This paper focuses on several
interrelated key questions on the geography of development.
Although we herald cities with their industrial bases as
'engines of growth,' does industrialization in
fact drive urbanization?1 What economic activities do cities
of different sizes undertake? Does this change as countries
develop? If so, what are the policy implications? Do
development policies have a big-city bias? If so, what does

This report addresses the insolvency of
natural persons following this structure: a first part
introduces the objectives and nature of the report, deals
with general issues, and describes the foundations of a
system for the treatment of the insolvency of natural
persons. The second part of the report analyzes the core
legal attributes of system for the treatment of the
insolvency of natural persons: within this system, the most

This paper examines the current status
of justice and dispute-resolution mechanisms in Bangladesh,
ranging from the formal justice system to the traditional
shalish (a form of dispute resolution), and focuses on the
costs and benefits of utilizing nongovernmental organization
(NGO)-led legal services programs as an alternative form of
justice delivery and dispute resolution for the poor, with a
focus on women and girls. In particular, this paper takes a

A fundamental challenge for Vietnam is
to improve the affordability and efficiency of
infrastructure investment. The fragmentation of public
infrastructure investment results in duplication and waste,
and is a major underlying cause of investment inefficiency.
Bond issuance has been the most prominent form of debt
financing at the sub-national level. At the provincial
level, significant disconnects exist between total planned

The Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias
(MDF) and the Java Reconstruction Fund (JRF) have played
significant roles in the remarkable recovery of Aceh, Nias
and Java, following some of the worst disasters in Indonesia
in recent years. The MDF and the JRF, which is patterned
after it, are each considered a highly successful model for
post-disaster reconstruction. This paper discusses the value
of a phased approach to post-disaster reconstruction as a

The Multi Donor Fund for Aceh and Nias
(MDF) and the Java Reconstruction Fund (JRF) have played
significant roles in the remarkable recovery of Aceh, Nias
and Java, following some of the worst disasters in Indonesia
in recent years. The MDF and the JRF, which is patterned
after it, are each considered a highly successful model for
post-disaster reconstruction. This paper presents lessons
from the MDF and JRF's efforts to facilitate

Long-term economic growth is the key
driver for increasing the economic wellbeing of the
population, but the pattern and the incidence of growth also
matter. Economic growth narrowly based on certain enclave
sectors or benefitting small groups is neither socially
stable nor sustainable. Along these lines, the World Bank
recently revised its institutional strategy, establishing
two goals, namely: (i) ending extreme global poverty, the

This policy paper explores the relative
importance of the software regulatory barriers to growth in
Pakistan. Such software barriers have been identified as
part of the major constraint in the Framework for Economic
Growth of the Government of Pakistan. Indeed, adequate
software is needed to provide an environment in which the
hardware of growth (physical infrastructure) could be
expanded and made more productive. Among possible software

Payments for Environmental Services
(PES) are one of the instruments that countries might use to
try to reduce deforestation, and hence receive payments for
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation
(REDD). This paper discusses four aspects related to the use
of PES as an instrument to implement an avoided
deforestation program, based on a review of PES experiences
in Latin America. First, the paper discusses the

A decline in organized public transport
systems has led to rapid growth in non-conventional means of
public transport, initially provided by minibuses and shared
taxi/vans, and more recently by commercial motorcycles.
Unlike cities in South and East Asia, ownership and use of
motorized two-wheelers as a personalized vehicle is very
small in sub-Saharan cities. However, over the past decade
there has been a significant growth in the use of

This paper develops a framework and some
hypotheses regarding the impact of local-level, informal
legal institutions on three economic outcomes: aggregate
growth, inequality, and human capabilities. It presents a
set of stylized differences between formal and informal
legal justice systems, identifies the pathways through which
formal systems promote economic outcomes, reflects on what
the stylized differences mean for the potential impact of

Sana'a is located in an upland
basin at an altitude of 2300 meters within a mountainous and
semi-arid region of Yemen. Because of its high altitude, the
city enjoys a moderate climate year around. The main rainy
season is in summer. The nearest port is Hodeidah, roughly
250 kilometers away. Bound by mountains and steep slopes to
the east and west, the city has few options but to expand
primarily along its north and south axes within its basin.