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 study includes four sections: i)
brief production background; ii) description of the
Argentine soybean value chain; iii) evolution of the main
policies and institutional regimes in Argentina; iv) lessons
learned related to the political economy and the industrial
organization. The study describes the main policies
implemented in Argentina during the last two decades which
had impact on the structure of the soybean value chain and

Sudan is in the 10th year of its longest
and strongest growth episode since independence, benefiting
from the advent of oil in 1999. This report proposes a
growth strategy for Sudan that reduces its dependence on
oil, while building an economic foundation for a
diversified, inclusive and sustainable growth path.
Specifically, Sudan's near term strategy should focus
on: a) developing and maintaining the necessary enabling

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

The Southeast Asian Tigers feel
threatened. Even though their growth rates have remained
above the average for the world and also above the average
for developing countries, their economic performance falls
short of that in the first half of the 1990s. The underlying
worry is that it presages the beginning of a downward trend,
the harbingers of which are lower rates of investment,
persistently low rates of total factor productivity, and low

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

Estimating the potential costs of
climate destabilization is not a trivial matter. Potential
climate impacts have multiple consequences, some of which
can be monetized while others are beyond the reach of
standard economic tools. A full assessment of the
implications of climate impacts often cannot be completed
because many of the consequences are only partly known. This
report summarizes data recently made available, through the

Agriculture is a small but stable part
of the Lebanese economy. Approximately 20 to 25 percent of
Lebanon's active population is involved in the sector
in one way or another. This note is a synthesis of previous
work written on agriculture development in Lebanon and
related public expenditures in the sector. It starts with an
overview of the agriculture sector in Lebanon and its role
and contribution to the economy. Approximately eight percent

The main objective of the Senegal
Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to reinforce the
ongoing dialogue on environmental issues between the World
Bank and the Government of Senegal. The CEA also aims to
support the ongoing Government implementation of a strategic
results-based planning process at the Environment Ministry
(MEPNBRLA). The main goal is to enable Senegal to have the
necessary tools to attain the Millennium Development Goals

Ghana's oil will start to flow in
2011, maybe even before, and most of its known reserves will
be extracted in the immediate years after. The promise of
oil generates expectations of all sorts, the more so as
Ghana currently grapples with a macroeconomic crisis of
significant proportions. This overview discusses the
Ghana-specific nature of these challenges and explores
possible options to address them. In doing so, it builds on

Vietnam's forests remain dependent
on public resources, including international development
assistance, for the delivery of public and private services
that include timber production, state forest management,
forest protection and biodiversity conservation, and
extension and research. Public subsidies are also provided
to smallholder forest owners to stimulate investments into
the sector. For the Government it is important to

Big cities are becoming even bigger and
these have been and will be the key drivers of economic
growth in Serbia. Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kragujevac,
Serbia's four largest cities contributed to about 60
percent of the increase of value added in the economy over
the period 2001-2008. These four largest cities in 2008
accounted for about two thirds of country s economy. Spatial
characteristics of foreign direct investments inflow,