The main general objective of this study
is to promote a deeper understanding of municipal finance in
the West Bank and Gaza, including identification of the key
issues that local governments currently face. The paper
discusses the policy implications associated with its main
findings as potential policy options for future decision
making on local government reforms. As such, this study aims
at facilitating the process for a future policy dialogue

The world economic crisis of 2008
presents clear challenges to prospects for economic growth
in developing countries. This is particularly true for
emerging economies in East Asia that have relied to a great
extent over the past decade on export-led growth. What steps
to facilitate trade promise a relatively strong return on
investment for East Asia to help sustain trade and growth?
The authors examine how port infrastructure affects trade

Tajikistan is a small mountainous
land-locked Central Asian country with an economy that
heavily depends, as a legacy of the soviet economy, on
exports of cotton, aluminum and hydroelectricity that are
three rather environmentally sensitive sectors, as well as
on remittances from migrants living abroad. Environmental
degradation and unsustainable use of natural resources are
constraints to sustainable economic growth and poverty

Access to assets and agrarian institutions is of critical importance to the economic viability of rural households. Understanding the extent of this access and how it links to the ability of rural households to employ different pathways out of poverty is thus vital for designing rural development policies. This paper characterizes household access to assets and agrarian institutions through the comparative analysis of datasets from 15 nationally representative household surveys from four regions of the developing world.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
is the third most populous county in Sub Saharan Africa and
has many natural advantages that would enable it to
experience rapid sustained economic growth and rapid poverty
alleviation. These include rich and diverse natural
resources, such as mining and hydroelectric potential,
abundant fertile land, and a large domestic market. The
country is emerging from conflict and democratic election,

This paper covers the most commonly used
means to charge road users, including fuel taxes, vehicle
taxes, vignettes and tolls. It presents a brief survey of
road user charging systems in selected European countries
and a more detailed overview of current status and
perspectives of road user charges in Poland. Consideration
is also given to private financing of roads through
different forms of public-private partnerships (PPP),

This report deals with medium and
long-term growth issues rather than the challenges posed by
the world financial crisis, the structural policy options
presented in the report become even more important in that
context, and can help to partially mitigate the impact of
the crisis on Macedonia. Section B looks at poverty and
inequality issues. Section C examines Macedonia's past
growth in terms of total factor productivity analysis,

Despite a diminishing role in industrial countries, the manufacturing sector continues to be an engine of economic growth in most developing countries. This article surveys the evidence on the determinants of industry location in developing countries. It also employs micro data for India and Indonesia to illustrate recent spatial dynamics of manufacturing relocation within urban agglomerations. Both theory and empirical evidence suggest that agglomeration benefits, market access, and infrastructure endowments in large cities outweigh the costs of congestion, higher wages, and land prices.

The response to the GRI Indicators
presents a glimpse into the World Banks (also known as the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development or
IBRD in the capital market) complex suite of activities.
Topics that are of interest to sustainable investment
communities, NGOs, and country clients determine materiality
for the purposes of this report. Reporting priorities are
determined annually based on the corporate priorities of the

Few governments have put as much energy into the development of vast and harsh places as has Russia. History shows that equalization of economic (especially industrial) mass across space as a method of a uniform development and of town-countryside convergence was in fact a policy of defensive and political aims rather than one of economic and social progress. The Soviet policy of industrial diffusion, together with state support and price system distortions, would eventually bring the entire Soviet system down.

Development is a multidimensional
process characterized by economic growth, investment and
technological progress, transformation of natural resources,
demographic change, advances in health and education, and
evolution of social and political institutions. The results
of development should be measurable by increases in output,
improvements in the welfare of people, greater efficiency in
the use of scarce resources, and a balance between human

This note outlines the challenges of
retaining and attracting high-skilled professionals, briefly
assesses both the 'brain gain' and the 'brain
drain' in the health sector, and examines some of the
existing programs that encourage return. It provides an
overview of the role of the diaspora in fostering the
transfer of knowledge, technology, capital, and remittances.