The 2014-2015 Romania Regional
Development 2 Program is the continuation of the World
Bank’s technical assistance to the Ministry of Regional
Development and Public Administration (MRDPA). Building on
the previous engagement, the current work addresses a
fundamental question: given Romania’s persistent development
challenges, how can the country do more with less when it
comes to the public infrastructure it needs? The key is to

New qualitative fieldwork in eight
countries of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) indicates that
the dramatic declines in poverty in much of the region over
the last decade do not appear to be registering very
favorably with men and women on the ground. This paper
provides a gender analysis of findings from equal numbers of
sex-specific focus groups with employed and jobless
individuals. The methodology featured a standardized package

This Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD)
covers eight small Pacific island countries (PIC8):
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, the Federated States of
Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The
objective of the SCD is to identify the most critical
constraints and opportunities facing the PIC8 to meet the
global goals of ending absolute poverty and boosting shared
prosperity in a sustainable manner. The report is intended

The paper analyzes the design of
simplified small business tax regimes in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia and the impact of such regimes on small
business tax compliance. Although many approaches for tax
simplification exist, a general trend in the region is to
offer small businesses the option to be taxed based on their
turnover instead of net income. The study finds that many of
the regimes in place are overly simplistic and neither take

Since the industrial revolution, the
economic development of Western Europe and North America was
characterized by continuous urbanization accompanied by a
gradual phasing-in of urban land property rights over time.
Today, however, the evidence in many fast urbanizing
low-income countries points towards a different trend of
“urbanization without formalization”, with potentially
adverse effects on long-term economic growth. This paper

At the core of the very rapid growth in the number of urban dwellers living in illegal settlements is the gap between the cost or availability of legal land sites on which housing can be built and what most individuals or households can afford to pay for accommodation. For most cities, the problems are further exacerbated by the high spatial concentration of economic activities (and thus employment opportunities). This paper looks at the many ways in which governments can increase the supply and lower the cost of land for housing.

The objective of this Poverty and Social
Impact Analysis (PSIA) is to assess the impact of systematic
registration on vulnerable individuals, in general, and
Roma, in particular. Specifically, this PSIA focuses on the
systematic registration approach piloted under the
Complementing EU Support for Agricultural Restructuring
(CESAR, 2009 - 2013) Project, which was supported by the
World Bank. The World Bank involvement in the sector dates

Affordable housing will be instrumental
to helping Vietnam achieve its goals for increasing
productivity and inclusive urban growth. Since Doi Moi, the
country has experienced impressive economic growth, averaged
at 7.4 percent per annum from 1990 to 2008, lowering to an
average of 6 percent per annum from 2007 to 2013. Strong
economic growth has supported a substantial reduction in
poverty, from 58 percent in 1993 to 17 percent in 20121.

This report is on possible improvements
on management of revenues from auctioning of European Union
Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) allowances and use of
flexibility mechanisms in Romania. The principal objective
of this report is to propose improvements on management of
revenue from the auctioning of EU ETS allowances, as well as
describe possible use of flexibility mechanisms in Romania,
in order to mobilize and enable both public and private

Social norms affect almost every aspect
of people’s lives, and can be an obstacle to or support
economic development. This paper outlines what social norms
are and how they work, providing examples from everyday life
and from development case studies. Sometimes not much can be
done about changing undesirable social norms. In those
cases, development economists need to be aware of how the
existence of those norms can impact the effects of the

The World Bank Group (WBG) Country
Partnership Framework (CPF) for Egypt forFY15-19 has been
prepared at an important juncture in Egypt’s history to
support transformational changes to the economic and social
space. It builds on the Government of Egypt’s (GOE)
medium-term strategy and national priorities for economic
development, responds to client demands, and is informed by
consultations with a broad array of stakeholders in Egypt.

The lessons learned from the
implications of the global crisis for the Armenian economy
led the Government of Armenia to refine its approach to
economic development policy. The business environment, the
market structure, and the incentive pattern had not fostered
reallocation of resources into more productive areas or the
emergence of internationally competitive products and
services. Despite numerous initiatives and multiple efforts,