Land & Corruption

In July 2001, the extractive industries
review (EIR) was initiated with the appointment of Dr. Emil
Salim, former Minister of the Environment for Indonesia, as
eminent person to the review. The EIR was designed to engage
all stakeholders-governments, nongovernmental organizations

Agriculture and fisheries are the main pillars of Mozambique's economy, having contributed in the last few years to more than 25 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and around 7 to 11 percentage points of the rate of economic growth. Agricultural development in Mozambique has been part of the government agenda because it is crucial to reducing poverty within rural zones.

Industrial parks are as popular as they are controversial, in India and globally. At their best they align infrastructure provision and agglomeration economies to jolt industrial growth. More often, they generate negative spill-overs, provide handouts, sit empty, or simply do not get built. This paper disaggregates how parks are built and how they fail.

Many firms in the developing world --
including a majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises
-- operate in the informal economy. The informal firms face
a variety of constraints, making it harder for them to do
business and grow. Lack of access to finance is often cited

Fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS) have become an important focus of World Bank Group assistance in recent years as recognition of the linkages between fragility, conflict, violence, and poverty has grown.

The forestry sector in Moldova faces
significant governance and sustainability challenges. The
insufficient level of forest coverage in Moldova has a
serious impact on environment and overall economic growth in
the country. The situation is exacerbated by the reportedly

Bureaucratic reform is a priority of
donor organizations, including the World Bank, but is
notoriously difficult to implement. In many countries,
politicians have little interest in the basic financial and
personnel management systems that are essential to political

This paper contributes to the
long-standing debate on the merits of decentralized
beneficiary targeting in the administration of development
programs, focusing on the large-scale Malawi Farm Input
Subsidy Program. Nationally-representative household survey

After long suffering from benign neglect
if not outright contempt, industrial policy is almost
fashionable again. The global financial and economic crisis
known as the Great Recession has forced researchers and
policy makers to confront the reality that market forces

Recent economic and political
developments have highlighted a challenge shared across the
Arab region of generating employment, promoting inclusive
growth, and improving competitiveness. In the short run,
weakened macroeconomic fundamentals in the developing

This report assesses the challenges and
opportunities for the development of the Khatlon oblast in
Tajikistan. The report argues that the rise in the strategic
significance of Khatlon must be matched by responses in
public policy and a strong upturn in private investment to

In the standard model of corruption, the
rich are more likely to pay bribes for their children's
education, reflecting higher ability to pay. This prediction
is, however, driven by the assumption that the probability
of punishment for bribe-taking is invariant across