The analysis of the cost of
environmental degradation conducted as part of the country
environmental analysis (CEA) shows that the most costly
problems associated with environmental degradation are urban
and indoor air pollution; inadequate water supply,
sanitation, and hygiene; natural disasters (such as flooding
and landslides); and land degradation. The burden of these
costs falls most heavily on vulnerable segments of the

Bangladesh represents a success story
among developing countries. Poverty incidence, which was as
high as 57 percent at the beginning of the 1990s, had
declined to 49 percent in 2000. This trend accelerated
subsequently, reducing the poverty headcount rate to 40
percent in 2005. The primary contributing factor was robust
and stable economic growth along with no worsening of
inequality. Respectable GDP growth that started at the

This publication focuses on public
finance, development economics, and the Chinese economy. The
government will focus on the public good aspects of
education and training-compulsory education and some aspects
of higher education and training. The publication encourages
seven reforms including raising government expenditure on
education to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP),
and ensuring that all children actually receive nine years

The objective of this report is to
analyze the important roles of labor markets, employment,
productivity, and labor income in facilitating shared growth
and promoting poverty reduction in Bangladesh. First, the
report provides a background discussion of poverty, reform,
and growth in Bangladesh. Following that, it gives an
overview of the labor market, describing the country's
demographics, the institutional structure of the labor

The workshop brings diverse perspectives
from outside the World Bank, providing a forum in which to
exchange ideas and debate in the course of developing the
World Development Report (WDR). Participants at the 2006
Berlin Workshop gathered to discuss challenges and successes
pertaining to agriculture and development. Agriculture is
the major sector contributing to economic development in
many poor countries. Three out of every four poor people in

Income inequality in China has risen
rapidly in the past decades across regions, between rural
and urban sectors, and within provinces. The dynamics of
divergence across these sub-national areas have taken the
form of a "race to the top" - meaning that all
segments of the population, including the poor with low
education in lagging inland rural areas, have experienced
gains in average income. The largest gains have been

This paper examines broadly the
intergovernmental structure in the Middle East and North
Africa region, which has one of the most centralized
government structures in the world. The authors address the
reasons behind this centralized structure by looking first
at the history behind the tax systems of the region. They
review the Ottoman taxation system, which has been
predominantly influential as a model, and discuss its impact

This paper analyzes poverty in Haiti
based on the first Living Conditions Survey of 7,186
households covering the whole country and representative at
the regional level. Using a USD1 a day extreme poverty line,
the analysis reveals that 49 percent of Haitian households
live in absolute poverty. Twenty, 56, and 58 percent of
households in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas,
respectively, are poor. At the regional level, poverty is

This paper compares how results using
various methods to construct asset indices match results
using per capita expenditures. The analysis shows that
inferences about inequalities in education, health care use,
fertility, child mortality, as well as labor market outcomes
are quite robust to the specific economic status measure
used. The measures-most significantly per capita
expenditures versus the class of asset indices-do not,

The World Bank committed $30.6 billion
in transport-related projects during the past decade, making
it one of the largest sectors. The evaluation looks into the
Bank's experience in the sector, and assesses the
institution's interventions, the impact of rapid
transport sector expansion, and its readiness to meet the
challenges ahead.

This publication offers crucial lessons
for policy makers and development experts who may be
considering using small area poverty maps as tools of
economic development and helps add to our array of tools for
dealing with the political economy issues of poverty. It
represents a major contribution to a little understood
aspect of the well-known adage "location, location,
location," demonstrating that the conceptualization of

This paper examines how farmers have
adapted their livestock operation to the current climate in
each agro-ecological zone in Africa. The authors examine how
climate has affected the farmer's choice to raise
livestock or not and the choice of animal species. To
measure adaptation, the analysis regresses the farmer's
choice on climate, soil, water flow, and socio-economic
variables. The findings show that climate does in fact