The purpose of this book is to
contribute to the debate on how to confront the challenges
that Bolivia faces today. It is composed of a series of
studies on the current reality of Bolivia and has been
developed in conjunction with national and international
public policy experts. The studies present a diagnostic by
sector, a summary of the main challenges, and public policy
recommendations aimed at meeting these challenges. After

This development policy review finds
ample evidence that Egypt has prospered as a consequence of
giving the economy a greater market orientation. While
favorable global conditions have helped, the structural
changes over the last two decades have been an essential
ingredient for Egypt's success. Productivity has risen
more in segments of the economy where the private sector s
share in investment and output grew most. Empirical

Beyond the City evaluates the
contribution of rural development and policies to growth,
poverty alleviation, and environmental degradation in the
rest of the economy, as well as in the rural space. This
title brings together new theoretical and empirical
treatments of the links between rural and national
development. New findings and are combined with existing
literature to enhance our understanding of the how rural

This Country Economic Report (CER) is a
contribution to the ongoing debate among decision makers and
diverse stakeholders in Namibia on the outlook for sustained
growth and employment creation that addresses distribution
issues as well. The report addresses the following main
questions. What has been the past growth and employment
record and what can be learned? What are the main binding
constraints to growth? What has been the impact of this

This paper examines different models of
governing structure found in metropolitan areas around the
world. It evaluates how well these models achieve the
coordination of service delivery over the entire
metropolitan area as well as the extent to which they result
in the equitable sharing of costs of services. Based on
theory and case studies from numerous cities in developed
and less developed countries, the paper concludes that there

Albania has undertaken major reforms in
its system of local government finance since 2000. What had
been a system in which local functions were ambiguous and
financing was largely provided through tightly controlled
earmarked grants is now one in which functions are
relatively clear and local governments have more autonomy
over the allocation of funds. A new system of competitive
grants for infrastructure investment has been introduced.

A 2003 World Bank study, "Governance of Natural Resources in the Philippines," analyzed natural resources management and governance in the Philippines. It assessed sector policies, particularly property rights, institutions, and financing mechanisms as well as program implementation.

This Sourcebook deals with social
analysis in policy reform, encompassing the transition from
gaining a better understanding of the distributional impacts
of proposed or continuing reform to influencing a more
informed and locally embedded process of policy review and
design. In a generic sense, the term "social
analysis" encompasses institutional, political, and
social analyses. These three overlapping areas, derived from

This study by the World Bank indicates that forests offer vast potential for poverty reduction and rural economic growth in India while also supporting critical national conservation goals. An estimated 275 million people in rural areas depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods. Forest dwellers, which include a high proportion of tribals, are among the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society. The government of India has adopted Joint Forest Management as a principal approach for community-based forestry.

The analysis of the distributional
impact of policy reforms on the well-being or welfare of
different stakeholder groups, particularly on the poor and
vulnerable, has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing
countries. In recent years this type of work has been
labeled as Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) and is
increasingly implemented to promote evidence-based policy

This report contends that the key to unleashing the North West Frontier Province's possibilities and to improving the lives of its citizens is strengthening the governance and policy environment in the province for both the private and the public sectors, and investing in the provinces' most valuable resource - its people. Reforms and efforts in the past few years have already started to translate into higher growth, improved incomes, and better living conditions for the citizens of the NWFP.

Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
(PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments,
civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other
development partners to examine the distributional impacts
of policy reforms on the well-being of different
stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing