Honduras is Central America’s
second-largest country with a population of more than 8
million and a land area of about 112,000 square kilometers.
The 20th century witnessed a profound economic
transformation and modernization in Honduras. Honduras’
persistent poverty is the result of long-term low per capita
growth and high inequality, perpetuated by the country’s
high vulnerability to shocks. First, over the past 40 years

Inequality in Indonesia is rising
rapidly. During the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, poverty
rosesharply, while the Gini measure of inequality fell, as
the richest were the hardest hit. Since then, the Gini has
increased from 30 points in 2000 to 41 points in 2014, its
highest recorded level. In 2002, the richest 10 percent of
Indonesians consumed as much as the poorest 42 percent
combined; by 2014, they consumed as much as the poorest 54

Afghanistan is a deeply fragile and
conflict affected state. It has been in almost constant
conflict for over 35 years since the Soviet invasion of
1979. Today the country is at a crossroads in its
development with economic growth down sharply and poverty
incidence stubbornly high. Afghanistan faces tremendous
development challenges. Gross domestic product (GDP)
per-capita is among the lowest in the world, poverty is deep

Myanmar grew at an estimated 8.5 percent
in real terms in 2014-15. Economic reforms have supported
consumer and investor confidence despite business
environment and socio-political challenges. The economic
impact of the floods that hit Myanmar from July 2015 is
still being assessed, but will likely adversely affect the
main rice crop this year. According to preliminary analysis
of census data, the areas most affected by the floods are

This paper studies the effects of
differences in local administrative burdens in Italy in the
years 2005–2007 preceding a major reform that sped up firm
registration procedures. Combining regulatory data from a
survey on Italian provinces before the reform (costs and
time to start a business) with industry-level entry rates of
limited liability firms, it explores the effects of
regulatory barriers on the average of the annual entry rates

This paper is motivated by the emphasis
on secure property rights as a determinant of economic
development in recent literature. The authors use village
and household level information from about 800 villages
throughout China to explore whether legal reform increased
protection of land rights against unauthorized reallocation
or expropriation with below-average compensation by the
state. The analysis provides nation-wide evidence on a

New qualitative fieldwork in eight
countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) indicates that
the dramatic declines in poverty in much of the region over
the last decade do not appear to be registering very
favorably with men and women on the ground. This paper
provides a gender analysis of findings from equal numbers of
sex-specific focus groups with employed and jobless
individuals. The methodology featured a standardized package

Correspondent banking services are
essential to enabling companies and individuals to transact
internationally and make cross-border payments. Recently
there have been indications that certain large international
banks have started terminating or severely limiting their
correspondent banking relationships with smaller local and
regional banks from jurisdictions around the world. To find
out whether this is indeed happening, the World Bank, with

Honduras’ recent economic performance
has been positive, especially taking into account the global
economic context. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
accelerated from 2.8 percent in 2013 to 3.1 percent in 2014
and 3.6 percent in the first half of 2015. Growth has been
supported by improved terms of trade, higher remittance
inflows and export demand driven by the on-going recovery of
the United States (US), and improved investor confidence.

The housing finance market in Mali
remains small and under developed. Few banks currently offer
a full mortgage product with Banque Malienne de Solidarite,
Mali Housing Bank (BHM), Bank of Africa, and EcoBank being
the main lenders although at minimal levels. The total
annual housing need in Mali based on the household formation
rate amounts to 82,500, split between 51,100 urban units and
31,400 rural units. Overall some social housing is

This paper is one of a series aimed at
deepening the World Bank’s capacity to follow through on
commitments made in response to the World Development Report
(WDR) 2011, which gave renewed prominence to the nexus
between conflict, security, and development. Nigeria is a
remarkable illustration of how deeply intractable the cycle
of poverty, conflict, and fragility can become when tied to
the ferocious battles associated with the political economy

This is the first investment climate
assessment (ICA) for Myanmar. The main objectives of this
ICA are to: (i) provide an up-to-date and fact-based
analysis of the business environment for the government and
other stakeholders in Myanmar to help prioritize and
contextualize the reform agenda, and (ii) to offer a
baseline for future assessments of progress in terms of the
investment climate reform agenda. As requested by the