Countries everywhere are divided into two distinct spatial realms: one urban, one rural. Classic models of development predict faster growth in the urban sector, causing rapid migration from rural areas to cities and raising average incomes in both realms. South Africa faces an unconventional challenge in that it has symptoms of a spatial realm that is not rural and not fully urban. In many ways, South African townships--and especially informal settlements--are similar to slums in the developing world, although never was a slum formed with as much central planning and purpose as were some of...

This World Bank review, Governance of Indian State Power Utilities: An Ongoing Journey, is a first attempt to systematically examine the quality of corporate and regulatory governance in the Indian power sector. Considering that much of the poor performance of utilities reflected internal and external shortfalls in governance, India's Electricity Act of 2003 mandated unbundling and corporatizing the vertically integrated state electricity boards, along with establishing independent regulators at the center and in the states. The aim was to create a more accountable and commercial performance...

Based on forecasts of global population growth, food security will remain an important economic development issue over the next several decades. In addition, real food prices have risen in recent years after decades of decline, bringing the issue of food security even further into the public spotlight. However, there is no global food shortage: the problem is one of moving food, often across borders, from surplus production areas to deficit ones at prices that low-income consumers in developing countries can afford. Trade can be an excellent buffer for domestic fluctuations in food supply....

Too Global to Fail: The World Bank at the Intersection of National and Global Public Policy in 2025 analyzes the issue of global public goods, particularly those related to the environment, in the context of the global development process. Long-term sustainability of development is at stake, as the distinction between developing and developed countries in their approaches to environmental issues is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. This study contends that global sustainability depends on and even consists of the provision of certain global public goods and that the prevailing...

The world is getting richer, but fragile countries and territories are not. By 2015, most of the poor will live in these economies, most of which have been or still are affected by civil conflicts. Trading Away from Conflict finds evidence of an important factor affecting conflict: trade, and in particular, trade policy. On the one hand, trade brings resources and creates jobs, and in turn, those add to stability. On the other hand, trade itself is also volatile and can increase the value of predating exportable commodities. This book tries to help policy makers in fragile countries to use...

The novelty of this work is the fact that it introduces a rigorous and objective economic perspective of current renewable energy support mechanisms and an empirical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of these mechanisms, which is much needed in a debate often dominated by widespread misconceptions. The economic rationale for renewable energy is straightforward: the optimum amount of renewable energy for grid-connected generation is given by the intersection of the renewable energy supply curve with the avoided cost of thermal electricity generation. The proposed analytical framework:...

Public resources--if invested well in public infrastructure and services--can catalyze private and community e orts and unleash an inclusive growth and development process. But too often public projects are selectedto support political patronage, poorly designed, underfunded, long delayed, very costly, or badly implemented, with little bene t to the population. This is a critical challenge for many countries, both rich and poor. This book identi es eight key institutional features that countries need to adopt to ensure that public investments support growth and development. The Power of...

Early childhood is the most important stage of human development. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), there is little research and inadequate investment in this crucial stage of life. This book assesses the state of early childhood development (ECD) in MENA from before birth through age five, examining multiple dimensions of early development including health, nutrition, socio-emotional development, early learning, and early work. The book begins with a discussion of the importance of ECD as a critical foundation for later development, and also as a stage of life when inequality and...

Looking at the economic growth of seemingly similar countries one can find striking differences. Why has Australia gotten so much ahead of New Zealand, in spite of the latter being held up as a paragon of free market reform? How is it possible that Austria, with its persistently oversized state enterprise sector, has managed to (nearly) catch up with Switzerland? How can we account for the differences in economic growth between Estonia and Slovenia, and which of these two countries has been more successful at systemic transformation? Why is Mexico so much poorer than Spain, despite having...

With international focus on good governance and parliamentary effectiveness, a standards-based approach involving benchmarks and assessment frameworks has emerged to evaluate parliament's performance and guide its reforms. The World Bank's has been a leader in the development of these frameworks, stewarding a global multi-stakeholder process aimed at enhancing consensus around parliamentary benchmarks and indicators with international organizations and parliaments across the world. The results so far, some of which are captured in this book, are encouraging: countries as diverse as Australia,...