This paper analyzes the available
literature about the effects of structural adjustment
programs (SAPs) on the environment and the convincing
evidence for their success or failure. The studies covered
refer to the SAPs by the World Bank as well as to general
government programs that have similar policy implications.
SAPs are designed to reform economies to become more
liberalized and export-oriented while reducing the role of

In conformity with its objective of
functioning as a local Government, Kathmandu Metropolitan
City (KMC) sought the assistance of the World Bank for the
preparation of a City Development Strategy (CDS) for
Kathmandu. The various sectoral as well as integrated
strategies presented in this document seem to be an
overwhelming demand on KMC with its limited manpower and
money. However, a CDS is essential if KMC is to focus its

Temporary crediting of carbon storage is
a proposed instrument that allows entities with emissions
reductions obligations to defer some obligations for a fixed
period of time. This instrument provides a means of
guaranteeing the environmental integrity of a carbon
sequestration project. But because the user of the temporary
credit takes on the liability of renewing it, or replacing
it with a permanent credit, the temporary credit must sell

India's transport
system--especially surface transport--is seriously
deficient, and its services are highly inefficient by
international standards. The economic losses from congestion
and poor roads are estimated at 120 to 300 billion rupees a
year. This report takes a critical assessment of the key
policy and institutional issues that continue to contribute
to the poor performance of the transport sector in India.

In this exploration of urban and regional dynamics in Poland after the transition, the authors find that the degree of urbanization, and primacy remains low in Poland. The largest cities are not growing at the rate that would be expected if post-transition adjustments were operating freely. As a result, Poland is not fully realizing external economies from urban agglomeration. Internal migration decreased significantly in the 1990s, with rural-to-urban migration declining dramatically.

The paper's main objectives are to
provide a common thematic basis for urban transport inputs
into the making of country-specific assistance strategies,
and thereafter to guide urban transport project and sector
work included in the business plans agreed under these
strategies. It is a companion volume to the forthcoming ECA
Transport Strategy Paper, which covers all modes of
transport. It also represents a bridge between the

Regulatory reform in all its
aspects--deregulation, re-regulation, simplification, and
building new institutional capacities for developing and
applying high quality market rules--should be integrated
throughout Mauritania's efforts to generate the growth
and market development needed to combat poverty, improve
standards of living, and lay the foundation for a
sustainable development. This report identifies practical

This note puts figures behind the notion
of poverty resulting from war. Using simulation models, the
author estimates the economic and social costs of the El
Salvadorian conflict. The calculations suggest that had
conflict been avoided, income per capita would have been
almost the double of its actual value in 2002, the poverty
rate lower by 15 percentage points, and Millenium
Development Goals (MDG) indicators substantially better.

This regional study encompasses three
Central American countries: Nicaragua, Guatemala and
Honduras. The focus of this report is Guatemala. The study
is motivated by several factors: First is the recognition
that sub-national regions are becoming increasingly
heterogeneous, and economically differentiated as part of
ongoing processes of development and diversification, with
some areas advancing, and others being left behind. Second

The World Bank research program seeks to
improve the design of Bank-financed projects, and programs
to increase the effectiveness of aid, and improve
recognition of emerging problems, in a responsive manner to
crises. Moreover, this program supports policy-oriented
research in developing, and transition economies, by
assisting in the development of research capacity in member
countries, as well as improving the Bank's own advisory

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

This report is the successor to the
Country Economic Memorandum for Tanzania prepared in 1996
(World Bank 1996). The 1996 memorandum focused on the
challenge of reforms and paid particular attention to the
impact of reforms on growth, incomes, and welfare in
Tanzania. The present report draws out lessons from
Tanzania's development experience of the past four
decades, with emphasis on the period since the last report,