The 2005 Tanzania poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA) on local government tax reform was designed to examine the intended and unintended consequences on poverty reduction and growth in Tanzania of the tax reforms implemented in June 2003 and 2004. The main elements of the reform were the abolition of the flat rate development levy in 2003 along with nuisance taxes, and the abolition of business license fees for enterprises below a certain size and capping of those fees for larger enterprises in 2004.

Since the early 1980s, China has begun gradually integrating with the global system. In doing so the country has moved toward its own unique brand of market socialism, which recognizes private ownership, and is adopting market institutions and pursuing industrial change within the framework of an urban economic environment. The process of transition has now permeated every corner of Chinese life and no organization has been left untouched.

This study looks at the experience of integrated urban upgrading in a low-income neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Infrastructure and social investments have been made in the community through a government program, with community participation playing a major role in the design and implementation. This approach is now perceived to be highly successful in terms of its implementation and positive impact on living conditions, and will provide the basis for a major state-wide program.

The country environmental safeguard
review provides an overall assessment of Bhutan's
environmental safeguard system. The study is not intended to
be comprehensive or prescriptive. It is meant to provide a
broad overview of some key legal, policy, and institutional
challenges and highlight some options for possible future
action. The following points identify the broad focus of the
review: (i) identify critical gaps in Bhutan's policies

Urbanization, which is almost completed
now in developed countries and even in Latin America, is now
proceeding in much of Asia at an unprecedented rate. Many of
the countries in the region have up to half their population
now living urban lifestyles and increasingly also living in
urban regions. The forms that urbanization is taking in the
developing countries, however, are problematic. Towns and
cities that were never planned to have large populations are

This report summarizes and consolidates the findings of three Bank studies on poverty issues in Mexico, written as part of the second phase of this work: Urban Poverty, Rural Poverty, and Social Protection. It also expands on how Mexico will seek to use social protection policy as a vehicle for redistribution. Discussed in Chapter 1, the state has a clear role in providing risk-pooling mechanisms where private insurance markets fail (e.g., old age and health insurance), but the role of social protection policy in promoting redistribution is more an issue of national choice.

Economic geography has become a mantra for many economists, geographers, and regional scientists. Previous studies have tested the importance of economic geography for production activities and found a significant association between them. Most of these studies, however, have not taken into account that economic geography influences location decisions at the firm level. The authors show a potential bias that can arise when firm location choices are not considered in estimating the contribution of economic geography to industry performance.

How effective are public interventions in addressing significant regional disparities in formal manufacturing concentration in a developing economy? The authors examine the aggregate and sectoral geographic concentration of manufacturing industries for Indonesia, and estimate the impact of factors influencing location choice at the firm level. They distinguish between natural advantage, including infrastructure endowments, wage rates, and natural resource endowments, and production externalities, arising from the co-location of firms in the same or complementary industries.

How do differences in the local business environment influence location of industry within countries? How do the benefits of a good business environment compare with those from good market access and agglomeration economies from industry clustering? The authors examine these questions by analyzing location decisions of individual firms. Using data from a recently completed survey of manufacturing firms in India, they find that both the local business environment and agglomeration economies significantly influence business location choices across cities.

The asset-based approach considers links between households' productive, social, and locational assets; the policy, institutional, and risk context; household behavior as expressed in livelihood strategies; and well-being outcomes. For sustainable poverty reducing growth, it is critical to examine household asset portfolios and understand how assets interact with the context to influence the selection of livelihood strategies, which in turn determine well-being. Policy reforms can change the context and income-generating potential of assets.

Although China has made impressive progress in economic development and improving social well-being, it is facing many daunting challenges while transforming toward a knowledge and service-based economy and further opening up to international competition after its WTO accession in the context of knowledge revolution. One of the biggest challenges is how to create 100-300 million new jobs in the coming decade to absorb the millions of laid-offs, rural emigrants and newly added labor force.

This paper examines the various ways in which migrant settlers have gained and maintained access to land in the informal urban settlements of Wewak, the provincial capital of East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Urban population growth in PNG and in Pacific Island states more generally is predicted to grow rapidly over the next two decades. Given the limited availability of formal housing for lower income people, it is likely that many will live in informal urban settlements on land owned by customary landowners.