Since the early 2000s, Tanzania has seen
remarkable economic growth and strong resilience to external
shocks. Yet these achievements were overshadowed by the slow
response of poverty to the growing economy. Until 2007, the
poverty rate in Tanzania remained stagnant at around 34
percent despite a robust growth at an annualized rate of
approximately 7 percent. This apparent disconnect between
growth and poverty reduction has raised concerns among

This paper examines the determinants of
agricultural productivity and its link to poverty using
nationally representative data from the Nigeria General
Household Survey Panel, 2010/11. The findings indicate an
elasticity of poverty reduction with respect to agricultural
productivity of between 0.25 to 0.3 percent, implying that a
10 percent increase in agricultural productivity will
decrease the likelihood of being poor by between 2.5 and 3

Although weather shocks are a major
source of income fluctuation, most of the world's poor
lack insurance coverage against them. Absence of formal
insurance contributes to poverty traps, as investment
decisions are conflicted with risk management ones:
risk-averse farmers tend to underinvest and produce lower
yielding yet safer crops. In the past few years, weather
index insurance has gained increasing attention as an

Nepal depends entirely on imports for
meeting its demand for petroleum products, which account for
the largest share in total import volume. Diesel is the main
petroleum product consumed in the country and accounts for
38 percent of the total national CO2 emissions from fuel
consumption. There is a general perception that the country
would economically benefit if part of imported diesel is
substituted with domestically produced jatropha-based

In many developing countries,
consumption of animal source foods among the poor is still
at a level where increasing its share in total caloric
intake may have many positive nutritional benefits. This
paper explores whether ownership of various livestock
species increases consumption of animal source foods and
helps improve child nutritional status. The paper finds some
evidence that food consumption patterns and nutritional

This paper provides new empirical
insights on the joint distribution of consumption, income,
and wealth in three of the poorest countries in the world —
Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda — all located in Sub-Saharan
Africa (SSA). The first finding is that while income
inequality is similar to that of the United States (US),
wealth inequality is barely one-third that of the US.
Similarly, while the top of the income distribution (1 and

By 2050, it is estimated that the
world s agricultural system will need to produce
approximately 50 percent more food to feed an estimated 9
billion people. In emerging markets, agriculture is the most
important economic sector and source of employment; more
specifically, 75 percent of the world s poor live in rural
areas and depend on agriculture for their incomes. With
volatility in food prices putting additional pressure on

In this issue: Facilitating labor
migration from the Philippines; Incentives and teacher
effort; Electoral accountability and local public spending
in Indonesia; Why don't poor countries do R&D?; How
effective are efforts to raise voluntary enrollment in
health insurance?; How insecure property rights affect
migration in China; the challenges of public service
delivery in the Pacific Islands.

Is Africa's rural economy
transforming as its economies grow? This paper uses
comparable income aggregates from 41 national household
surveys from 22 countries to explore the extent of income
diversification among rural households in Sub-Saharan
Africa, and to look at how income diversification in
Sub-Saharan Africa compares with other regions, taking into
account differences in levels of development. The paper also

With limited land, capital, and a fast
growing population, Burundi's main asset is its
youthful population. Its main challenge is also to create
good quality jobs for its youth. With low levels of
educational attainment and poor health status, the quality
of this young population is poor. After more than 13 years
of conflict ending in 2000, and a period of modest recovery,
Burundi has the opportunity to stimulate growth. Burundi is

Economic growth, job creation, and
development are central to the decade of transformation
(2015-25) and long-term security for the people of
Afghanistan. The Bank and the Government of the Islamic
Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA) recognize that agriculture
and rural development are a key to inclusive growth, and
hence need renewed vigor and strategic long-term
investments. Further, the Bank and the GoIRA acknowledge

This report is the most recent in a
series aimed at monitoring economic developments in Ghana
and has two sections. The first section summarizes the
recent macroeconomic developments in the country while the
second section presents the main findings on poverty and
employment published recently by the Ghana statistical
service. Ghana s overall macroeconomic conditions have
deteriorated further in 2014 with large twin-deficits