Yemen is the second poorest country in
the Middle East and North Africa region, with 42 percent of
its population counted as poor in 1998. GDP has stagnated at
around US$530 per capita in real terms since 2002.
Unemployment, estimated at 11.5 percent in 1999, is expected

In view of its increasing importance,
and the dearth of information on return migration and its
impacts on source households, this study uses data from the
2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study survey and
assesses the impact of past migration experience of Albanian

This report has the following
objectives: (i) identify the underlying constraints to
strong and sustained growth, in particular, the dynamic
circles that lock Niger in a low-growth/high poverty
equilibrium; (ii) understand the key determinants of growth

This IEG evaluation brings a fresh
perspective to the debate by assessing the development
effectiveness of the Bank's recent work. It presents
evidence -- including views from the client countries
themselves -- about the outcomes of the Bank's support

The objective of the Botswana Investment
Climate Assessment (ICA) is to evaluate the investment
climate in Botswana in all its operational dimensions and
promote policies to strengthen the private sector. The
investment climate is made up of the many location specific

This Public Expenditure Review (PER) builds on the commitments of the 2003 Country Economic Memorandum (CEM), and 2002 Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) Progress Report, being its primary objective to assess strengths and weaknesses in key areas of public expenditure, and identify policy options for fiscal sustainability.

The authors examine the impact of growth
of key policy and institutional reforms: macroeconomic
stabilization, trade liberalization, deregulation of
finance, privatization, deregulation of utilities,
modernization of the public sector with a view to increasing

The 2005 Tanzania poverty and social impact analysis (PSIA) on local government tax reform was designed to examine the intended and unintended consequences on poverty reduction and growth in Tanzania of the tax reforms implemented in June 2003 and 2004.

The provision of public goods and the amelioration of market failure are the classical justifications for government intervention in the economy. In reality, (1) governments intervene in markets that are not affected by failure, and (2) a large share of the government resources is spent in private goods, not in public goods.

In recent years, the countries of Europe
and Central Asia (ECA) have experienced a marked decline in
investments by international private operators/investors in
local infrastructure-much in line with the trend observed in
other emerging markets. This decline has been particularly

Afghanistan has come a long way since
emerging from major conflict in late 2001. Important
political milestones mandated by the Bonn Agreement (two
Loya Jirgas, a new Constitution, recently the Presidential
election) have been achieved. The economy has recovered

The conclusions of the recently-conducted Kenya Investment Climate Assessment (ICA), based on a survey of 368 firms, have a bearing on the country's growth agenda.