This paper uses Ethiopian data to
explore credit rationing in semi-formal credit markets and
its effects on farmers' resource allocation and crop
productivity. Credit rationing -- both voluntarily and
involuntarily -- is found to be widespread in the sampled
rural villages, largely because of risk-related factors.
Political and social networks emerge as key determinants of
access to credit among smallholder, peasant farmers.

Did the rise in food prices have a long-term impact on agricultural production? Using household-level panel data from seven provinces of Indonesia, this paper finds that the price shock created a forward-looking incentive to invest, which can dynamically enhance productivity in agriculture. It also finds that the impact of the price shock on investment behavior differs by initial wealth. In response to price increases, wealthy farmers invested more in productive assets, while poor farmers increased their financial savings as well as consumption.

The concept of "Green Growth" is a focus of much interest and considerable debate among decision makers concerned with enhancing both nearer-term economic progress and longer-term environmental sustainability. Proponents of Green Growth emphasize not only the need to protect various forms of natural capital to sustain improvements in material living standards and poverty reduction, but also the potential for strategically crafted environmental policies to achieve sustainability at low cost, perhaps even to help stimulate growth.

Sea level rise (SLR) due to climate
change is a serious global threat. The scientific evidence
is now overwhelming. Continued growth of greenhouse gas
emissions and associated global warming could well promote
SLR of 1m-3m in this century, and unexpectedly rapid breakup
of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets might produce
a 5m SLR. In this paper, the authors have assessed the
consequences of continued SLR for 84 developing countries.

This book grew out of the Global Issues
seminars and is itself a testament to that two-way dialogue:
the suggestion to compile the speakers' lecture notes
into a book came from the students themselves. Both the
seminars and this book reflect the Bank's conviction
that the seemingly intractable problems of our globalizing
world-from entrenched poverty, to climate change, to new
infectious diseases such as AIDS and avian flu-can be

Poverty reduction on a large scale
depends on empowering those who are most motivated to move
out of poverty-poor people themselves. But if empowerment
cannot be measured, it will not be taken seriously in
development policy making and programming. Building on the
"Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Sourcebook,"
this volume outlines a conceptual framework that can be used
to monitor and evaluate programs centered on empowerment

The aim of this study is to assist the
government in this endeavor by focusing on selected
priorities. The overarching objective of this report is to
promote the mainstreaming and integration of climate related
risks in India's development policies and processes,
where this is appropriate. The objectives and scope of work
were developed in close consultation with the Ministry of
Environment and Forests as the primary counterpart, a

Despite their increasing prominence in policy debates, little is known about gender inequities in non-agricultural labor market outcomes in rural areas. Using matched household-enterprise-community data sets from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, this paper documents and analyzes gender differences in the individual portfolio choice and productivity of non-farm entrepreneurship. Except for Ethiopia, women are less likely than men to become nonfarm entrepreneurs.

This paper analyzes the impact of large-scale expansion of biofuels on the global income distribution and poverty. A global computable general equilibrium model is used to simulate the effects of the expansion of biofuels on resource allocation, commodity prices, factor prices and household income. A second model based on world-wide household surveys uses these results to calculate the impacts on poverty and global income inequality. The study finds that the large-scale expansion of biofuels leads to an increase in production and prices of agricultural commodities.

This paper presents a framework for
analyzing tropical deforestation and reforestation using the
von Thunen model as its starting point: land is allocated to
the use which yields the highest rent, and the rents of
various land uses are determined by location. Forest cover
change therefore becomes a question of changes in rent of
forest versus non-forest use. While this is a simple and
powerful starting point, more intriguing issues arise when

This paper measures the economic impact
of climate on crops in Kenya. The analysis is based on
cross-sectional climate, hydrological, soil, and household
level data for a sample of 816 households, and uses a
seasonal Ricardian model. Estimated marginal impacts of
climate variables suggest that global warming is harmful for
agricultural productivity and that changes in temperature
are much more important than changes in precipitation. This

The main objective of the Senegal
Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) is to reinforce the
ongoing dialogue on environmental issues between the World
Bank and the Government of Senegal. The CEA also aims to
support the ongoing Government implementation of a strategic
results-based planning process at the Environment Ministry
(MEPNBRLA). The main goal is to enable Senegal to have the
necessary tools to attain the Millennium Development Goals