This brief includes the following
headings: increasing access to land by the rural poor in
India; and KCP projects on service delivery for the poor.

Public sector management (PSM) reform is concerned with improving public sector results by changing
the way governments work. It is a challenging reform area in which to offer assistance. Sustainable institutional
change often requires that thousands of public agents alter their behavior, and political incentives may be at odds
with improving public sector performance. “What works” in PSM reform is highly context-dependent and
explicit evidence remains limited.
The Bank’s Approach to PSM for 2011-2020 emphasizes that public sector reform is a pragmatic

Following the transition to democracy in
2008, two very important political developments took place.
These were the announcement of the 7th National Finance
Commission Award, which was agreed upon in December 2009 in
Lahore, Pakistan, and the unanimous ratification by
Parliament of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in
April 2010. Both developments have the potential of
fundamentally restructuring the way Pakistan is governed in

This paper analyzes the trends and
evolution of public spending in the agriculture sector in
Indonesia, as well as the impact of public spending on
agricultural growth. It finds that, in line with empirical
work undertaken in other countries, public spending on
agriculture and irrigation during the period 1976-2006 had a
positive impact on agricultural growth, while public
spending on fertilizer subsidies had the opposite effect.

Over the last three decades,
China's product, labor, and capital markets have become
gradually more integrated within its borders, although
integration has been significantly slower for capital
markets. There remains a significant urban-rural divide, and
Chinese cities tend to be under-sized by international
standards. China has also integrated globally, initially
through the Special Economic Zones on the coast as launching

The relatively slow pace of
Nigeria's development has often been attributed to the
phenomenon of the resource curse whereby the nature of the
state as a "rentier" dilutes accountability for
development and political actors are able to manipulate
institutions to sustain poor governance. The impact of the
political elite's resource-control and allocation of
revenues on core democratic mechanisms is central to

This paper provides an overview of the
literature on tax morale and tax compliance. Most of the
material here is based on research that I have conducted
together with my co-authors over the last 10 years. Europe
has a dominant place in this paper. Sometimes results
derived from other countries are discussed that could be
relevant for Europe. The overall findings show the
importance of accountability, democratic governance,

Gender-poverty-environment links: a
focus on the links between gender disparity, poverty and
environmental degradation is increasingly recognized as a
key strategy for improving the lives of poor women and men.
Acknowledging the ways in which relationships between the
environment, society and the economy are gendered opens
space for new approaches to poverty reduction, environmental
conservation and gender equality. The Social Development

Signing the accession treaty with the
European Union (EU) and its forthcoming membership to the EU
are remarkable opportunities for Croatia to address a number
of economic challenges and join the EU as a competitive and
successful economy. The new Croatian government in its
program for 2011-2015 seeks higher standards of living for
its citizens through sustained economic growth and greater
social cohesion. Given the legacies from the past, these

The report examines the fixed assets
management practices and procedures of the Provincial
Government of Daerah Khusus Ibukota (DKI) Jakarta and
identifies its weaknesses. The objective is to identify a
set of implementable interventions which should assist DKI
in achieving an unqualified audit of its fixed assets. As
part of the exercise, the assignment will identify areas for
potential improvement to existing assets management systems

The paper reports on improving feed and
fodder supply for the dzud management in Mongolia study, and
aims to identify policy options that could improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of dzud emergency management
and response. It includes an assessment of the appropriate
roles for the private and public sectors, identification of
issues, and capacity building requirements. The study will
support a policy dialogue and could provide the foundation

The World Bank Group has a unique
opportunity to match the increases in financing for
agriculture with a sharper focus on improving agricultural
growth and productivity in agriculture-based economies,
notably in Sub-Saharan Africa. Greater effort will be needed
to connect sectoral interventions and achieve synergies from
public and private sector interventions; to build capacity
and knowledge exchange; to take stock of experience in