Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
(PSIA) is an approach used increasingly by governments,
civil society organizations, the World Bank, and other
development partners to examine the distributional impacts
of policy reforms on the well-being of different
stakeholders groups, particularly the poor and vulnerable.
PSIA has an important role in the elaboration and
implementation of poverty reduction strategies in developing

Rural poverty remains a crucial part of the poverty picture in Argentina. This paper used a rural dataset collected by the World Bank in 2003. Findings show that extreme income poverty in rural areas reached 39 percent of the people or 200,000-250,000 indigent families.

In the wake of reforms to establish a free market in land-use rights, Vietnam is experiencing a pronounced rise in rural landlessness. To some observers this is a harmless by-product of a more efficient economy, while to others it signals the return of the pre-socialist class-structure, with the rural landless at the bottom of the economic ladder. The authors' theoretical model suggests that removing restrictions on land markets will increase landlessness among the poor, but that there will be both gainers and losers, with uncertain impacts on aggregate poverty.

This report is a summary of research work coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) China in 2003-2005, to prepare Implementation Guidelines for Poverty and Environment Work (IGPEW) in China. This report describes the research in two provinces, Yunnan and Sichuan, relating to the government's on-going Village-Based Integrated Poverty Reduction Plan for Poorer Western Regions. In addition, an English version of the implementation guidelines for poverty and environment work, and of the checklist, has been prepared by combining the documents produced in the two provinces.

A major objective of this report is to provide a deeper, more policy relevant understanding of the welfare impacts of the coffee crisis - including the effects of the crisis on household income, consumption, poverty, as well as on basic human development outcomes, such as education and child nutrition. To do this, the study has generated a body of new empirical evidence, drawing from an unusually rich collection of household survey data from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

These guidelines have three sections.
Section one provides food for thought, regarding poverty and
environment, and how the two are linked. Section two
provides practical tools to incorporate the environment into
a village-level action plan for the environment. Section
three provides ideas for innovative activities relating to
the environment in poverty reduction programs. Finally two
practical checklists are provided: one for poverty reduction

Recent trends in Albania suggest that it
has the potential for a modern and competitive agricultural
sector, provided there is sufficient private investment and
the right policy environment. This chapter looks at the role
of agriculture in the economy and the current status of the
sector, and outlines the implications of modernization and
transformation of agriculture for rural areas. It also
identifies trends and sources of growth for agriculture, and

Reviewing cross-country experience with
sugar policies, and policy reform, the authors conclude that
long-standing government interventions - rooted in
historical trade arrangements, fear of shortages, and
conflicting interests between growers, and sugar mills -
often displace both the markets, and the institutions
required to produce efficient outcomes. Arrangements rooted
in colonial eras, still shape policies, and trade in the

Buying, selling and mortgaging farmland
are still rare in Eastern and Central Europe. Not
surprisingly, given the level of risk in many of these
countries, short-term transactions, especially leasing, are
more common. These short-term transactions do almost as well
as land sales in allocating resources. Making them more
secure by improving simple registration and enforcement
systems and increasing public access to information on what

This report reviews poverty in Armenia
in 2001, and examines the most recent trends covering the
1998/99 to 2001 period. It looks at the determinants of
poverty, and analyzes linkages between economic growth,
sector policies and poverty. The findings are based on two
rounds of the Armenia Integrated Living Conditions Survey
(ILCS), one carried out in 1998/99, and the other in 2001.
The report has contributed to the development of

Preeah talks about how dependent they are on the land.

Khamleuang talks about the market for their crops.