Data from China's national rural
and urban household surveys are used to measure and explain
the welfare impacts of changes in goods and factor prices
attributable to accession to the World Trade Organization
(WTO). The price changes are estimated separately using a
general equilibrium model to capture both direct and
indirect effects of the initial tariff changes. The welfare
impacts are first-order approximations based on a household

The sharp reduction in poverty in
Bulgaria since the 1997 crisis highlights the role of
effective economic stabilization policies and the social
safety nets in improving the living conditions of the
population. The nature of poverty in Bulgaria has changed
since 1997, when poverty for many households was a transient
phenomenon resulting from the immediate shock of
hyperinflation and sharply increasing unemployment. Poverty

Economic progress is accompanied by a
fundamental spatial transformation where the economic
landscapes of countries become increasingly uneven. The
journey from low incomes to high incomes involves rising
concentration of prosperity in a few places. Connecting
people to prosperity - is the principle behind economic
integration policies that can help countries reap the
benefits of both uneven growth and inclusive development.

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) for
FY00, provided support to the Government of Tanzania in the
preparation of its budget, and Medium Term Expenditure
Framework (MTEF), and performed as well an external
evaluation of the country's budget performance. The
report contains two volumes, the Main Report (v. I) first
describes the main features of the PER process, to then
present the main findings emerging from a review of fiscal

This review systematically assesses the
focus of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on
environment-related issues. A total of 40 Interim and full
PRSPs from countries in Africa, Latin America and Eastern
Europe, the Middle East, Central and East Asia are reviewed.
Four major questions: are posed: (i) What issues of
environmental concerns and opportunities are identified in
the PRSPs?; (ii) To what extent are poverty-environment

The focus of the report, combined with
Vietnam's remarkable long-term growth potential,
presents a favorable outlook, suggesting the effects of the
East Asian crisis are over. The country is committed to
socially inclusive development, and, translates a vision of
transition towards a market economy, with socialist
orientation into concrete public actions, emphasizing the
transition should be pro-poor, noting this will require

This qualitative assessment of poverty
in Albania seeks to deepen the understanding of poverty in
the country, first, by involving poor Albanians in a process
of exploring the causes, nature, extent of poverty, and how
it affects their livelihoods. Second, it is intended to
support the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
(PRSP); third, it supports preparation of the Country
Assistance Strategy (CAS), and the Living Standards

This report summarizes the proceedings
from a workshop, the first in the region designed to foster
a multi-sectoral approach to development energy services for
poverty reduction, held at the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, October 23-25, 2002. It was co-organized by the
World Bank-UNDP sponsored Energy Sector Management
Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the World Bank Africa Energy
Unit, and others. The report focuses on the key issues

The report argues that Nicaragua's
best hope for sustained growth, and poverty reduction,
probably lies with agricultural exports, which have the
potential to gain from opportunities in world markets.
Despite the small share of farmland devoted to the
production of exports (25 percent of harvested area), the
total trade of agricultural goods (including the value of
both imports, and exports) accounted for almost eighty five

This report finalized in March 2001
constitutes a step toward the objective of designing an
integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil,
The report contains an updated and more detailed profile of
the rural poor in the northeast (NE) and southeast (SE) of
Brazil; identifies key determinants of rural poverty in
these regions; and proposes a five-pronged strategic
framework in which to couch a set of integrated policies

India's transport
system--especially surface transport--is seriously
deficient, and its services are highly inefficient by
international standards. The economic losses from congestion
and poor roads are estimated at 120 to 300 billion rupees a
year. This report takes a critical assessment of the key
policy and institutional issues that continue to contribute
to the poor performance of the transport sector in India.

This sector report on Challenges and
Priorities for Rural Development analyzes why Upper Egypt
has lagged behind the rest of the country and to help the
Government of Egypt and stakeholders to define a framework
for interventions to promote broad-based economic growth and
human development that will reach the poor and improve
welfare in rural Upper Egypt. To achieve this objective, the
strategic framework for intervention proposed here has two