Over the past dozen years, policymakers
have largely abandoned long-standing popular approaches for
addressing risk in agriculture without fully resolving the
question of how best to manage the negative consequences of
volatile agricultural markets. The article reviews the
transition from past policies and describes current
approaches that distinguish between the trade-related fiscal
consequences of commodity market volatility and the

Despite Bulgaria's progress to act
in accordance with European Union (EU) environmental
directives, full compliance with the Union's
environmental acquis remains a challenge and requires a
substantial investment program in environmental
infrastructure and implementation activities in pollution
abatement, waste management, and financing the associated
operation and maintenance costs. The report focuses on

This paper uses the Ricardian approach
to examine how farmers in 11 countries in Africa have
adapted to existing climatic conditions. It then estimates
the effects of predicted changes in climate while accounting
for whatever farmer adaptation might occur. This study
differs from earlier ones by using farmers' own
perceptions of the value of their land. Previous research,
by contrast, has relied on either observed sale prices or

The Operations Evaluation Department
(OED) is an independent unit within the World Bank. The
goals of evaluation are to learn from experience, to provide
an objective basis for assessing the results of the Bank’s
work, and to provide accountability in the achievement of
its objectives. This report on the Post-Conflict Fund (PCF)
is one of twenty six case studies that have been prepared as
source material for the second phase of OED’s independent

Accelerating rural economic growth and
reducing rural poverty requires a comprehensive strategy
built on sound analysis covering all major aspects o f the
rural economy including agricultural output markets, input
markets (seeds, fertilizer, extension), factor markets
(land, water, labor and credit), the rural non- farm
economy, and targeted interventions. This report focuses on
one aspect o f this complex puzzle - rural factor markets.

This Fisheries Sector Approach Paper has
been written in recognition of the mounting challenges that
the World Bank and the developing world face in meeting the
fishery sector-related Millennium Development Goals and the
outcomes of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development. It augments the Bank's Rural Strategy,
Reaching the Rural Poor, which advocates a holistic approach
to rural poverty reduction, and support for equitable

How do differences in the local business environment influence location of industry within countries? How do the benefits of a good business environment compare with those from good market access and agglomeration economies from industry clustering? The authors examine these questions by analyzing location decisions of individual firms. Using data from a recently completed survey of manufacturing firms in India, they find that both the local business environment and agglomeration economies significantly influence business location choices across cities.

Decentralized forest management is an
important policy issue in India and elsewhere. Yet there are
few careful studies of the impacts of community forestry.
The authors try to fill this gap by analyzing National
Sample Survey data from 524 villages in five states in
India. Their analysis seeks to answer two key questions: (1)
Who participates in community forestry and what are the
determinants of participation? (2) What is the impact of

This volume presents a set of Policy
Notes prepared by the World Bank's Brazil Team with
partners during 2002 as a contribution for the debate of
policies by the new federal and state governments elected in
October 2002. The objectives of making these Policy Notes
available to a broader audience is twofold. It could
contribute to the discussion in Brazil and elsewhere about
public policies to be formulated by the Brazilian

Most analyses of property rights and
economic development point to the negative influence of
insecure property rights on private investment. The authors
focus instead on the largely unexamined effects of insecure
property rights on government policy choices. They identify
one significant anomaly-dramatically higher public
investment in countries with insecure property rights-and
use it to make the following broad claims about insecure

For Croatia, the challenge is to create
conditions that will attract investment and produce growth.
These conditions can broadly be categorized as (a) stable,
progressive and predictable laws and institutions; (b)
efficient labor and financial markets; (c) macroeconomic and
financial stability; (d) social and environmental
sustainability; (e) effective integration into the European
infrastructure networks ensuring competitive cost and

According to Myint's "vent-for-surplus"
theory, development of the economies of Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Thailand from the nineteenth century on
depended on the natural advantage of large tracts of unused
"empty land" with low population density and abundant natural
resources of the type typically found in Southeast Asia and
Africa at the outset of Western colonization. When these
economies were integrated into international trade, hitherto