneous privatization and restructuring of the farms
and of the up- and downstream companies in the agrifood
chain have caused major disruptions. The result is that many
farms and rural households face serious constraints in

The note looks at poverty in Ecuador,
assessing macroeconomic developments through its policies to
maintain stability with fiscal discipline, and increase
economic productivity and competitiveness, in particular,
the 1998/99 crisis, the 2000 dollarization and their effect
on poverty. From 1990 to 2001, national consumption-based
poverty rose from 40 to 45 percent, and the number of poor
people increased from 3.5 to 5.2 million. Poverty increased

During the past decade, the use of
conditional cash transfer programs to increase investment in
human capital has generated considerable excitement in both
research and policy forums. This article surveys the
existing literature, which suggests that most conditional
cash transfer programs are used for essentially one of two
purposes: restoring efficiency when externalities exist or
improving equity by targeting resources to poor households.

This paper analyzes the distributional impacts of trade reforms in rural areas of Bangladesh. The liberalization of trade in irrigation equipment and fertilizer markets during the early 1990s has led to structural changes in the agricultural sector and a significant increase in rice productivity. A resulting increase in output has been associated with a decline in producer and consumer rice prices of approximately 25 percent.

This Policy Note discusses the status of
Forestry in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MNA) of
the Bank. The Policy Note is a product of the FAO Investment
Center in Rome, the International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI) and the Bank. Experience in natural
resource management shows that to adequately address
sustainable development, solutions must go beyond any single
sector, and be cross-sectoral. They must also go beyond

The study develops a new method to
measure the impacts of climate change on agriculture called
the Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ) Model. A multinomial logit is
estimated to predict the probability of each AEZ in each
district. The average percentage of cropland and average
crop net revenue are calculated for each AEZ. Then an
estimate of the amount of cropland in Africa and where it is
located is provided. Using current conditions, the model

This note deals with the extent to
which, and the means by which, project level distributional
analysis of benefits can be undertaken and how poverty
impact indicators can be developed. Section 1 sets out the
issues associated with using traditional cost benefit
analysis for the appraisal of pro-poor projects. Section 2
discusses the techniques and analysis available to consider
the distributional consequences of a transport change,

The review examines the use of
environmental valuation in 101 projects in the World
Bank's environmental portfolio approved in fiscal years
2000, 2001, and 2002. It has three broad objectives. First,
it examines the extent to which environmental costs and
benefits have been incorporated in the economic analysis of
projects. Second, it examines how well valuation was used.
Third, it seeks to identify areas of weakness so as to feed

Rich countries' agricultural trade policies are the battleground on which the future of the WTO's troubled Doha Round will be determined. Subject to widespread criticism, they nonetheless appear to be almost immune to serious reform, and one of their most common defenses is that they protect poor farmers. The authors' findings reject this claim.

Critical choices must now be made if
growth is to be sustained. Significant potential exists for
future growth, but bringing out this potential poses a major
challenge for government policy. Agricultural strategy must
shift its focus towards support for continuous productivity
growth by peasant farms in a conducive marketing
environment. Key priorities include completion of land
reforms (especially in the North); fundamental restructuring

Mauritius is facing a sharp transition from dependence on trade preferences to open competition in the global economy. And it must do so in an unusually difficult environment. After 20 years of remarkable performance, the economy has fallen off a high growth plateau of about 6 percent toward the 2-3 percent range. The creation of new jobs is now too slow to prevent an increase in unemployment. Domestic investment has fallen, the external accounts have shifted from surplus into deficit by $300 million, and the country has sporadically lost reserves.