This policy note provides a summary of
extensive analysis carried out on urban poverty in Indonesia
today and a review of main urban poverty programs, with the
objective of providing the basis for an urban poverty
reduction strategy. A second policy note, 'Indonesia:
evaluation of the urban Community-Driven Development, or CDD
program, Program Nasional Pemberdayaan Masyarakat
(PNPM)' summarizes a more detailed process evaluation

Zambia shares its robust economic growth
and capital inflows in the past few years with other
Sub-Saharan countries, growth supported by high commodity
prices that while declining are still at historical high
levels. High commodity prices have induced large foreign
direct investment (FDI) flows, mainly in extractive
industries but also in services sector, supporting growth.
Zambia's mining sector has benefited from FDI,

In many Pacific island countries,
meeting non-food basic needs is a growing challenge and
further complicated by substantial economic and
environmental risks. Hardship and vulnerability are
increasingly prominent concerns in Pacific island countries,
but the knowledge base to guide policymaking is limited.
Family and community networks are central to life in most
Pacific island countries, providing critical support to

Pakistan's rebound from the global
financial crisis has been slow and fragile, and unless it
changes course swiftly, it could face the prospects of a
second balance of payments crisis in less than five years.
Its recovery from the 2008-09 global financial crisis has
been the weakest in South Asia, featuring a unique
double-dip growth pattern. With high fertility, Pakistan
will double the size of its already young population by

The objective of this report is twofold:
first, analyze and discuss the linkages between different
minimum standards currently used in the Kyrgyz Republic and
with the Monthly Benefit for Poor Families (MBPF), and,
secondly, to analyze the potential of alternative targeting
methods and benefit levels. The analysis in this report
mainly draws on data from the Kyrgyz Integrated Household
Survey (KIHS) 2010. The report is structured as follows: the

The majority of firms in most developing
countries are informal. The authors of this paper conducted
a field experiment in Sri Lanka that provided incentives for
informal firms to formalize. Offering only information about
the registration process and reimbursement for direct
registration costs had no impact on formalization. Adding
payments equivalent to one-half to one month's profits
for the median firm led to registration of around one-fifth

This report provides estimates of social
and financial costs of environmental damage in India from
three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution,
including particulate matter and lead; (ii) inadequate water
supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; (iii) indoor air
pollution; and four natural resource damage categories: (a)
agricultural damage from soil salinity, water logging, and
soil erosion; (b) rangeland degradation; (c) deforestation;

Cities' development matters to
Pakistan. It is central to economic growth, job creation and
quality of life. This is also one of the core themes in the
2011 Government of Pakistan Framework for Economic Growth
(FEG). This paper explores the conditions for
growth-enhancing spatial change in Pakistan s cities.
Cities' development matters to Pakistan. Two strands of
analysis are developed. First, it reviews the performance

Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of
Macedonia has closed several gaps in gender inequalities,
particularly in education and health, but key disparities
persist in access to economic opportunities and agency,
particularly among certain ethnic groups. This report
provides an overview of gender disparities in several
outcomes related to human and physical endowments, access to
economic opportunities, and agency. In addition, it offers

This volume is organized as follows.
Chapter one address two questions: how has spatial
concentration evolved with growth and development, and what
are the efficiency implications of too much or too little
spatial concentration? This chapter summarizes the various
models that analyze growth by geographic concentration and
sets the foundation for concepts discussed in later
chapters. Chapter two focuses on urbanization in

Disasters are increasing worldwide with
more devastating effects than ever before. The absolute
number of disasters around the world has almost doubled
since the 1980s, but the average number of natural disasters
in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has almost tripled
over the same period. In MENA the interplay of natural
disasters, rapid urbanization, water scarcity, and climate
change has emerged as a serious challenge for policy and

This study investigates the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral highway project on the urban and rural growth of Indian manufacturing. The Golden Quadrilateral project upgraded the quality and width of 5,846 km of roads in India. The study uses a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to compare non-nodal districts based on their distance from the highway system. For the organized portion of the manufacturing sector, the Golden Quadrilateral project led to improvements in both urban and rural areas of non-nodal districts located 0-10 km from the Golden Quadrilateral.