The report outlines the work of the
World Bank in addressing client countries with environmental
challenges, and, aims to ensure the lending program
integrates principles of environmental sustainability. It
highlights that the challenge of development assistance lies
in working with clients to implement policies, programs, and
investments that distribute the gains of development in an
equitable manner, by reducing poverty, and avoiding

Using cross-country and panel regressions, the authors show that financial sector development significantly reduces undernourishment (hunger), largely through gaining farmers and others access to productivity-enhancing equipment, translating into beneficial income and general effects. They show specifically that a deeper financial sector leads to higher agricultural productivity, including higher cereal yields, through increased fertilizer and tractor use. Higher productivity in turn leads to lower undernourishment.

This paper tells a story about
conditions in Tanzania's hidden economy, the parts of
the natural resource sector often ignored in conventional
economic analyses and studies, and makes recommendations for
future policy actions. The paper draws primarily from
extensive background studies undertaken of the forestry,
fishery, wildlife, mining, and tourism sub sectors (COWI
2005) as well as a wide range of complementary studies

The chapters in this volume underscore
the transformative role of globalization and urbanization,
and show the interplay between these forces. Trade reform
and liberalized foreign investment regimess have contributed
to the spatial reallocation of economic activity toward
cities, especially those cities that can attract and nurture
human capital and strong connections to other markets.
Global factors have, therefore, reinforced agglomeration

This paper looks at Singapore's efforts to transform the economic growth base from one that is predominantly efficiency-driven to one that is more innovation-driven. To accelerate the transition process, the government is aggressively investing in "innovation infrastructure"-systems and institutions that make the city a more conducive environment for innovations. The modus operandi, with a distinctive "winner-picking" flavor, mirrors that of its earlier strategic industrial policy in building up the manufacturing sector.

The purpose of this study is to update
the review of World Bank experience in Irrigation (IEG 1994)
and to broaden the scope of evaluation to include all water
lending for agricultural development. Since that first
study, the proportion of World Bank lending for agricultural
water management continued to decline, a trend that started
in the late 1970s when the sub-sector received 11 percent of
the lending, is falling to less than 2 percent in 2001-03.

This study explores the international
development community's understanding of poverty and
illustrates how it is related to environmental degradation.
the study relies on three sources: a comprehensive general
literature review, a review of past donor interventions in
Nigeria, and original empirical evidence. The linkages found
between poverty and environmental degradation are based on
240 household surveys analyzed by income quintiles

The note looks at poverty in Ecuador,
assessing macroeconomic developments through its policies to
maintain stability with fiscal discipline, and increase
economic productivity and competitiveness, in particular,
the 1998/99 crisis, the 2000 dollarization and their effect
on poverty. From 1990 to 2001, national consumption-based
poverty rose from 40 to 45 percent, and the number of poor
people increased from 3.5 to 5.2 million. Poverty increased

The authors examine the impact of growth
of key policy and institutional reforms: macroeconomic
stabilization, trade liberalization, deregulation of
finance, privatization, deregulation of utilities,
modernization of the public sector with a view to increasing
its effectiveness and accountability, and the spread of
democracy and decentralization. They draw lessons both from
a policy and institutional perspective and from the

The authors evaluate the impact of two
key factor market distortions in China on rural-urban
inequality and income distribution. They find that creation
of a fully functioning land market has a significant impact
on rural-urban inequality. This reform permits agricultural
households to focus solely on the differential between farm
and non-farm returns to labor in determining whether to work
on or off-farm. This gives rise to an additional 10 million

This report provides an assessment of
damages and needs resulting from the earthquake that struck
India on the 8m of October 2005. It provides a preliminary
estimate of the total cost of damage identifies the needs
for reconstruction and discusses strategies and guiding
principles for the implementation for a program of
reconstruction, the whole based on a need to mitigate future
impact of natural disasters through the strengthening of

This volume analyzes the economic
challenges confronting Turkey in its quest to accede to the
European Union (EU). It focuses on the extent to which
Turkey is ready to join the Single Market, comply with the
EU's body of economic regulations and directives, the
Acquis Communautaire, and meet the Maastricht criteria for
fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies. This book
also provides an assessment of Turkey's national