One area of weakness in current
agricultural policy work in Vietnam is the lack of a clear
understanding of both the private profitability of farmers
for different crop activities and the social profitability
of such activities. Agricultural performance is thus gauged
in physical terms (i.e. yields and the volume of aggregate
output) rather than in financial or economic terms. This has
hampered efforts to compare and contrast the impacts and

As a low-middle-income country with a
gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of US$1,715 and a
population of 30 million (nearly half of all of the Central
Asian population), Uzbekistan has seen stable economic
progress since the mid-2000s, both in terms of growth and
poverty reduction. Growth has averaged 8 percent per year
since 2004 and extreme poverty has declined from 27 percent
in 2000 to 15 percent in 2012. Encouraged by this

This report provides tentative leads
toward such policy prescriptions, based on an overview of
the empirical evidence. Chapter one sets the stage by
putting Africa's export-survival performance into
perspective and proposing a framework that will guide the
interpretation of empirical evidence throughout the report.
Chapter two covers country-level determinants of export
sustainability at origin and destination, including the

In 2010, Uttarakhand entered the second
decade of its existence as a separate State. During the
first decade, average individual incomes rose by eight ranks
in relation to the other States in India. Although these
incomes are still below the median for India, they are
growing significantly faster, which is leading to rapid
convergence with the richer States. Looking ahead, the State
can build upon its existing growth momentum, the economic

The design, implementation, and
monitoring and evaluation of livestock sector public and
private sector investments are based on evidence and
information generated by a multitude of data collection
systems, including regular and one-off, or ad-hoc, surveys.
This note reviews the major survey methods that are
regularly implemented by developing country governments,
including: the agricultural and livestock census;

Scientific evidence indicates that global warming could well lead to a sea-level rise of 1 meter or more in the 21st century. This paper seeks to quantify how a 1-meter sea-level rise that would affect coastal wetlands in 76 developing countries and territories, taking into account how much of wetlands would be submerged and how likely the wetlands would move inland as the coastline recedes. It is estimated that approximately 64 percent of the freshwater marsh, 66 percent of Global Lakes and Wetlands Database coastal wetlands, and 61 percent of brackish/saline wetlands are at risk.

Many key development outcomes depend on
women's ability to negotiate favorable intrahousehold
allocations of resources. Yet it has been difficult to
clearly identify which policies can increase women's
bargaining power and result in better outcomes. This paper
reviews both the analytical frameworks and the empirical
evidence on the importance of women's bargaining power.
It argues that there is sufficient evidence from rigorous

Despite the widespread tariff reductions
sparked by the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade
Agreement, borders in the region remain thick, with many
hurdles standing in the way of regional trade. Although
anecdotal evidence suggests that nontariff measures raise
trade costs and inhibit trade in the region, little is known
about the magnitude of these economic effects. This paper
uses a newly collected data set to quantify the incidence of

The female population deficit in India
has been explained in a number of ways, but the great
heterogeneity in the deficit across districts within India
still remains an open question. This paper argues that
across India, a largely agrarian economy, soil texture
varies exogenously and determines the workability of the
soil and the technology used in land preparation. Deep
tillage, possible only in lighter and looser loamy soils,

The second quarter of 2013 was an
eventful one as Indonesia's economy, policy settings
and financial markets adjusted to pressures which have been
mounting over recent quarters and to shifts in the global
environment. Following slightly weaker-than-expected growth
in the first quarter, there are signs that domestic demand,
particularly investment, has continued to moderate. On the
fiscal front, the combination of lower revenues and higher

The sector review includes seven
chapters and one annex. This first chapter is an overview of
agriculture, irrigation and the purpose and content of this
report. The second chapter provides a review of the Bank s
own strategy and priorities for irrigation and drainage
within its portfolio of investments, from the time of its
2004 Strategy until the present. It also includes a short
summary of key lessons learned in this sector. The third

After a policy-engineered slowdown in
2012, which saw GDP growth decline to 4.8 percent, the
lowest since 2008, Bhutan's economy is expected to
rebound to 6.5 percent this year, supported by hydropower
construction and higher electricity and food production,
following favorable rains. The tight fiscal stance
introduced in 2012 has been maintained to bring spending in
line with lower non-hydro revenues and a slowdown in foreign