Governments must decide how to allocate
limited resources for infrastructure development,
particularly since financing gaps have been projected for
the coming decades. Social cost-benefit analysis provides
sound project appraisal and, when systematically applied, a
basis for prioritization. In some instances, however,
capacity and resource limitations make extensive economic
analyses across all projects unfeasible in the immediate

The extent to which households should be
allowed to transfer their land rights in post-socialist
transition economies is of considerable policy interest. The
authors use data from Vietnam, a transition country that
allows rental and sales of land use rights, to identify
factors conducive to the development of land markets and to
assess the extent to which land transfers enhance productive
efficiency and transfer land to the poor. They find that

This study has at its origin the land
question in Paraguay, namely that land ownership is highly
concentrated and has become a source of social conflict in
the rural areas where one-half of the population lives. A
central thesis of the study is that the existing patterns of
land use and ownership, in particular, the very large land
holdings (Zatifundio), are a reflection in part of the
almost insignificant land tax that is charged today on rural

Climate change will exacerbate the
challenges associated with environmental conditions,
especially weather variability and extremes, in developing
countries. These challenges play important, if as yet poorly
understood roles in the development prospects of affected
regions. As such, climate change reinforces the development
case for investment in disaster risk management. Uncertainty
about how climate change will affect particular locations

Land policy, administration and
management are areas of strong client demand for technical
advice and operational support. This review sought to help
the Bank better position itself to present coherent advice
on policy, institutional arrangements and practice. The
potential implications are a lowering of reputational risk
to the Bank; greater efficiency in the process including
joint data gathering; and building of greater momentum and

Secure property rights are considered a key determinant of economic development. However, evaluation of the causal effects of land titling is a difficult task. Since 2004, a program called "Papel Passado'" has issued titles to more than over 85,000 families and has the goal to reach 750,000. This paper examines the direct impact of securing a property title on child labor force participation. This study uses a comparison between two close and similar communities in the City of Osasco case. The key point of this case is that some units participate in the program and others do not.

The objective of this paper is to synthesize the findings of six individual case studies (Bucaramanga, Colombia; Coimbatore, India; Kigali, Rwanda; Gaziantep, Turkey; Changsha, China; and Tangier, Morocco) by analyzing the similarities and dissimilarities among them and identifying common, cross-cutting themes. The intent is to highlight what institutions and strategies successful cities have relied on to spur
economic development, under what conditions such success has occurred, and what lessons of this experience might be applicable to decision makers in other cities.

The Cambodian Land Law (2001) provides
indigenous ethnic minority groups with a right to register
their traditional residential and agricultural lands under
communal title. To date, however, this right has remained
unrealized. While the government has been working on a pilot
registration process in three villages and drafting
implementing regulations under the land law, Cambodia's
once remote highlands have become increasingly exposed to

This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD)
explores how Uzbekistan can consolidate its recent
achievements and accelerate progress on the twin goals of
eradicating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.
The SCD is organized into five chapters. Chapter one frames
the issues of poverty reduction and shared prosperity, and
situates them in the context of Uzbekistan’s recent
development. It reviews the status and drivers of progress

The decollectivization of agriculture in
Vietnam was a crucial step in the country's transition
to a market economy. But the assignment of land use rights
had to be decentralized, and local cadres ostensibly had the
power to corrupt this process. The authors assess the
realized land allocation against explicit counterfactuals,
including the simulated allocation implied by a competitive
market-based privatization. The authors find that 95-99

This study has at its origin the land
question in Paraguay, namely that land ownership is highly
concentrated and has become a source of social conflict in
the rural areas where one-half of the population lives. A
central thesis of the study is that the existing patterns of
land use and ownership, in particular, the very large land
holdings (Zatifundio), are a reflection in part of the
almost insignificant land tax that is charged today on rural

Many ex ante measures taken to reduce
disaster risk can deliver co-benefits that are not dependent
on disasters occurring. In fact, building resilience to
climate extremes and disasters can achieve multiple
objectives. These are secondary to the main objective of
disaster risk management of avoiding disaster losses, but
identifying and measuring additional co-benefits can enhance
the attractiveness of disaster risk management investments.