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 authors compare changes in gender
roles and women's empowerment in China, India, and the
Republic of Korea. Around 1950, these newly formed states
were largely poor and agrarian, with common cultural factors
that placed similar severe constraints on women's
autonomy. They adopted very different paths of development,
which are well known to have profoundly affected development
outcomes. These choices have also had a tremendous impact on

The introduction of green revolution
technologies in wheat, and rice production in Asia, in the
mid 1960s reversed the food crisis, and stimulated rapid
agricultural, and economic growth. But the sustainability of
this intensification strategy is being questioned, in light
of the heavy use of external inputs, and growing evidence of
a slowdown in productivity growth, and degradation of the
resource base. The authors address the critical issue of

A history of repeated external and
domestic shocks has made economic insecurity a major concern
across the Caribbean region. Of particular concern to all
households, especially the poorest segments of the
population, is the exposure to shocks that are generated by
catastrophic events or natural disasters. The author shows
that despite high consumption growth, the Caribbean region
suffers from a high volatility of consumption that decreases

The literature argues that the presence
of multiple veto players (government decisionmakers) with
polarized interests increases the credibility of sovereign
commitments, but reduces the ability of governments to
adjust policies in the event of exogenous shocks that
jeopardize their ability to honor their commitments. In the
case of sovereign lending, if the first effect prevails,
countries would be regarded as more creditworthy; if the

Over two decades, the World Bank has
undertaken many structural adjustment operations with
governments of developing countries. During negotiations for
structural adjustment loans (SALs), partner governments
agree to specific policy reforms, whose implementation
becomes a condition for disbursement of SAL funds.
Conditionality varies with local circumstances, but
generally supports privatization of state enterprises,

Most efforts to trace the effects of
income inequality on growth have focused on redistribution.
However, empirical investigation has not substantiated
either the positive association of income inequality with
redistribution or the negative association of redistribution
with economic growth. The authors analyze the effects of
inequality in the broader context of social polarization.
They argue that social polarization, whether rooted in

While liberalizing key factor markets is
a crucial step in the transition from a socialist
control-economy to a market economy, the process can be
stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs,
and covert resistance from entrenched interests. The authors
study land-market adjustment in the wake of Vietnam's
reforms aiming to establish a free market in land-use rights
following de-collectivization. Inefficiencies in the initial

No mundo contemporâneo, o tema da alimentação “ecológica” tem sido cada vez mais discutido. Muitos estudos enfatizam aspectos técnicos e econômicos e colocam a produção agroecológica como oposta àquela convencional, que faz uso intensivo de agroquímicos. Este trabalho apresenta a trajetória de uma família de agricultores ecológicos – camponeses de origem pomerana – inseridos em uma comunidade em que a maior parte dos agricultores trabalha com a produção de fumo, em uma localidade rural do município de São Lourenço do Sul, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

A brief which takes on the myth that large mega farms are more modern and productive than smallholder farms. Concludes that by boosting the productivity of smallholders, governments and donors can increase food production and rural employment; reduce rural poverty through the commercialization of subsistence agriculture; and more effectively empower women. With secure rights to their land, access to markets, and credit and technology, smallholders can drive the growth of rural economies throughout the developing world.

Restrictions on economic activity in
area C of the West Bank have been particularly detrimental
to the Palestinian economy. Area C constitutes about 61
percent of the West Bank territory. Area C is richly endowed
with natural resources and it is contiguous, whereas areas A
and B are smaller territorial islands. Mobilizing the area C
potential will help a faltering Palestinian economy. Since
area C is where the majority of the West Bank's natural

The urgent need to limit anthropogenic
carbon emissions has led to a global initiative to Reduce
Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+).
But designing national architectures for REDD+ that
integrate local actions on forests with national-level
outcomes and do so effectively, efficiently, and equitably
continues to be challenging. One option to facilitate the
design and implementation of REDD+ is to learn from the