In this paper, the authors examine the
impact of reductions in barriers to migration on the
consumption of rural households in China. The authors find
that increased migration from rural villages leads to
significant increases in consumption per capita, and that
this effect is stronger for poorer households within
villages. Household income per capita and non-durable
consumption per capita both increase with out-migration, and

The developing world has made remarkable
progress. The number of people living in extreme poverty on
less than $1 a day has fallen by about 400 million in the
last 25 years. Many more children, particularly girls, are
completing primary school. Illiteracy rates have fallen by
half in 30 years. And life expectancy is nearly 15 years
longer, on average, than it was 40 years ago. The demand for
statistics to measure progress and demonstrate the

In May 2006, the Government of the
Solomon Islands placed rural development at the top of its
policy agenda. The Solomon Islands Government's May
2006 Policy Framework Document places emphasis on
development through a bottom-up and holistic approach that
encompasses the empowerment of the people through rural
advancement strategies, the pursuit of the Millennium
Development Goals, the revitalization of the economy,

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) builds on the commitments of the 2003 Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), and 2002 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Progress Report, being its primary objective to assess strengths and weaknesses in key areas of public expenditure, and identify policy options for fiscal sustainability. Jamaica's high debt aggravates debt sustainability and efforts to improve growth. Revenue performance is also a weak element in the country's overall fiscal framework, while the current level of public sector investment is too low to support strong sustained growth.

Recovering from three decades of conflict, over this last decade, Cambodia has undergone dramatic economic, political, and social transitions. Cambodia experienced rapid institutional changes as it restored peace, moved from a centrally planned to a market-oriented economy, and moved from isolation to regional and global integration. Cambodia has achieved political and macroeconomic stability, and has initiated key structural reforms. Nevertheless, Cambodia's economy remains vulnerable, and economic growth has not translated into widespread poverty reduction.

The objective of this paper is to: (a) review World Bank's pest management activities during 1999-2004; (b) assess those in view of the changes in the external and internal contexts; (c) identify appropriate opportunities of engagement on pest and pesticide issues; and (d) suggest means to further promote sound pest management in the World Bank operations. The importance of sound pest management for sustainable agricultural production is being recognized by many developing countries.

This report combines a study undertaken in two phases of the Benin financial sector. Phase 1 of the study, conducted in 2003, provided a diagnostic of the financial system and focused on the state and performance of commercial banks, microfinance institutions, insurance companies and the pension fund system. Phase 2 of the study, conducted in the first half of 2004, focused on analyzing the access to finance issue identified during the diagnostic study. The lack of access to financial services by the majority of the population in Benin was the main issue revealed by the study.

Population growth combined with economic growth will increasingly stress water resources and this has the potential to be the dominant environmental and possibly the most important development issue facing Bangladesh in the coming half century.

Afghanistan's reconstruction has made considerable progress during the past four years. Led by the Government with international support but relying mostly on the energy and initiative of the Afghan people, reconstruction has resulted in solid achievements -- rapid economic growth, unprecedented primary school enrollments including enrollments for girls, great expansion of immunization, rehabilitation of major highways, a new and stable currency, promulgation of a new Constitution, Presidential and Parliamentary elections, return of refugees, and demobilization of militias.

Throughout the 20th century, the debate on women's rights and their role in Afghan society has been closely interlinked with the national destiny. Women not only carry the burden of symbolizing the honor of the family, but often are seen as embodying the national honor as well. Gender has thus been one of the most politicized issues in Afghanistan over the past 100 years, and attempts at reform have been denounced by opponents as un-Islamic and a challenge to the sanctity of the faith and family.

The rationale for public investment in rural roads is that households can better exploit agricultural and nonagricultural opportunities to use labor and capital more efficiently. But significant knowledge gaps remain as to how opportunities provided by roads actually filter back into household outcomes and their distributional consequences. This paper examines the impacts of rural road projects using household-level panel data from Bangladesh.

This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia. The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977. Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that were repaid at the time of harvest. There are two distinctive phases of the reforms: a failure of the outgrower scheme, and a subsequent period of success of the scheme.