The most striking fact about the
economic geography of the world is the uneven spatial
distribution of economic activity, including the coexistence
of economic development and underdevelopment. High-income
regions are almost entirely concentrated in a few temperate
zones, half of the world's GDP is produced by 15
percent of the world's population, and 54 percent of
the world's GDP is produced by countries occupying just

Are the household characteristics that
are good for transition to a more diversified
market-oriented development process in Vietnam also
important for reducing poverty? Or are there tradeoffs? The
determinants of both poverty incidence and participation in
rural off-farm activities are modeled as functions of
household and community characteristics using comprehensive
national household surveys for 1993 and 1998. Despite some

In a globalizing world, cities at or
near the apex of the international urban hierarchy are among
the favored few--New York, London, and Tokyo--that have
acquired large economic, cultural, and symbolic roles. Among
a handful of regions that aspire to such a role--such as
Hong Kong, Miami, and Sao Paulo--Shanghai has reasonable
long-term prospects. If the Chinese economy can sustain its
growth rate, it will rival the United States in a few

Central control of forests takes
management responsibility away from the communities most
dependent on them, inevitably resulting in tensions. Like
many African countries, Tanzania--which has forest or
woodland cover over 30-40 percent of its land--established
central forestry institutions at a time when there was
little need for active management and protection because
population pressures were low. But in the face of scarce

The author identifies conditions under
which the urban sector's share of the poor population
in a developing country will be a strictly increasing and
strictly convex function of its share of the total
population. Cross-sectional data afor 39 countries and
time-series data for for India are consistent with the
expected theoretical relationship. The empirical results
imply that the poor urbanize faster than the population as a

Within the next two decades Indonesia
aspires to generate prosperity, avoid a middle-income trap
and leave no one behind as it tries to catch up with
high-income economies. These are ambitious goals. Realizing
them requires sustained high growth and job creation, as
well as reduced inequality. Can Indonesia achieve them? This
report argues that the country has the potential to rise and
become more prosperous and equitable. But the risk of

This report supports a joint World
Bank-IFC initiative to review and evaluate economic growth
prospects for Khatlon oblast in order to develop a private
sector-driven strategy for accelerating the region's
growth over the medium term.

In the last 30 years, China’s record economic growth lifted half a billion people out of poverty, with rapid urbanization providing abundant labor, cheap land, and good infrastructure. While China has avoided some of the common ills of urbanization, strains are showing as inefficient land development leads to urban sprawl and ghost towns, pollution threatens people’s health, and farmland and water resources are becoming scarce.

This working paper provides a bottom-up
estimate of energy use and Green-House Gas (GHG) emissions
for the transport sector based on data available at the city
and municipal levels. For urban transport in China, GHG
emissions primarily consist of carbon dioxide (CO2), so
these terms are used interchangeably. Energy use and CO2
emissions are also highly correlated based on the
predominance of fossil fuels in transport. A database of

This report shows that some investors
still perceive Aceh as a risky place to do business, despite
being relatively peaceful for almost four years. Security
incidents, relatively common in post-conflict environments,
deter businesses and individuals from investing in Aceh,
robbing the economy of necessary capital and innovation.
Other consequences of the conflict, including forms of
illegal taxation, also hurt investment. The Government of

Despite positive, relatively broad-based
and stable growth record in recent years and immense
untapped potential in agriculture, mining and services,
Zambia's poverty rates have not declined significantly
and remain high. Income growth is limited by coordination
failures such as poor access to domestic and international
markets, inputs, extension services and information. High
indirect costs - most of which attributable to

The objective of this paper is to explore residential location preferences and how they are related to travel behavior. The literature focuses on the preferences in relation to physical and demographic aspects, such as land uses, facilities, transportation facilities, transportation services, car ownership, income, household size and travel accessibility. However, this study suggests social and cultural issue such as racial diversity which is literally to be a significance context. The case study reported here is based on Iskandar Malaysia’s development region.