When deciding who should receive welfare
benefits with the aim to increase household well-being, it
is necessary to understand the effects of the distribution
of power within the households at which the aid is directed.
Two primary household models have been used to study
intra-household bargaining and decision making: the unitary
model and the collective model. The unitary model seems to
fit Pakistan's context because the prevailing

International migration has increased
rapidly in recent decades and this has been accompanied by a
remarkable increase in transfers made by migrants to their
home countries. This paper investigates the effect of the
rural economic growth brought about by migration and
remittances on Nepal's Himalayan forests. The authors
assemble a unique village-panel dataset combining remote
sensing data on land use and forest cover change with data

The World Bank Group has a unique
opportunity to match the increases in financing for
agriculture with a sharper focus on improving agricultural
growth and productivity in agriculture-based economies,
notably in Sub-Saharan Africa. Greater effort will be needed
to connect sectoral interventions and achieve synergies from
public and private sector interventions; to build capacity
and knowledge exchange; to take stock of experience in

World development indicators 2011, the
15th edition in its current format, aims to provide
relevant, high-quality, internationally comparable
statistics about development and the quality of
people's lives around the globe. Fifteen years ago,
World development indicators was overhauled and redesigned,
organizing the data to present an integrated view of
development, with the goal of putting these data in the

The five countries of Central Asia
expanded their trade significantly since beginning their
transition with exports quadrupling to almost USD70 billion
between 2003 and 2008 but without substantial
diversification. These countries achieved this by promoting
private investment, property rights, trade liberalization,
and transport infrastructure in varying degrees. This study
focuses on three countries of Central Asia-Kazakhstan, the

Services are failing poor urban and
rural people in the developing world, and poverty remains
concentrated in rural areas and urban slums. This state of
affairs prevails despite prolonged efforts by many
governments to improve rural and urban services and
development programs. This book focuses on how communities
and local governments can be empowered to contribute to
their own development and, in the process, improve

While Zambia's economy performs
well, in macroeconomic terms, low levels of productivity
plague industry, and this constrains growth, diversification
and prosperity. In recent years, economic growth has
averaged 5-6 percent a year, business reforms are being
implemented, and investment levels are at an all time high.
However, according to the World Economic Forum's global
competitiveness index 2010-2011, Zambia is not a competitive

This report is a window into a larger
initiative, the jobs and prosperity: building Zambia's
Competitiveness (JPC) program. The JPC program is a
'joint venture' between the governments of the
Republic of Zambia, the Zambian private sector, the United
Kingdom's Department for International Development
(DFID), the African development bank group and the World
Bank Group. As such, the report represents the collective

This report is part of a series produced
by the World Bank's Africa Finance and Private Sector
Development Unit (AFTFP). This report explores the potential
contribution that the copper mining industry could make to
jobs and prosperity in Zambia, and what it will take to
achieve this potential. Copper has for many years played an
important role in Zambia's economy, and the performance
of the economy has followed the fortunes of copper mining

This report looks beyond the current
global financial crisis to the restoration of dynamic
long-run growth in Serbia. The answer in this report is that
Serbia will need to fundamentally alter its growth model to
compete effectively in world markets. The past model relying
on excessive inflows of capital and credit that, in part,
fuelled a consumption boom has run its course in all
European countries. Serbia must shift to a greater export

Since 1999, Nigeria has made significant
progress in economic reform. Sound macroeconomic policies,
combined with structural reforms aimed at increasing the
supply responsiveness of the economy, ushered in sustained
high growth, driven by the non-oil economy. The goal of this
book is to shed light on the extent to which Nigeria's
much improved economic performance has impacted the labor
market, and to develop a growth strategy that could enhance

Input subsidy programs carry support as
instruments to increase agricultural productivity, provided
they are market-smart. This requires especially proper
targeting to contain the fiscal pressure, with decentralized
targeting of input vouchers currently the instrument of
choice. Nonetheless, despite clear advantages in
administrative costs, the fear of elite capture persists.
These fears are borne out in the experience from the 2008