The authors evaluate the impact of two
key factor market distortions in China on rural-urban
inequality and income distribution. They find that creation
of a fully functioning land market has a significant impact
on rural-urban inequality. This reform permits agricultural
households to focus solely on the differential between farm
and non-farm returns to labor in determining whether to work
on or off-farm. This gives rise to an additional 10 million

Strategies to help the one billion people worldwide who live in informal settlements have mainly focused on slum upgrading, sites and services programs, and tenure security. In contrast, there has been less attention on what enables slum dwellers to transition into the formal housing sector, which has the dual benefits of improving service access and escaping social stigma. In this paper the authors investigate residential mobility among slum dwellers in Bhopal, India.

This paper examines the channels through
which alternative property rights institutions affect
investment. These institutions are defined by a
society's enforced laws, regulations, governance
mechanisms and norms concerning the use of resources. A
transaction cost framework is used to analyze the incentive
impact of various types of property rights, liability rules,
and rules regarding contracts. This framework is used to

The authors review the applications of noncooperative bargaining theory to water related issues-which fall in the category of formal models of negotiation. They aim to identify the conditions under which agreements are likely to emerge and their characteristics, to support policymakers in devising the "rules of the game" that could help obtain a desired result. Despite the fact that allocation of natural resources, especially trans-boundary allocation, has all the characteristics of a negotiation problem, there are not many applications of formal negotiation theory to the issue.

This Financial Sector Assessment (FSA)
is based on the work of the joint International Monetary
Fund (IMF)- World Bank missions that visited Kenya from July
15 to July 24,2003, and from September 30 to October 15,
2003, in the context of the Financial Sector Assessment
Program (FSAP). The principal objective of the missions was
to assist the Kenyan authorities in assessing the
development needs and opportunities for the financial sector

This report addresses key structural,
institutional, and sectoral policy impediments to achieving
a higher, and sustained economic growth in the sector, and
poverty reduction in rural areas of Iran. It focuses mainly
on an assessment of agricultural development outcomes, a
discussion of the agricultural policy agenda, and provides
recommendations for future policy dialogue between the Bank,
and the Government of Iran. On examining development

Over the past dozen years, policymakers
have largely abandoned long-standing popular approaches for
addressing risk in agriculture without fully resolving the
question of how best to manage the negative consequences of
volatile agricultural markets. The article reviews the
transition from past policies and describes current
approaches that distinguish between the trade-related fiscal
consequences of commodity market volatility and the

Despite Bulgaria's progress to act
in accordance with European Union (EU) environmental
directives, full compliance with the Union's
environmental acquis remains a challenge and requires a
substantial investment program in environmental
infrastructure and implementation activities in pollution
abatement, waste management, and financing the associated
operation and maintenance costs. The report focuses on

This paper uses the Ricardian approach
to examine how farmers in 11 countries in Africa have
adapted to existing climatic conditions. It then estimates
the effects of predicted changes in climate while accounting
for whatever farmer adaptation might occur. This study
differs from earlier ones by using farmers' own
perceptions of the value of their land. Previous research,
by contrast, has relied on either observed sale prices or

The Operations Evaluation Department
(OED) is an independent unit within the World Bank. The
goals of evaluation are to learn from experience, to provide
an objective basis for assessing the results of the Bank’s
work, and to provide accountability in the achievement of
its objectives. This report on the Post-Conflict Fund (PCF)
is one of twenty six case studies that have been prepared as
source material for the second phase of OED’s independent

This regional study encompasses three
Central American countries: Nicaragua, Guatemala, and
Honduras. The focus of this report is Honduras. The
objective of the study is to understand how broad-based
economic growth can be stimulated and sustained in rural
Central America. The study identifies "drivers" of
sustainable rural growth and poverty reduction. Drivers are
defined as the assets and combinations of assets needed by

Despite sustained output growth since 1997, low-income Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries (CIS-7) have not experienced growth in employment, a phenomenon observed elsewhere in transitional economies and labeled as "jobless growth." The author addresses the causes of this phenomenon in the CIS-7. He argues that the lack of job creation is explained by a combination of structural factors, including capital-intensive growth, large potential for productivity gains among existing workers, and compartmentalized economies best depicted by a dual labor market framework.