A World Bank country study

xxxi, 393 p. : 28 cm

"This study addresses three questions: Why do inequalities matter for Brazil's development? Why does Brazil occupy a position of very high inequality in the international community? What should public policy do about it?" "Excessive income inequality is unfair and undesirable on ethical grounds and can bring adverse effects on economic growth, health outcomes, social cohesion, and crime. Brazil's excessive income inequality is associated to regressive public transfers, less equitable distribution of education, and higher wage differentials."--BOOK JACKET.

This first World Bank report on the Chinese economy is primarily an attempt to address: (i) China's economic development as related to its people since the 1949 revolution; and (ii) the respective roles of factors outside the government's control, of the policies followed, and of the system of economic management itself. It uses the context of experience in other developing countries to discuss some of the fundamental implications for future policy. In view of the scale and difficulty of this task, and the limited time and resources available, the report should be regarded as no more than a preliminary step toward an understanding of China's economic progress and potential. Volume I includes the main economic report and annexes on the statistical system and basic data; Volume II comprises the economic sectors - agriculture industry, energy, transport, and trade and finance; Volume III comprises the social sectors - population, health, and nutrition and education.

"This report examines whether Chile has a social protection "system" - broadly defined to include policy interventions, public institutions, and the regulation of private institutions that lower the welfare costs of adverse shocks to income from job loss and extended unemployment, health episodes, old age, and life-time poverty - or instead has a set of loosely-coordinated programs. It assesses whether households are provided with appropriate tools to mitigate risks to their income, and identifies gaps in coverage and where instruments are missing. Finally, the study provides the Government with a set of guidelines, grounded in a conceptual framework, that, if carefully applied, could increase the effectiveness of social protection."--Book Jacket.

"Jamaica's economic history is a story of paradoxes and potential. It has an English-speaking and a reasonably well-educated labor force, is close to the world's largest market, the United States, and has an abundance of natural beauty, which has spurred tourism. Many of its social and governance indicators are strong, including near universal school enrollment and poverty levels below that of comparable countries. However, the Jamaican story is marked by the paradoxes of low growth in GDP and high employment despite high investment and important achievements in poverty reduction. This paper attempts to explain these paradoxes and concludes that one possible explanation in that GDP has been understated."--BOOK JACKET.

"This report is based on the work of an economic mission which visited Russia in March-April 1992 ... prepared by a team led by Paulo Viera da Cunha"--P. iii. Includes bibliographical references (p. 325-327).

This is a social studies book for Secondary School. The history, culture, government, and economy of the Bahama Islands are covered.

"Broad-based growth is one of the four pillars of the Nicaraguan Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy. Living standards of the rural poor will continue to depend largely upon agriculture. This study takes stock of major developments in Nicaragua's agricultural sector and argues that broad-based growth can be promoted by strengthening agricultural competitiveness. Export growth is the key, requiring immediate action within a coherent strategy. The case of coffee illustrates the proposed strategy. This report also identifies productivity constraints in rural factor markets, suggesting medium- and long-term solutions. It concludes with a review of the issue of risk management and with descriptions of some promising pilot projects."--Jacket.

xiii, 148 p. ; 26 cm

An introduction to the geography, people, history, resources, and attractions of the small South American country which gained independence from Britain in 1966.

"This book takes stock of Madagascar's first 10 years of decentralization. As it happened in many other developing countries, particularly in Africa, Madagascar's decentralization process has seen reversals, uncertainties and lack of clarity all along. This explains why Madagascar, despite the experience with decentralization, remains a highly centralized country with only about 3-4 percent of expenditures spent below the center and with very few prerogatives decentralized to the local level."--BOOK JACKET.

xxvi, 143 pages, 6 unnumbered folded leaves of plates : 28 cm

Economic conditions, rural poor, rural development, economic aspects.

This report analyzes the industrial and trade policies that would help assure a smooth transition from the highly protected industrial environment of the past, in which direct controls were a key means of allocating resources, to a more open environment in which competitive forces have a much greater role in shaping investment, output and pricing decisions. The report examines the past framework of domestic regulatory policies and incentives for industrial development, the impact of these policies on industrial structure and performance, the recent changes in industrial policies, and extensions of these measures that would accelerate the transition. The report goes on to examine ways in which trade policies have protected domestic industry, the effects of this protection on manufacturing performance, and the measures which could be taken over time to restore a greater degree of competition -- both with imports and in export markets. The report concludes that reforms of domestic and external regulatory policies would need to be made simultaneously over the medium term to effect a successful transition to a more competitive, efficient and faster growing industrial sector.

"In March 2001, the Ministry of Health of the Government of Eritrea launched a process to prepare a long-term health sector policy and strategic plan (HSPSP), with a focus on assuring equitable, quality, and sustainable health care. The Ministry outlined an open, participatory, three-step process for developing the HSPSP, with active participation from all partners in the health sector." "This study serves as the preliminary basis for further rounds of discussions and analysis among stakeholders to arrive at a strategic vision for the Eritrea health sector. It incorporates comments received from the Ministry of Health's central agencies, Zoba (regional) health teams, external partners working in Eritrea, and the World Bank Eritrea Country Team."--BOOK JACKET.

"This report is part of a collaborative multi-year program of analytical work and technical assistance (the Guatemala Poverty Assessment Program, or "GUAPA" program). This poverty assessment report conducts an in-depth, multi-dimensional analysis of poverty building on the framework of the World Bank's World Development Report (WDR) for 2000/2001 using both quantitative and qualitative data. This study also examines the impact of government policies and spending on the poor. Finally, it uses the empirical findings to identify options and priorities for poverty reduction in the future. Policy options are outlined not only in general, but for the specific themes and sectors covered."--Jacket.

This publication addresses the question of whether political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization improves government effectiveness and the debate on whether it is a viable and desirable state-building strategy for post-conflict countries. The publication is a collection of eight papers written by authors who were closely involved in the decentralization reform process in Sierra Leone from 2003-07. During this period, Sierra Leone's government established elected district and urban councils across the country, transferred certain responsibilities for primary services and local investment and some financial resources to the new councils, and invested heavily in building the administrative infrastructure and capacity of the local councils. Compared to most other Sub-Saharan African countries that have embarked upon decentralization, Sierra Leone's progress in building local government capacity and restructuring the fiscal system is enviable. The authors conclude that improved security and public services are possible in a decentralizing country and Sierra Leone's progress would not have been possible without significant effort at fiscal decentralization and intensive investment in local government capacity building. The most critical ingredient for this reform process is the leadership team in charge of promoting the new institutional framework and their persistent effort to achieve quick improvement in the local government system and public services.--Publisher's description.

"This report by World Bank economists and Colombian consultants maps out a strategy for poverty reduction in Colombia by concentrating efforts on rural development, social and infrastructural services, and decentralization strengthening. Expenditures would be financed by revenues generated by oil exports, presupposing macroeconomic health and increased government efficiency and accountability"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

This study shows how difficult it is for Niger to significantly change its expenditure composition in a short time span. A narrow and volatile domestic resource base, heavy dependence on aid, and a large share of pre-determined expenditures such as external debt payments are important factors behind this lack of flexibility. There are ways, though, to create space in the budget for increasing public spending on priority sectors. The study identifies a number of measures in this regard, such as increasing domestic revenues, more realistic and conservative budgeting, strengthening cash management, controlling the wage bill, prudent borrowing and attracting higher external financing for recurrent costs in priority sectors. The study also shows that enhancing the efficiency and transparency of public spending is as important as increasing spending for PRS priority sectors. It thoroughly assesses public management systems in Niger and presents an action plan, jointly elaborated by the Government and its main external partners, to address the main challenges in this area. This action plan contains a priority set of measures to improve budget preparation, execution as well as internal and external oversight.

"Malnutrition--especially, the stunting of children under five---is arguably Ecuador's biggest development challenge. Like other Andean countries (such as Peru and Bolivia), Ecuador has a persistently high stunting rate, well above what would be expected given its middle income status. Even more worrying, over the last decade, the trend reduction has virtually stopped. The study supports the development of a more coherent and effective nutrition strategy in Ecuador through an analysis of the main nutrition issues, based on in-depth statistical analysis of a large new household survey dataset (ENDEMAIN 2004) and other data sources, together with a review of qualitative evidence regarding behavioral and program-access obstacles to improved nutritional outcomes. It also reviews the existing programs and policies which aim to improve nutritional outcomes, considered the available evidence on the efficiency, effectiveness, targeting and inter-programmatic coherence of the programs and projects reviewed and suggests an agenda for policy discussions to improve these outcomes."--Publisher's description.