South Asia has attracted global
attention because it has experienced rapid GDP growth over
the last two decades. What is not so well known is that
South Asia is the least integrated region in the world.
South Asia has opened its door to the rest of the world but
it remains closed to its neighbors. Poor market integration,
weak connectivity, and a history of friction and conflict
have resulted in two South Asias. The first South Asia is

The report begins with definitions of
watersheds and watershed management, a characterization of
the problem of watershed degradation, and a short history of
watershed management operations and policies (Chapter 1).
The following four chapters discuss the findings from
experience with implementing watershed management programs
over the last 20 years based both on the project review and
on the literature. The second chapter discusses the findings

This publication focuses on public
finance, development economics, and the Chinese economy. The
government will focus on the public good aspects of
education and training-compulsory education and some aspects
of higher education and training. The publication encourages
seven reforms including raising government expenditure on
education to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP),
and ensuring that all children actually receive nine years

From what was historically known as
'Arabia Felix', a land of prosperity and
happiness, Yemen has become the most impoverished among the
Arab countries. The government of the united Yemen, formed
in 1990, has launched so far three five-year economic reform
plans with the goal of restoring Yemen's prosperity.
Have these efforts succeeded? What policies are needed to
further reduce poverty? The poverty assessment report aims

This paper assesses the state of
research and examines priorities for future work in the area
of urbanization and growth. This is done by reviewing and
summarizing the findings of five scoping papers covering the
following topics: urban poverty, the political economy of
urban poverty, urban real estate and housing, urban
infrastructure finance, and external assistance for urban development.

This paper assesses the impact of
work-related migration by males on the labor market behavior
of females in Nepal. Using data from the 2004 Nepal
household survey, the authors apply the Instrumental
Variable Full Information Maximum Likelihood method to
account for unobserved factors that could simultaneously
affect males' decision to migrate and females'
decision to participate in the labor market. The results

This paper discusses the social impacts
of Costa Rica's Payments for Environmental Services
(PSA) program and their effect on rural poverty. Although
the analysis is hampered by significant information gaps, we
believe that the PSA Program has probably managed to have an
impact on the poor. This impact is almost certainly positive
on the poor who were able to participate, but is difficult
to quantify. However, except for very few cases, it seems

This assessment, reflecting
poverty's many dimensions in Mozambique, combines
multiple disciplines and diagnostic tools to explore
poverty. It draws on a combination of approaches and tools
from three separate analytical diagnostics developed by the
World Bank: poverty assessment, country gender assessment,
and country social analysis. It uses monetary, human, and
social indicators and combines quantitative and qualitative

The Philippines by virtue of its geographic circumstances is highly prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones and floods, making it one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. This report seeks to document the impacts of natural disasters on the social and economic development of the Philippines; assess the country's current capacity to reduce and manage disaster risk; and identify options for more effective management of that risk.

This paper shows that support from the
family continues to be an important source of support for
the rural elderly, particularly the rural elderly over 70
years of age. Decline in likelihood of co-residence with, or
in close proximity to, adult children raises the possibility
that China's rural elderly will receive less support in
the forms of both income and in-kind instrumental care.
Although descriptive evidence on net financial transfers

The pressure on an already stressed
water situation in South Africa is predicted to increase
significantly under climate change, plans for large
industrial expansion, observed rapid urbanization, and
government programs to provide access to water to millions
of previously excluded people. The present study employed a
general equilibrium approach to examine the economy-wide
impacts of selected macro and water related policy reforms

The workshop brings diverse perspectives
from outside the World Bank, providing a forum in which to
exchange ideas and debate in the course of developing the
World Development Report (WDR). Participants at the 2006
Berlin Workshop gathered to discuss challenges and successes
pertaining to agriculture and development. Agriculture is
the major sector contributing to economic development in
many poor countries. Three out of every four poor people in