The transition economies of Central and
Eastern Europe, through the reform process of
decentralization, are now seeking the devolution of fiscal
powers, and responsibilities from central, to local
governments, within financially sustainable environments. To
this end, a system of local budgets, and taxes needs to be
devised, over which local governments may have control.
Thus, this report focuses on the tax on immovable real

The purpose of the Sofia City Strategy
(SCS) is to combat poverty and provide the basis for
sustainable development of the local economy and the welfare
of city residents. SCS is driven by the need to reevaluate
the increased role of Bulgarian local authorities that
resulted from the country's transition from socialism
to a market economy. Launching a long-term strategy for
Sofia will provide the municipality with an opportunity to

This Poverty Assessment report reviews
the evolution, and nature of poverty in Sri Lanka, by
examining why its significant, recent economic downturn
contrasts sharply with its considerable, economic advances
during the 1960s; why poverty fell rapidly, and to a
relatively, low level in some areas, though it remained high
in other parts of the country; and, whether the large
resources given to re-distributive programs, really helped

Vulnerability is an important aspect of households' experience of poverty. Many households, while not currently in poverty, recognize that they are vulnerable to events - a bad harvest, a lost job, an illness, and unexpected expense, an economic downturn - that could easily push them into poverty. Most operational measures define poverty as some function of the shortfall of current income, or consumption expenditures from a poverty line, and hence measure poverty only at a single point in time. The authors propose a simple expansion of those measures to quantify vulnerability to poverty.

Infrastructure plays a crucial role in
supporting Cambodia's growth and development. Improving
access to efficient and affordable water, electricity,
transport, and telecommunications services has a major
impact on the living standards of individual households.
This Country Framework Report (CFR) is one of a series of
country reviews aimed at improving the environment for the
private sector involvement in infrastructure. This book

The fieldwork for this report consisted
of a household energy survey of households living in 180
villages in six states (Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal). The report
was initiated in response to concerns that energy strategies
for rural India were not progressing toward modern energy
use.It examines energy use, including renewable energy, to
determine if households in rural areas have access to modern

This study reviews the available
quantitative and qualitative information on urban poverty
issues and trends in the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Region,
with particular focus on Indonesia, the Philippines, and
Vietnam. The review is a desk study-which is limited to
material accessible to the Bank in Washington and draws
mainly on existing field work and other published and
unpublished papers. The empirical analysis focuses on the

To find out why African countries' experience with urbanization and sustained growth appeared to differ from that of other countries, the authors investigated the determinants of urbanization across countries over 40 years. Rather than studying individuals' decisions to migrate, they relied on macroeconomic data and cross-country comparisons. A central hypothesis of their study: that individuals move (with varying degrees of ease) in response to economic incentives and opportunities. If location incentives are distorted, so is growth.

This book synthesizes, and elaborates on
the results of a series of country studies, completed under
the Poverty Dynamics in Africa Initiative, organized by the
Africa Region of the Bank. These studies made use of vastly
improved household survey data, which have enhanced
understanding of African poverty dynamics during the past
decade. The book examines the main factors behind observed
poverty changes in eight countries - Ethiopia, Ghana,

The authors use China's national
household surveys for rural and urban areas to measure and
explain the welfare impacts of the changes in goods and
factor prices attributed to WTO accession. Price changes are
estimated separately using a general equilibrium model to
capture both direct and indirect effects of the initial
tariff changes. The welfare impacts are first-order
approximations based on a household model incorporating

The acute water shortage, and pollution
problems in North China have been exacerbated by the
continued population growth, and the accelerated industrial
expansion over the past half-century, conducive to
increasingly severe freshwater shortages, and catastrophic
consequences for the future. Significant commitments need to
be made to rapidly implement strategies to bring water
resource utilization back into a sustainable balance. The

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