The bank has a long relationship with
Uruguay's agricultural sector, expanding over a period
of more than 60 years in which several projects and various
analytical and advisory assistance initiatives have been
implemented. The main purposes of the present report are: a)
to analyze the main characteristics of family agriculture as
well as its development potential and constraints; b) to
examine Uruguay's current agricultural policy and

This report highlights deficiencies and
indicates priorities for a prospective national transport
strategy and action plan for further consideration by key
stakeholders. The overall objective should be the
development of a transport system, and an institutional
framework, that facilitates rather than constrains, economic
development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A strong transport
system contributes to economic growth by reducing the

This policy note focuses on analyzing
critical institutional and planning issues affecting
Dhaka's Metropolitan Area, and suggests policy
recommendations for introducing sound urban environmental
planning to improve the quality of life by mitigating and
reversing environmental degradation. The report concludes
with urgent recommended actions to address gaps in urban
planning and environmental management that focus on

Panama is experiencing spectacular
economic growth, averaging 7.5 percent during 2004-06; a
construction boom; and emerging new opportunities and
growing export markets. Despite this impressive growth
performance, at the national level poverty remained almost
unchanged during 1997-2006 at around 37 percent (masking a
decline in rural poverty and an increase in urban and
indigenous areas). Key development challenges for Panama

This report provides Mayors and other policymakers with a policy framework and diagnostic tools to anticipate and implement strategies that can avoid their cities from locking into irreversible physical and social structures. At the core of the policy framework are the three main dimensions of urban development.
· Planning— where the focus is on making land transactions easier, and making land use regulations more responsive to emerging needs especially to coordinate land use planning with infrastructure, natural resource management, and risks from hazards;

The state of national labor markets has
always been a concern for governments and development
agencies such as the World Bank. Key labor market
indicators, such as the rate of unemployment, send signals
about the health of an economy and mirror citizens'
attitudes. Being gainfully employed is an important aspect
of an individual's well-being both financially and
socially, as 'initial failures in finding a job can

Around the world, in both developed and
developing countries, policy makers use a variety of tools
to manage and accommodate urban growth and redevelopment.
Government officials have three main concerns in terms of
land policy: (i) accommodating urban expansion, (ii)
providing infrastructure, and (iii) managing density.
Together, the planning for infrastructure and urban
expansion, land use, and density policies combine to shape

Although a high rate of urbanization and
a high incidence of rural poverty are two distinct features
of many developing countries, there is little knowledge of
the effects of the former on the latter. Using a large
sample of Indian districts from the 1983-1999 period, the
authors find that urbanization has a substantial and
systematic poverty-reducing effect in the surrounding rural
areas. The results obtained through an instrumental variable

This paper investigates the urbanization
of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise
data from formal and informal sectors. It finds that plants
in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into
rural locations, while the informal sector is moving from
rural to urban locations. Although the secular trend for
India's manufacturing urbanization has slowed down, the
localized importance of education and infrastructure has

Despite several attempts at reform,
immovable property rights in Albania are not adequately
secure and represent an important governance challenge.
Problems have resulted from incomplete first title
registration, the lack of accurate cadastral records, and,
in many cases, the absence of reliable evidence of
ownership. Although Albania has adopted legislation calling
for restitution or compensation for owners whose property

Eurasian cities, unique in the global
spatial landscape, were part of the world's largest
experiment in urban development. The challenges they now
face because of their history offer valuable lessons to
urban planners and policymakers across the world from places
that are still urbanizing to those already urbanized. Today,
Eurasian cities must respond to three big changes: the
breakup of the Soviet Union, the return of the market as the

The infrastructure gap is one of the
most significant impediments to India realizing its growth
and poverty reduction potential. Although India s transport
network is one of the most extensive in the world,
accessibility and connectivity are limited. Only 20 percent
of the national highway network (which carries 40 percent of
traffic) is four-lane and one-fourth of the rural population
does not have access to an all-weather road. It is estimated