'...developing countries, complementing their far-reaching privatization programs, are engaged in deregulating various sectors of their economies and devising new regulatory frameworks for others, particularly the utilities sectors.' As economies become more open, pressures on countries to become more competitive drive the call for regulatory reform to reduce costs and foster increased productivity, competitiveness, and growth. This report provides an overview of the costs and benefits of regulation throughout the world. It provides case histories of regulation in different countries,...

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'Decentralization is transforming the structure of governance in Latin America. Since 1983, all but one of the largest countries in the region have seen a transfer of power, resources, and responsibilities to subnational units of government.' This dispersion of power is a global trend due to many different political, economic, and social factors. However, as this trend continues, the importance of accountability, deciding who is responsible for what, and giving those held accountable the authority to deliver results. In light of these important issues, this report examines the impact of...

This report examines the precise nature of the required institutional reforms needed to achieve higher sustained rates of growth and to make a dent in poverty reduction and provides a framework for their design and implementation. The more modest objective is to examine how the concepts of the new institutional economics are useful for analyzing and designing institutions and to evaluate how political economy concepts can be used to develop strategies for implementing institutional reforms. Employing some of these concepts, the report demonstrates that sound institutional reform can be...

A growing concern in most regions of the world is the heightened incidence of criminal and violent behavior, especially in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. This study uses a new data set of crime rates for a large sample of countries to analyze the determinants of national homicide and robbery rates. The authors describe a simple model of "incentives to commit crimes" by estimating several econometric models and utilizing empirical models to draw their conclusions.

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Explores the wave of decentralization that has swept through Latin America and the projected institutional changes within the governments in the region.