Namibia is a large country in Southern
Africa that borders the South Atlantic Ocean, between Angola
to the north and South Africa to the south. With a surface
area of 824,290 square kilometers, it is similar in size to
Mozambique and about half the size of the U.S. state of
Alaska. Namibia has a small population of approximately 2.1
million people. It is also one of the least densely
populated countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average

The commission on growth and development
was established in April 2006. It felt that the benefits of
growth were not fully appreciated, but also recognized that
the causes of growth were not fully understood. Growth is
often overlooked and underrated as an instrument for
tackling the world's most pressing problems, such as
poverty, illiteracy, income inequality, unemployment, and
pollution. At the same time, grasp of the sources of growth

Urban Development Investment
Corporations (UDICs) have over the years become the central
pillar in the local government drive to build infrastructure
in China, where local governments are not allowed to engage
in direct market borrowing. UDICs were established during
the early 1990s when local governments were under great
pressure to both build municipal infrastructure and to
reform the role of the government in infrastructure

This report " Country Social
Analysis (CSA) " focused on ethnicity and development
in Vietnam is a provocative analysis of marginality in
contemporary Southeast Asia. It seeks to understand the
macro social and political processes, and provides an
analysis of how social, political, and cultural factors
influence the opportunities and constraints to more
equitable, inclusive development. This study provides

Municipalities in Mozambique were
established by law in 1997 and elected in 1998 for the first
time, only a few years after the peace agreement. Most
inherited archaic and dysfunctional remnants of colonial and
central government systems and infrastructure, and as such
limited progress was achieved in transforming them into
functioning local governments during the first mandate
(1998-2002). During the second mandate (2003-2008), however,

This paper reviews the correlations and
potential links between health and economic growth and
summarizes the evidence on the role of government in
improving health status. At the macroeconomic level, the
evidence of an impact of health on growth remains ambiguous
due both to difficulties in measuring health, and to the
methodological challenges of identifying causal links. The
evidence on the micro linkages from health investments to

In many countries, place specific
investments in infrastructure are viewed as integral
components of territorial development policies. But are
these policies fighting market forces of concentration? Or
are they adding net value to the national economy by tapping
underexploited resources? This paper contributes to the
debate on the spatial allocation of infrastructure
investments by examining where these investments will

Son preference is known to be found in
certain types of cultures, that is patrilineal cultures. But
what explains the fact that China, South Korea, and
Northwest India manifest such extreme child sex ratios
compared with other patrilineal societies? This paper argues
that what makes these societies unique is that their
pre-modern political and administrative systems used
patrilineages to organize and administer their citizens. The

Municipalities in Mozambique were
established by law in 1997 and elected in 1998 for the first
time, only a few years after the peace agreement. Most
inherited archaic and dysfunctional remnants of colonial and
central government systems and infrastructure, and as such
limited progress was achieved in transforming them into
functioning local governments during the first mandate
(1998-2002). During the second mandate (2003-2008), however,

This report is the primary output from
the climate change impact and adaptation study for the
Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) produced for the Bangkok
Metropolitan Administration (BMA) with financial support
provided by the World Bank. The report concerns climate
change, and provides an analysis of climate change impacts
and adaptation options for the BMR. In addition to the more
general matters on the physical setting and socioeconomics

Many countries succeed in generating
high economic growth at some point in their history. But
only a very few manage to sustain rapid growth for an
extended period. Only such a prolonged period of rapid
growth can have a significant impact on income per capita,
and such an impact often brings with it many other important
changes to people's lives. Cambodia has more than
doubled its income per capita over the past decade, from

This paper provides an overview of the
fiscal problems faced by five urban agglomerations in India,
namely, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, and Pune. It
analyzes the fiscal health of the five urban agglomerations,
quantifies their revenue capacities and expenditure needs,
and draws policy recommendations on the means to reduce the
gaps between revenue raising capacities and expenditure
needs. The main findings suggest that, except for five small