Empirical insights on household behavior and electricity consumption patterns in this book reveal that, in Europe and Central Asia, the erosion of tariff based subsidies has disproportionately affected the poor, while direct transfers through social benefit systems have often been inadequately targeted. 'People and Power' suggests alternative strategies for achieving cost-recovery in the electricity sector in a socially and politically acceptable manner, providing lessons that are equally relevant for other utilities and regions.

Large-scale efforts have been made since the 1990s to ensure that all children of the world go to school. But mere enrollment is not sufficient, students must become fluent in reading and calculation by the end of grade 2. Fluency is needed to process large amounts of text quickly and use the information for decisions that may ultimately reduce poverty. State-of-the-art brain imaging and cognitive psychology research can help formulate effective policies for improving the basic skills of low-income students. This book integrates research into applications that extend from preschool brain...

China's remarkable economic growth has been supported by a generally adequate and relatively low-cost supply of energy, creating the world's largest coal industry, its second-largest oil market, and an electic power business that is adding capacity at an unprecedented rate. However, in fueling that impressive economic growth, the energy sector has increasingly stressed the natural environment, placed heavy demands on domestic energy sources, and exposed the country to risks of dependence on foreign petroleum supplies. If energy requirements continue to double every decade, China will not be...

This book contributes to the debate about the role of agriculture in poverty reduction by addressing three sets of questions: (1) Does investing in agriculture enhance/harm overall economicgrowth, and if so, under what conditions? (2) Do poor people tend to participate more/less in growth in agriculture than in growth in other sectors, and if so, when? (3) If a focus on agriculturewould tend to yield larger participation by the poor, butslower overall growth, which strategy would tend to have the largest payoff in terms of poverty reduction, andunder which conditions?

Government guarantees can help persuade private investors to finance valuable new infrastructure. But because their costs are hard to estimate and usually do not show up in the government's accounts, governments can be tempted to grant too many guarantees. Drawing on a diverse range of disciplines, including finance, history, economics, and psychology, 'Government Guarantees' aims to help governments give guarantees only when they are justified. It reviews the history of government guarantees and identifies the cognitive and political obstacles to good decisions about guarantees. It then...

'Environmental Priorities and Poverty Reduction: A Country Environmental Analysis for Colombia' proposes cost-effective policy and technical interventions aimed at abating the cost of environmental degradation and supporting more equitable and sustainable economic growth. Environmental degradation is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and decreased productivity. Urban and indoor air pollution; inadequate water supply, sanitation, and hygiene; natural disasters (mainly floods and landslides); and land degradation are the environmental problems associated with the highest social...

There is one asset that poor people have in abundance: labor. Thus, what distinguishes the poor from the non-poor in low income countries is, simply, their ability to sell labor at a good price. It should be of little surprise, then, that enhancing the poor's access to employment is increasingly recognized as key to development. But while the creation of 'good' jobs for the poor has become a policy priority for many developing countries, the mechanisms by which employment stimulates growth and reduces poverty have, until now, not been well understood. This book aims to help fill that gap....

Historically, ensuring access to primary education has been seen as a predominantly public responsibility. However, governments are increasingly sharing this responsibility through a variety of subsidiary arrangements. Some governments are contracting services out to the private sector, to non-governmental organizations, and even to other public agencies. Some societies are transferring responsibility for financing, providing, and regulating primary education to lower levels of government, and in some cases, to communities. In education policy, public-private partnerships play an important...

Industrial clusters in Silicon Valley, Hsinchu Park, and northern Italy, and in the vicinity of Cambridge, U.K., have captured the imagination of policymakers, researchers, city planners and business people. Where clusters take root, they can generate valuable spillovers, promote innovation, and create the critical industrial mass for sustained growth. For cities such as Kitakyushu, Japan, that are faced with the erosion of their traditional industrial base and are threatened by economic decline, creating a cluster that would reverse the downward trends is enormously attractive. Growing...

Governments in Africa and their stakeholders have been disappointed with the number of wage and salary jobs that have been created over the last decade or more. Even in countries that experienced both strong economic growth and rapid poverty reduction during this period, job creation has lagged behind expectations. Faced with a rapidly growing labor force, Africa has to find new ways to create better paying jobs. 'Working Out of Poverty' reviews the literature and presents original research by the authors analyzing job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa in light of economic performance over the...