'Mining exploration investment in the Latin American and Caribbean region has increased 130 percent in the last five years, a figure which increases to 500 percent, if Chile is excluded.' Governments have revamped mining legislation to enable private investment while becoming more sensitive to environmental factors. In light of this legislation, this report examines the environmental effects of artisanal, small, and medium mines in three Latin American Countries: Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Four of the most important elements to be considered are: * The age of the mine * Management of tailings...

'Modern society has eliminated the inhumane debtors' prisons for handling the insolvent debtor and in their stead have enacted benign modern laws in the area of bankruptcy. Unscrupulous merchants now use these benign laws for fraudulent purposes.' Based on case studies in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela, this is the first publication to provide recommendations about the important legal and institutional issues that are involved in bankruptcy reform in a critical region of the global economy. The authors note that effective bankruptcy policy balances several requirements for the...

This report assesses the changes in social welfare and policy that have taken place in Poland during the economic transition. It tests the main hypotheses concerning changes in the role of the welfare state, workings of the labor market, the distributional consequences of transition, and more generally about the winners and losers in transition. Chapter one examines trends in social expenditure during economic transition. Chapter two focuses on changes in the labor market, including emerging risks and opportunities. Chapter three explores distributional consequences of transition.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the United States represents one of the few successful examples of comprehensive river basin development. Established to guide the development of the resources within the Tennessee River Basin, TVA operates a wide variety of water, power, economic development, and environmental programs within the region. This report presents an overview of TVA's growth and development, its institutions, and its operational programs.

Overcoming the scarcity and temporal variance of water availability in semi-arid regions, or the excess of water in temperate regions, often requires cooperation. This paper describes the approach taken by an Israeli-Palestinian team to identify joint management structures for the aquifers shared by these two parties, and some of the lessons learned from the experience of this team.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, ineffective rural transport services present a major obstacle to economic and social development. Deciding who owns the roads, who finances the maintenance, and who manages them is a fundamental requirement. This volume proposes a framework for improving management and financing of local government roads and community roads and paths based on two distinct owner categories and a redefined partnership between the public and private sectors.

This paper provides practical guidance to government officials charged with managing case-by-case privatization programs. It identifies the key steps for privatization, describes sale options and the processes for carrying them out, and examines special conditions. It outlines how governments should undertake case-by-case privatization by identifying basic principles and common challenges, describes various methods for valuing state enterprises, and explains the role of financial advisers and sales agents in valuing candidates for privatization and developing sale options.

Using the Ricardian approach (a cross sectional analysis of farm performance across different climate zones), this report examines the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector and the sector's adaptation to that change. Studies in the report measure the climate sensitivity of low-capital agriculture, test whether actual farm performance is as sensitive to climate as agronomic models predict, and compare the climate sensitivity of low-capital farms with the results already calibrated for U.S. agriculture. The goal of the study is to examine farm behavior and test whether there is any...

Mining and industrial activities, if poorly managed, can damage the environment and leave behind contaminated soils, polluted groundwater, and waste material. The two papers in this volume illustrate the methodologies developed for selecting priority sites for remediating environmental problems due to mining. It also describes the high priority investments that would provide the greatest benefits for the available resources. The methodologies have broad application and could be used to identify priority remediation investments in other sectors where past activities have led to environmental...

This paper examines the increased role of the private sector in developing and maintaining critical infrastructure. It identifies governments' quest to shift part of the burden of new infrastructure investments to the private sector for the economic development of firms and industry and the improvement of quality of life and, given the constraints on public budgets, to finance growing infrastructure needs. Adequate infrastructure services include power, telecommunications, transport, water supply and sanitation. The paper also emphasizes the private sector involvement in bringing increased...