Indigenous peoples make up less than 5
percent of the world's population, yet comprise 15
percent of the world's poor. The indigenous population
of Latin America is estimated at 28 million. Despite
significant changes in poverty overall, the proportion of
indigenous peoples in the region living in poverty - at
almost 80 percent - did not change much from the early 1990s
to the early 2000s. Economic Opportunities for Indigenous

This report seeks to present micro
evidence on how environmental changes affect poor
households. It focuses primarily on environmental resources
that are outside the private sphere, particularly commonly
held and managed resources such as forests, fisheries, and
wildlife. The objectives for this volume are three-fold. It
is first interested in using an empirical data-driven
approach to examine the dependence of the poor on natural

Despite positive, relatively broad-based
and stable growth record in recent years and immense
untapped potential in agriculture, mining and services,
Zambia's poverty rates have not declined significantly
and remain high. Income growth is limited by coordination
failures such as poor access to domestic and international
markets, inputs, extension services and information. High
indirect costs - most of which attributable to

In 2006 most of the people of Uganda,
with the notable exception of those in the conflict-blighted
Northern Region, enjoy a better quality of life and brighter
opportunities in a stable and growing economy. Uganda's
economy has bounced back beyond what could be regarded as
recovery, with real incomes per person now exceeding the
levels reached at Independence in 1962. The report structure
is as follows: volume one synthesizes the conclusions from

Water policy is an important topic on
the agenda of the international community, and efficiency
and equity in the allocation of water have emerged as
important factors to be considered. Water pricing can be
used to mitigate both the quantity and quality dimensions of
water scarcity. This paper reviews partial equilibrium
models and general equilibrium models that are relevant to
irrigation water management issues. The most widely

This document presents the recently
elected Colombian administration with a set of policy notes
meant to enrich the debate around critical issues affecting
the country's development. These notes build mostly
upon existing research and represent the Bank's
independent view on topics which are either at the crux of
ongoing policy discussions or merit a more prominent place
in this dialogue. This window of opportunity provides a very

The migration of labor from rural to urban areas is an important part of the urbanization process in developing countries. Even though it has been the focus of abundant research over the past five decades, some key policy questions have not found clear answers yet. To what extent is internal migration a desirable phenomenon and under what circumstances? Should governments intervene and, if so, with what types of interventions? What should be their policy objectives?

Levels of economic development vary
widely within countries in the Americas. This paper argues
that part of this variation has its roots in the colonial
era. Colonizers engaged in different economic activities in
different regions of a country, depending on local
conditions. Some activities were "bad" in the
sense that they depended heavily on the exploitation of
labor and created extractive institutions, while

This history illustrates a number of
themes encountered in Swaziland that faces developing
countries and their external partners in Africa and beyond.
Firstly, the history relates the experience of a small and
comparatively insular country in addressing complex
challenges deriving from rapid urbanization and, as a
result, the growing need to adapt governance systems and
structures. A second key issue is the challenge that small

Interest in investment climates has
emerged relatively recently. In the 1960s and 1970s,
governments in many countries believed they should play a
direct role in rural credit, input supply, production,
trade, transport, distribution, and even marketing. However,
in the 1980s and 1990s, government-dominated systems fell
into disgrace because of poor performance. For the rural
sector, the primary focus had traditionally been on

This paper starts with a brief
perspective on urban transport in developing countries,
followed by a detailed presentation of an overall framework
for making projects in this sector. Additional details on
cities and projects used as case studies are given in the
accompanying tables. The challenge for the Bank is to assist
client cities in providing transport infrastructure and
services that respond to demographic, spatial and economic

Firms in Africa report "regulatory
and economic policy uncertainty" as a top constraint to
their growth. This paper argues that often firms in Africa
do not cope with policy rules, rather they face deals:
firm-specific policy actions that can be influenced by firm
actions (such as bribes) and characteristics (such as
political connections). Using Enterprise Survey data, the
paper demonstrates huge variability in reported policy