Christiaensen, Demery, and Paternostro review recent evidence on the trends in
household well-being in Africa during the 1990s. They draw
on the findings of a series of studies on poverty dynamics
that use the better data sets now available. The authors
begin by taking a broad view of poverty, tracing changes in
both income poverty and in other more direct measures of
individual welfare. Experiences have been varied: several

The objective of the report is to point
at the need for a new poverty strategy, and the areas of
action it should cover, where each area should be
specifically discussed, addressing the lives of
Indonesia's poor, and the tradeoffs policymakers will
need to consider, based on the belief that this poverty
strategy should emerge from a broad dialogue among
stakeholders. First, in broadening poverty, the report looks

The report highlights how much recent
achievements, in terms of growth, and poverty reduction, owe
to the progress the country has made on a broad front of
policy issues, such as openness to trade, investment, and
competition, as well as education, and financial regulation.
Nonetheless, progress has been uneven in several fronts,
such as the need to intensify trade liberalization, and
domestic competition; to strengthen governance across

Vietnam grew rapidly in the 1990s, and
yet by many measures it has poor economic institutions.
Dollar seeks to explain this apparent anomaly. Between the
1980s and 1990s Vietnam carried out significant economic
reforms, notably stabilization, the introduction of positive
real interest rates, trade liberalization, and initial
property rights reform in agriculture. Relating these
changes to the empirical growth literature, the author finds

The importance of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) function within public administration
has been magnified by the growing voice of civil society,
which has brought the issues of good governance and more
effective public administration to the fore. The global
trend towards more accountable, responsive and efficient
government has bolstered the appeal for M&E capacity
development, which has been the central focus of efforts to

Since independence in 1966,
Guyana's economy has gone through a state control of
major productive sectors, and financial institutions -
including controls of prices, credit, and foreign exchange -
to a combination of political/social unrest, with terms of
trade deterioration, and slow economic growth. This led
Guyana to become the fourth poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere, despite its rich endowment in mineral resources,

Bangladesh has marked considerable
progress since independence in 1971 despite its dire initial
conditions. Real per capita income is about 60percent higher
now than in 1971. The share of population in poverty
currently stands at about 50 percent, compared with over 70
percent in the early 1970s. Even more impressive has been
the progress in improving the social and human dimensions of
poverty. Bangladesh's faster gains in human development

The transition from a centrally planned
economy to a "socialist oriented market economy"
in Vietnam has called for comprehensive changes in the legal
framework of the State. The last ten years have witnessed
great progress in the development of the Vietnamese legal
system, both in substantive and procedural matters. A number
of important legal instruments have been promulgated, such
as the Constitution in 1992; the Land Law in 1993; and the

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

This is the first Economic Report on
Afghanistan by the World Bank in a quarter-century. It is
intended to contribute to a better understanding of the core
challenges that lie ahead for the country and key strategic
priorities for national reconstruction. It focuses on the
conceptual frameworks, policies, and institutions that will
be needed to achieve core national objectives of
state-building; sustained rapid, broad-based economic

Favorable economic conditions offer a
window of opportunity for the Ukrainian government External
factors served as a catalyst for the economic turnaround but
policies and reforms have also played a critical role.
Nevertheless, the positive trends will weaken without vision
at the top level of government. An "insider
economy" threatens to become a primary obstacle to
Ukraine's future development and also weakens the link

The major constraints to RNF growth,
according to a large survey of rural entrepreneurs,'
include (1) flood and natural disasters; (2) access to
electricity; (3) road conditions, (4) access to finance and
(5) transportation to markets. Bangladesh's
vulnerability to frequent floods and other natural disasters
severely hampers operations of more than a third of rural
firms. The next most important constraint to RNF growth is