Azerbaijan's early transition to an
independent, market-based economy has been tumultuous,
entailing significant economic costs, and social impacts.
Yet, unlike many transition economies, sound economic
reforms since 1995, have enabled the country to achieve
macroeconomic stability, and resume growth. Notwithstanding,
the impact on poverty reduction has been modest,
particularly in the case of the urban poor who did not

The authors assess impacts of rural road
rehabilitation on market development at the commune level in
rural Vietnam and examine the variance of those impacts and
the geographic, community, and household factors that
explains it. Double difference and matching methods are used
to address sources of selection bias in identifying impacts.
The results point to significant average impacts on the
development of local markets. They also uncover evidence of

According to Myint's "vent-for-surplus"
theory, development of the economies of Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Thailand from the nineteenth century on
depended on the natural advantage of large tracts of unused
"empty land" with low population density and abundant natural
resources of the type typically found in Southeast Asia and
Africa at the outset of Western colonization. When these
economies were integrated into international trade, hitherto

The report proposes key elements for an
agricultural export-oriented strategy in Egypt, that would
build on the achievements of the agricultural strategy
during the 1990s. Substantial improvements in the
country's macroeconomic environment, following policy
reforms - though necessary - have not been sufficient to
improve agricultural export performance. Overall, while
Egyptian agricultural production increased during the 90s,

The Mongolian cashmere industry has
experienced a series of booms and busts over the last
decade. Unsatisfactory public sector policies contributed to
this result. External factors such as the unfavorable
economic environment of the early 1990s, the East Asia
crisis, and weather conditions have also affected its
performance. Over 1993-96 cashmere exports doubled from
US$33.5 million to US$71.2 million, as cashmere's share

This paper considers the potential implications of the Doha Development Agenda, as well as other trade liberalization scenarios, for Mozambique. An applied general equilibrium model, which accounts for high marketing margins and home consumption in the Mozambique economy, is linked to results from the GTAP model of global trade. In addition, a microsimulation module is used to consider the subsequent implications of trade liberalization for poverty. The implications of trade liberalization, particularly the Doha scenarios, are found to be relatively small.

Prospects for economic growth depend
upon the success of two overarching factors (1) mitigating
risks related to political uncertainty and the maintenance
of peace and security in the region; and (2) implementation
of a policy program that promotes private sector- led
growth, including completion of the reconstruction effort.
Such a package of reforms might include the following
measures: Within a sound fiscal position proceed with

This paper uses a duration analysis
based on adoption data spanning more than 25 years from six
communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. The
analysis explores how household characteristics and external
trends play into both the adoption and diffusion processes
of non-traditional exports among smallholders. Adoption was
initially widespread and rapid, which led nontraditional
exports to be hailed as a pro-poor success, reaching all but

This paper looks at the evidence on the
magnitude and impacts of forest illegal acts, examines the
vulnerabilities of the forest sector, and proposes a
strategy for combating forest crime. Forest crime
prominently includes illegal logging but acts against the
law also affect other sector operations such as forest
products transport, industrial processing, and trade. Almost
universally, criminal exploitation of forest products and

For Croatia, the challenge is to create
conditions that will attract investment and produce growth.
These conditions can broadly be categorized as (a) stable,
progressive and predictable laws and institutions; (b)
efficient labor and financial markets; (c) macroeconomic and
financial stability; (d) social and environmental
sustainability; (e) effective integration into the European
infrastructure networks ensuring competitive cost and

How has environment mattered for the
World Bank? The aggregate figures suggest that it has
mattered a great deal, since the Bank's total
environmental lending has exceeded $US 9 billion over the
past six years. In this paper the authors use newly
available data to address a more precise version of the
question: Across countries and themes, how well has the
Bank's environmental lending and analytical and

This paper helps build a clear picture of the role of women in China's agriculture and, if agricultural feminization has been occurring, its impact on labor use, productivity, and welfare. Using two data sets that track changes in labor use over time, the authors examine the evolution of off farm and on farm employment trends and analyze the role of men and women in the emergence of China's labor markets. They explore who is working on China's farms, and the effects of these decisions on labor use, productivity and welfare.