Most efforts to trace the effects of
income inequality on growth have focused on redistribution.
However, empirical investigation has not substantiated
either the positive association of income inequality with
redistribution or the negative association of redistribution
with economic growth. The authors analyze the effects of
inequality in the broader context of social polarization.
They argue that social polarization, whether rooted in

While liberalizing key factor markets is
a crucial step in the transition from a socialist
control-economy to a market economy, the process can be
stalled by imperfect information, high transaction costs,
and covert resistance from entrenched interests. The authors
study land-market adjustment in the wake of Vietnam's
reforms aiming to establish a free market in land-use rights
following de-collectivization. Inefficiencies in the initial

No mundo contemporâneo, o tema da alimentação “ecológica” tem sido cada vez mais discutido. Muitos estudos enfatizam aspectos técnicos e econômicos e colocam a produção agroecológica como oposta àquela convencional, que faz uso intensivo de agroquímicos. Este trabalho apresenta a trajetória de uma família de agricultores ecológicos – camponeses de origem pomerana – inseridos em uma comunidade em que a maior parte dos agricultores trabalha com a produção de fumo, em uma localidade rural do município de São Lourenço do Sul, no estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.

A brief which takes on the myth that large mega farms are more modern and productive than smallholder farms. Concludes that by boosting the productivity of smallholders, governments and donors can increase food production and rural employment; reduce rural poverty through the commercialization of subsistence agriculture; and more effectively empower women. With secure rights to their land, access to markets, and credit and technology, smallholders can drive the growth of rural economies throughout the developing world.

Restrictions on economic activity in
area C of the West Bank have been particularly detrimental
to the Palestinian economy. Area C constitutes about 61
percent of the West Bank territory. Area C is richly endowed
with natural resources and it is contiguous, whereas areas A
and B are smaller territorial islands. Mobilizing the area C
potential will help a faltering Palestinian economy. Since
area C is where the majority of the West Bank's natural

The urgent need to limit anthropogenic
carbon emissions has led to a global initiative to Reduce
Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+).
But designing national architectures for REDD+ that
integrate local actions on forests with national-level
outcomes and do so effectively, efficiently, and equitably
continues to be challenging. One option to facilitate the
design and implementation of REDD+ is to learn from the

Within the next two decades Indonesia
aspires to generate prosperity, avoid a middle-income trap
and leave no one behind as it tries to catch up with
high-income economies. These are ambitious goals. Realizing
them requires sustained high growth and job creation, as
well as reduced inequality. Can Indonesia achieve them? This
report argues that the country has the potential to rise and
become more prosperous and equitable. But the risk of

Ghana's oil will start to flow in
2011, maybe even before, and most of its known reserves will
be extracted in the immediate years after. The promise of
oil generates expectations of all sorts, the more so as
Ghana currently grapples with a macroeconomic crisis of
significant proportions. This overview discusses the
Ghana-specific nature of these challenges and explores
possible options to address them. In doing so, it builds 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

The dramatic increases in world food and
fuel prices during 2007 and early 2008 may set back
Mozambique's considerable advances in poverty reduction
during the past decade. This study assesses the impact of
higher fuel and food prices at both household and
macroeconomic levels, and also considers policy options to
mitigate some of the negative impacts of higher prices.
Rising world prices certainly represents a negative

Productivity in Belarus'
agricultural sector has improved considerably, but large
parts of crop and livestock production are not
internationally competitive. The state's regulatory and
fiscal support system for agriculture has been instrumental
in improving the sector's performance. But the massive
distortions to agricultural incentives it creates to prevent
the sector from reaching its full potential. And the high

At the request of the World Bank's
Executive Board, the Bank's Operations Evaluation
Department (OED) has been conducting an evaluation of the
Bank's involvement in global programs. The Phase 1
Report titled The World Bank's Approach to Global
Programs focused on the strategic and programmatic
management of the Bank's global portfolio of 70
programs in five Bank Networks (a cluster of closely related