Measuring the poverty and distributional
impact of the global crisis for developing countries is not
easy, given the multiple channels of impact and the limited
availability of real-time data. Commonly-used approaches are
of limited use in addressing questions like who are being
affected by the crisis and by how much, and who are
vulnerable to falling into poverty if the crisis deepens?
This paper develops a simple micro-simulation method,

This paper assesses the impact of water
supply variability on treaty cooperation between
international bilateral river basin riparian states. Climate
change is anticipated to change the variability of water
supply, as well as its expected magnitude. Previous studies
have focused mainly on water scarcity, measured in terms of
mean precipitation or per capita water availability in the
country, as a trigger for conflict or cooperation. The water

This paper provides an overview of the
history of development research at the World Bank and points
to new future directions in both what we research and how we
research. Six main messages emerge. First, research and data
have long been essential elements of the Bank's country
programs and its contributions to global public goods, and
this will remain the case. Second, development thinking is
in a state of flux and uncertainty; it is time to reconsider

Ethiopia's rural non-farm sector is
significant and participation is increasing. The sector is
particularly important for women and poorer households.
Non-farm enterprises provide income-earning opportunities to
those lacking alternative options and supplementary income
for farming households. This report is organized into seven
chapters. The first chapter lays the analytical groundwork
for assessing the rural investment climate in Ethiopia and

This paper applies a growth diagnostics
approach to identify the most binding constraints to
private-sector growth in Malawi - a small, landlocked
country in Southern Africa with one of the lowest per capita
incomes in the world. The approach aims to identify the
constraints (in terms of public policy, implementation, and
investments) most binding on marginal investment, and
therefore whose relaxation would have the largest impact on

This study documents the long-term
welfare effects of household non-traditional agricultural
export (NTX) adoption. The analysis uses a unique panel
dataset, which spans the period 1985-2005, and employs
difference-in-differences estimation to investigate the
long-term impact of non-traditional agricultural export
adoption on changes in household consumption status and
asset position in the Central Highlands of Guatemala. Given

World Development Indicators (WDI) 2009
arrives at a moment of great uncertainty for the global
economy. The crisis that began more than a year ago in the
U.S. housing market spread to the global financial system
and is now taking its toll on real output and incomes. As a
consequence, an additional 50 million people will be left in
extreme poverty. And if the crisis deepens and widens or is
prolonged, other development indicators, school enrollments,

This paper presents a framework for
analyzing tropical deforestation and reforestation using the
von Thunen model as its starting point: land is allocated to
the use which yields the highest rent, and the rents of
various land uses are determined by location. Forest cover
change therefore becomes a question of changes in rent of
forest versus non-forest use. While this is a simple and
powerful starting point, more intriguing issues arise when

An increase in sea surface temperature
is evident at all latitudes and in all oceans. The current
understanding is that ocean warming plays a major role in
intensified cyclone activity and heightened storm surges.
The vulnerability of coastlines to intensified storm surges
can be ascertained by overlaying Geographic Information
System information with data on land, population density,
agriculture, urban extent, major cities, wetlands, and gross

Regional disparities present an ever
present development challenge in most countries, especially
those with large geographic areas under their jurisdiction.
A neglect of these inequities may create the potential for
disunity and, in extreme cases, for disintegration. In view
of this, most countries actively pursue policies with a view
to helping lagging regions catch up with faster growing
regions. These policies have at best a mixed record of

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 is part of a broader global
study, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC),
which has two principal objectives: (a) to develop a global
estimate of adaptation costs for informing international
climate negotiations; and (b) to help decision makers in
developing countries assess the risks posed by climate
change and design national strategies for adapting to it.
The purpose of this study is to assist the Government of