The objective of this paper is to
determine the ability of farmers in Africa to detect climate
change, and to ascertain how they have adapted to whatever
climate change they believe has occurred. The paper also
asks farmers whether they perceive any barriers to
adaptation and attempts to determine the characteristics of
those farmers who, despite claiming to have witnessed
climate change, have not yet responded to it. The study is

This study analyzes the complicated and
dynamic nature of welfare differences across space. The
objectives are two-fold. First, the study seeks to provide a
methodological framework useful for investigating the
determinants of the observed differences in the standards of
living between two regions at a given point in time. Second,
it aims to provide empirical evidence on regional welfare
differences to inform the policy debate surrounding regional

This paper provides evidence from one of
the poorest countries of the world that the property rights
matter for efficiency, investment, and growth. With all land
state-owned, the threat of land redistribution never appears
far off the agenda. Land rental and leasing have been made
legal, but transfer rights remain restricted and the
perception of continuing tenure insecurity remains quite
strong. Using a unique panel data set, this study

This assessment of poverty and
inequality comes at an important juncture for Kenya. The
December 2007 elections and subsequent pronouncements of the
newly formed Grand Coalition have underlined the salience of
these issues to ordinary Kenyans, and for policy makers. The
violence in early 2008 highlighted the importance of
addressing poverty and inequality as major goals in their
own right, but also for instrumental reasons, as major goals

This document builds upon several recent
studies and reports carried out in the 2006-2007 period. The
first note, entitled analysis of housing supply mechanisms
(World Bank), analyzes the situation of housing supply in
urban areas in Egypt, including the study of existing formal
and informal mechanisms for the delivery of urban housing,
the institutions responsible for supply and regulation, the
characteristics of the formal and informal stock, and the

Cambodia's changing distribution of
income-related outcomes is consistent with the process of
transition from a planned to an open market economy, and the
accompanying growth of incomes. This transformation has
promoted better resource reallocation, expanded the spectrum
of gainful activities, and widened the distribution of
earnings. Aided by robust economic growth and improved
capacity for implementing public policies, Cambodia has seen

Well-functioning groups enforce social
norms that restrain opportunism, but the social structure of
a society may encourage or inhibit norm enforcement. This
paper studies how the exogenous assignment to different
positions in an extreme social hierarchy - the caste system
- affects individuals' willingness to punish violations
of a cooperation norm. Although the analysis controls for
individual wealth, education, and political participation,

The newly elected government takes
office at a time of stark economic challenges. The outfall
of the global economic crisis threatens to undo many of the
achievements of the recent past, derail convergence with the
European Union (EU), and heighten social vulnerability. The
election of a strong government offers a timely opportunity
to restore and broaden the economic reform agenda which had
been initiated before EU accession and but lost some

This policy note, Environmental
Management for a Sustainable Economic Development Strategy
for Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, investigates six environmental
management topics which will affect the capacity of the
province to develop the economy and need to be underpinned
by strong environmental and natural resource management. The
six topics cover: agriculture, forestry, fisheries, land and
water, environmental law and regulations, and spatial

There are many causes, consequences, and
connections of deforestation and forest poverty in the
tropical world. This report specifically addresses the
potential dilemma of trade-offs between poverty reduction
and environmental protection. It seeks to improve the
diagnosis of forest problems and facilitate the prescription
and application of solutions by focusing on both the causes
and consequences of forest conversion to agriculture and on

This policy note assesses the potential
of foreign direct investment (FDI) to diversify Lesotho s
exports. Lesotho must preserve capacity to produce more and
better goods, seek new markets, preserve existing
manufacturing jobs, undertake structural and institutional
reforms, and take advantage of its location inside South
Africa. Given the low savings in the country, as well as
major fiscal challenges arising from declines in SACU

Belarus has a large and extensive social
protection system (SP) covering a significant share of the
population. Belarus has adopted a single methodology for
calculating income to target Public Targeted Social
Assistance (GASP). This methodology also is used when
testing an applicant's income/means for some of the
child benefits. To reduce the leakage of benefits to the
non-poor while expanding GASP, this note assesses the