Trade preferences are expected to
facilitate global market integration and offer the potential
for rapid economic growth and poverty reduction for
developing countries. But those preferences do not always
guarantee sustainable external competitiveness to
beneficiary countries and may risk discouraging their
efforts to improve underlying productivity. This paper
examines the EU beef import market where several African

The rapid pace of economic growth in
China has been unprecedented since the start of economic
reforms in late 1970s. It has delivered higher incomes and
made the largest single contribution to global poverty
reduction. Measured by international poverty lines, from
1978-2004, the absolute poor population in rural areas has
dropped from 250 million to 26.1 million. Such gains are
impressive and have been driven largely by a set of

This year the preliminary results of the
international comparison program are being released,
providing new comparisons of price levels for more than 140
countries. The program, the largest single data collection
effort ever undertaken, is a salutary example of what can be
accomplished through global partnership, technical
innovation, and systematic attention to building local
statistical capacity. Along with censuses, surveys are a

This report shows that after a decade of
moderate growth but little or no long term change in rural
poverty in Pakistan, agricultural output, rural incomes,
rural poverty and social welfare indicators all showed
marked improvements between 2001-02 and 2004-05. However,
longer term trends suggest there is little reason for
complacency. The agricultural GDP per capita growth rate
(1999- 2000 to 2004-05) was only 0.3 percent per year; rural

It is the purpose of this Investment
Climate Assessment (ICA) to look at what hinders the move of
the Palestinians to new markets and what can be done to
encourage it. The ICA reveals that shrinking market access
and the lack of free movement are the main constraints to
growth for Palestinian enterprises. Relative to other
countries in the region, the Palestinian investment climate
is good: petty corruption is low, the bureaucracy is

The objective of this assignment was to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system for watershed management in the Loess Plateau area. The M&E system for the China Watershed Management Project (CWMP) has been developed on the base of the M&E system that has been implemented during the previous two phases of the World Bank Loess Plateau Project. The final report presents the main outcomes of this process. The major findings of the M&E systems review are summarized in the following chapter two.

In considering the contribution that Rural Local Institutions (RLIs) can make to Sustainable Livelihoods (SLs), authors bring together two important concerns that emerged among development practitioners in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. RLIs are important for addressing and mitigating factors of insecurity and instability, dealing in particular with various aspects of vulnerability. RLIs can also support participation (voice), conflict mitigation (peace), and external linkage (market expansion).

The primary goal of this Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) is to provide a plan for reactivating Angola's productive sectors that reduces the country's reliance on imports while enabling the restoration of export capacity in the medium to long term. Executing such a plan will involve investing in the rehabilitation of infrastructure destroyed by war and making and adjusting policies that affect the institutional underpinnings of a market economy, as well as incentives for exporting and importing.

A 2003 World Bank study, "Governance of Natural Resources in the Philippines," analyzed natural resources management and governance in the Philippines. It assessed sector policies, particularly property rights, institutions, and financing mechanisms as well as program implementation.

This study by the World Bank indicates that forests offer vast potential for poverty reduction and rural economic growth in India while also supporting critical national conservation goals. An estimated 275 million people in rural areas depend on forests for at least part of their livelihoods. Forest dwellers, which include a high proportion of tribals, are among the poorest and most vulnerable groups in society. The government of India has adopted Joint Forest Management as a principal approach for community-based forestry.

The overall objective of the present study is to contribute to the knowledge-base that is urgently required for the implementation of sustainable rural development activities in Haiti.

The author applies a systems-oriented "holistic" approach to China's radical economic reforms during the past quarter of a century. He characterizes China's economic reforms in terms of a multidimensional classification of economic systems. When looking at the economic consequences of China's change of economic system, he deals with both the impressive growth performance and its economic costs.