Russia and other countries in the
commonwealth of independent states that have implemented
voucher privatization programs have to account for the
puzzling behavior of insiders manager-owners-who, in
stripping assets from the firms they own, appear to be
stealing from one pocket to fill the other. This article
suggests that asset stripping and the absence of
restructuring result from interactions between insiders and

The present study describes, and
quantifies the provision of basic urban services to the
poor, in three Central American cities in El Salvador,
Honduras, and, Panama. It also identifies priority areas for
government intervention, using specialized household surveys
to quantify current deficits, and to rank households from
poor to rich, using aggregate consumption as the measure of
welfare. The urban poverty profile is examined in each city,

Vietnam's ethnic minorities, who tend to
live mostly in remote rural areas, typically have lower
living standards than the ethnic majority. How much is this
because of differences in economic characteristics (such as
education levels and land) rather than low returns to
characteristics? Is there a self-reinforcing culture of
poverty in the minority groups, reflecting patterns of past
discrimination? The authors find that differences in levels

Albania provides a small amount of
social assistance to nearly 20 percent of its population
through a system that allows some community discretion in
determining distribution. This study investigates how well
this social assistance program is targeted to the poor.
Relative to other safety net programs in low-income
countries, social assistance in Albania is fairly well
targeted. Nevertheless, the system is hampered by the

Despite its healthy economic growth, due
to good macroeconomic management, and progress in trade
liberalization, Sri Lanka's development is perceived to
be well below its potential. Certainly, the civil conflict
has taken a heavy social, and economic toll on the
country's performance, but also governance, and public
institutions have weakened, though maintaining a dominance
on the financial sector, and utilities, which further

The authors present evidence that in
Burkina Faso, certain high-performing local institutions
contribute to equitable economic development. They link
reduced levels of poverty, and inequality to a high degree
of internal village organization. The structure of these
high-performing local organizations means they can exist in
a number of African countries, because they depend more on
internal participation, rather than on nay one

Following the East Asian financial
crisis, the Bank's involvement in Thailand intensified,
enabling a multifaceted stabilization, and structural reform
dialogue, which deepened the economic, financial, and sector
knowledge of the country. The study benefits from this
analytical work, and provides an overview on the ongoing
policy dialogue, regarding short- and medium-term reform,
through a number of instruments. To promote longer-term

In a globalizing world, cities at or
near the apex of the international urban hierarchy are among
the favored few--New York, London, and Tokyo--that have
acquired large economic, cultural, and symbolic roles. Among
a handful of regions that aspire to such a role--such as
Hong Kong, Miami, and Sao Paulo--Shanghai has reasonable
long-term prospects. If the Chinese economy can sustain its
growth rate, it will rival the United States in a few

Forestry contributes 7-10 percent of Lao
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 15-20 percent of
non-agricultural GDP. In rural areas forest exploitation is
one of the few available economic activities, and non-timber
products provide more than half of family income. The sector
contributes 34 percent of total export value, and even more
of net foreign exchange. Forestry royalties as a share of
government revenues have decreased from 20 percent in the

This has to be accomplished against a
background of high illiteracy rates, rapidly growing
populations, low and erratic rainfall, inherently infertile
soils, and development strategies which have had a strong
urban bias. Under such conditions, traditional production
systems are unable to sustain the population. Without
significant change, land degradation will accelerate and the
natural resource base on which agricultural production

The performance of the East Asian
transition economies in export and income growth has been
strikingly better than that of countries in Eastern Europe
and the former Soviet Union. The East Asian economies have
achieved remarkably high growth rates in outputs and exports
without the often large declines in output and exports
observed in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. East
Asian reformers have successfully made many of the parallel

The objective of this paper is to serve
as an input into the on-going discussions concerning
sectoral and cross-sectoral aspects of the strategy.
Following this introduction, the second chapter provides a
brief background on the region, its people, economy and the
transport system. This is needed given that some readers on
the Bank side will not be familiar with Colombo. The third
chapter reviews the performance of the regional transport