The topics for this review were
determined by the Government in consultation with a core
group of donors at a workshop in Brussels organized by the
European Commission in November 2000. The Government
suggested reviewing public expenditures at the regional
level, starting with three regions. This public expenditure
review (PER) marks the first explicit attempt at Regional
PERs. This integrated report draws on draft reports from the

A major objective of this report is to provide a deeper, more policy relevant understanding of the welfare impacts of the coffee crisis - including the effects of the crisis on household income, consumption, poverty, as well as on basic human development outcomes, such as education and child nutrition. To do this, the study has generated a body of new empirical evidence, drawing from an unusually rich collection of household survey data from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

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

Since its recovery of macroeconomic
stability in 1991, the Dominican Republic has experienced a
period of notable economic growth. Poverty has declined in
the 1990s. Nevertheless, a segment of the population-mainly
in rural areas-does not seem to have benefited from this
growth. Poverty in this country in 1998 is less than that of
other countries if one adjusts for the level of economic
development. The principal poverty characteristics are the

This book presents papers on several
events organized by the World Bank's Disaster
Management Fund (DMF). The DMF's objectives are to help
the Bank provide a more strategic and rapid response to
disaster emergencies and to integrate disaster prevention
and mitigation measures in all Bank activities. Part I of
this book on risk identification contains chapters on the
economic impacts on natural disasters in developing

This report reviews poverty in Armenia
in 2001, and examines the most recent trends covering the
1998/99 to 2001 period. It looks at the determinants of
poverty, and analyzes linkages between economic growth,
sector policies and poverty. The findings are based on two
rounds of the Armenia Integrated Living Conditions Survey
(ILCS), one carried out in 1998/99, and the other in 2001.
The report has contributed to the development of

Considerations of risk and vulnerability
are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty. This study
conceives vulnerability as expected poverty and illustrates
a methodology to empirically assess household vulnerability
using pseudo panel data derived from repeated cross sections
augmented with historical information on shocks. Application
of the methodology to data from rural Kenya shows that in
1994 rural households faced on average a 40 percent chance

(covering the activities of IBRD/IDA), the Operations Evaluation Group (covering IFC), and
the Operations Evaluation Unit (covering MIGA). The purpose of the evaluation is to assess
the effectiveness of the World Bank Group (WBG) in helping its member countries improve
their investment climates, within the context of the WBG’s overall mission of poverty
reduction and sustainable development. Its findings and recommendations provide guidance for
the WBG’s future strategy and activities in this area. The evaluation was conducted in parallel

In carrying out the program for investment climate reform, Orissa State has to keep three things uppermost: It s critical to strike the right balance between private and social interests so that both are mutually reinforced and growth is equitable and inclusive. 2) Both the implementation capacity of government and the political economy of reforms will require appropriate prioritization of reforms with a clear identification of short-, medium-, and long-term actions.

This report examines poverty issues in the Kyrgyz Republic, focusing on three areas. First, it provides a summary of the trends in poverty over the period 2000-2003 by drawing upon comparable data from the Household Budget Surveys from those years. Second, based upon the Kyrgyz Integrated Household Survey (KIHS ) it presents the new estimates of absolute and extreme poverty by applying updated poverty analysis methodology.

Development is about fundamental change
in economic structures, about the movement of resources out
of agriculture to services and industry, about migration to
cities and international movement of labor, and about
transformation in trade and technology. Social inclusion and
change-change in health and life expectancy, in education
and literacy, in population size and structure, and in
gender relations-are at the heart of the story. The policy

The objective of the study is to analyze
conflict-induced displacement from the point of view of
vulnerability, using a multifaceted definition of
vulnerability. As many as 10 million people have been
displaced by war in the Europe and Central Asia region since
1990. While many people have been able to return home,
approximately half remain displaced, with no available
avenues for sustainable reintegration. Currently, in five