This paper uses data from a large survey
of Chinese firms to investigate whether local government
efforts to facilitate market development improve firm
efficiency. Both government provision of information about
products, markets, and innovation and government assistance
in arranging loans are positively associated with firm
efficiency. Those private firms with weak access to and
knowledge of financial, input, and product markets benefit

This note on integrating
gender-sensitive disaster risk management (DRM) in
community-driven development (CDD) Programs is the sixth in
a series of guidance notes on gender issues in DRM in the
East Asia and the Pacific region. Targeting World Bank
staff, clients and development partners, this note gives an
overview of the main reasons for incorporating
gender-sensitive DRM into CDD programs, identifies the key

In order to have both dynamic and better
balanced growth, Serbia needs to rely more on exports. In
the last decade, Serbia's growth has depended primarily
on demand that was fueled by excessive debt finance. In the
future, the Serbian economy would be better served by
increasing its reliance on exports as a new, potentially
powerful source of growth. Serbia's export share of
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently 25 percent, but

Many countries in Africa suffer high
rates of underemployment or low rates of productive
employment; many also anticipate large numbers of people to
enter the workforce in the near future. This paper asks the
question: Are African firms creating fewer jobs than those
located elsewhere? And, if so, why? One reason may be that
weak business environments slow the growth of firms and
distort the allocation of resources away from

This note on making livelihoods and
social protection approaches gender- sensitive is the
seventh in a series of guidance notes on gender issues in
disaster risk management (DRM) in the East Asia and the
Pacific region. Targeting World Bank staff, clients and
development partners, this note gives an overview of the
main reasons for including gender sensitive social
protection and livelihoods approaches in DRM; it identifies

The process by which different
ecological conditions and historical trajectories interacted
to create different social and cultural systems resulted in
major differences in economic development performance within
Southeast Asia. In the late 19th century, Indonesia, the
Philippines, and Thailand commonly experienced
vent-for-surplus development through exploitation of unused
lands. Nevertheless, different agrarian structures were

Russia and other countries in the
commonwealth of independent states that have implemented
voucher privatization programs have to account for the
puzzling behavior of insiders manager-owners-who, in
stripping assets from the firms they own, appear to be
stealing from one pocket to fill the other. This article
suggests that asset stripping and the absence of
restructuring result from interactions between insiders and

This paper is a post-conference summary
of the International Conference on Land Policy Reform that
took place in Jarkarta from July 25-27, 2000. The paper
concerns best practice in land administration systems. While
the paper is focussed on world's best practice, it does
so in the context of developing and emerging industrial
countries such as Indonesia which have diverse land tenure
relationships ranging from areas in cities with active land

Accelerating inclusive growth - the type
that creates more and better jobs and reduces poverty - is a
key challenge for the Philippines. Instead of rising
agricultural productivity paving the way for the development
of a vibrant labor-intensive manufacturing sector and
subsequently of a high-skill services sector, the converse
has taken place in the Philippines. Agricultural
productivity has remained depressed, manufacturing has

Kazakhstan aspires to become one of the
world s 30 most developed economies by 2050. The focus is on
laying the basis for the accelerated diversification of the
economy through industrialization and infrastructure
development, including enhancing human capital to drive
innovation and economic efficiency. This country economic
memorandum report adopts an analytical framework that looks
into options that will be explored to help authorities think

Kazakhstan aspires to become one of the
world s 30 most developed economies by 2050. The focus is on
laying the basis for the accelerated diversification of the
economy through industrialization and infrastructure
development, including enhancing human capital to drive
innovation and economic efficiency. This country economic
memorandum report adopts an analytical framework that looks
into options that will be explored to help authorities think

This report presents the research
findings of the Justice Delivered Locally (JDL) initiative
of Solomon Islands' Ministry of Justice and Legal
Affairs, which was supported by the World Bank's
Justice for the Poor (J4P) program. JDL supports the Solomon
Islands Government (SIG) policy of reinvigorating
local-level justice systems. This is based on an
understanding that developmentally important local