When we talk about corruption in terms of statistics, it’s easy to forget the human cost of abused power. Behind every fact or figure are real people, forced to live without the services, opportunities and rights they deserve. All too often, these stories remain hidden – silenced through threats and intimidation, or drowned out by louder, more powerful voices.

The Public Investment Management (PIM) efficiency review is intended to support the Government of Zimbabwe, and in particular the Ministry of Finance, in its efforts to strengthen the efficiency of the public investment system, with the goal of improving the creation, operation and maintenance of public sector capital assets that support service delivery and economic growth.

This paper is motivated by the emphasis
on secure property rights as a determinant of economic
development in recent literature. The authors use village
and household level information from about 800 villages
throughout China to explore whether legal reform increased

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

This study examines the constraints on
the housing sector in Afghanistan. It evaluates government
policy on housing, looks at the state of housing finance,
and examines legal and regulatory barriers with a bearing on
the housing market. The report provides policy

Doing Business 2007: How to reform is
the fourth in a series of annual reports investigating the
regulations that enhance business activity and those that
constrain it. Doing Business presents quantitative
indicators on business regulations and the protection of

This report is about how to
progressively reduce over time Afghanistan's dependence
on opium - currently the country's leading economic
activity - by development initiatives and shifting economic
incentives toward sustainable legal livelihoods.

Bangladesh has recorded impressive
economic and social gains since the 1990s. Recent growth has
been at levels close to six percent. The country has doubled
per capita growth and taken large strides toward reaching
many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), ahead of many

This document presents the main
governance indicators for the country, as compiled by the
World Bank Institute (WBI), and how are they used by
international institutions in making decisions about
assistance to Nicaragua. Although these indicators have

This paper tests the hypothesis that
enterprises may forgo formal finance in lieu of informal
credit by choice. They do so to avoid the additional
regulatory scrutiny and harassment that engaging with the
formal financial sector invites. We test this hypothesis

The study provides policy
recommendations to increase the productivity of micro and
small firms in Bolivia and to provide incentives for firms
to formalize based on a fresh understanding of firms
behavior regarding formality, productivity, and
profitability. The study draws upon a new qualitative

This paper examines different models of
governing structure found in metropolitan areas around the
world. It evaluates how well these models achieve the
coordination of service delivery over the entire
metropolitan area as well as the extent to which they result