The objective of this report is to
analyze the important roles of labor markets, employment,
productivity, and labor income in facilitating shared growth
and promoting poverty reduction in Bangladesh. First, the
report provides a background discussion of poverty, reform,
and growth in Bangladesh. Following that, it gives an
overview of the labor market, describing the country's
demographics, the institutional structure of the labor

Carbon Finance Assist (CF-Assist) is a
capacity building and technical assistance program
established by the World Bank to help develop national
capacities of developing countries on carbon finance and
clean development mechanism (CDM) activities. The objective
of the mission is to develop CDM Program of Activities
(PoA), based on a programmatic approach for CDM Project
Activities (CPA) in solid waste sector in Morocco. More

The 2008 edition of the little green
data book includes a focus section, four introductory pages
that focus on a specific issue related to development and
the environment. This year the focus is on the damage from
climate change and carbon dioxide emissions. As this focus
shows, global warming can have negative effects on
agriculture, health, infrastructure, and other economic
activities effects that are likely to hit developing

Panama is experiencing spectacular
economic growth, averaging 7.5 percent during 2004-06; a
construction boom; and emerging new opportunities and
growing export markets. Despite this impressive growth
performance, at the national level poverty remained almost
unchanged during 1997-2006 at around 37 percent (masking a
decline in rural poverty and an increase in urban and
indigenous areas). Key development challenges for Panama

This report assesses the ongoing
transition in Orissa. It examines how and why the successes
were achieved. It attempts to outline the dimensions of the
challenge ahead, as Orissa marches forward into the second
phase of policy and institutional reforms, building on its
improved fiscal position to deliver rapid and inclusive
growth. It highlights key issues and binding or soon-to-be
binding constraints. The concluding section identifies

This housing policy in developing
countries, conjectures and refutations article discusses
housing policy in developing economies. It examines recent
research findings in light of earlier arguments as to the
benefits of more market-oriented approaches. It also looks
at whether the recommendations of earlier work have been
refuted or developed in subsequent analyses and policy
measures. In particular, it reviews the empirical analysis

Nicaragua is a small, open economy that
is vulnerable to external and natural shocks. With an
estimated Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of US$1000
in 2006, and a total population of 5.2 million, it is one of
the poorest countries in Latin America. Forty six percent of
the population lived below the poverty line in 2005 (while
15 percent lived in extreme poverty), and the incidence of
poverty is more than twice as high in rural areas (68

This paper analyzes poverty in Haiti
based on the first Living Conditions Survey of 7,186
households covering the whole country and representative at
the regional level. Using a USD1 a day extreme poverty line,
the analysis reveals that 49 percent of Haitian households
live in absolute poverty. Twenty, 56, and 58 percent of
households in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas,
respectively, are poor. At the regional level, poverty is

This history illustrates a number of
themes encountered in Swaziland that faces developing
countries and their external partners in Africa and beyond.
Firstly, the history relates the experience of a small and
comparatively insular country in addressing complex
challenges deriving from rapid urbanization and, as a
result, the growing need to adapt governance systems and
structures. A second key issue is the challenge that small

This report, which has been prepared by
the World Bank in cooperation with the National Statistical
Committee, provides an assessment of poverty in the Kyrgyz
Republic using the most recent data available. The objective
of this report is to understand to what extent economic
growth has reduced poverty and led to improved living
conditions for the population during 2000-2005. The report
also attempts to answer three questions about the Kyrgyz

There is a general consensus that most
of the poor in developing countries are net food buyers and
food price increases are bad for the poor. This could be
expected of urban poor, but it is also often attributed to
the rural poor. Recent food price increases have increased
the importance of this issue, and the possible policy
responses to these price increases. This paper examines the
characteristics of net food sellers and buyers in nine

Poverty in Kosovo is widespread and has
remained persistent in the first half of this decade. The
evidence suggests that poverty is higher among those who
live in families that are large, have many unemployed
members, and have low education levels. The poor are also
geographically concentrated in rural areas and a few
regions. The main message of this report is that the slow
and volatile growth was doubly disadvantageous. The first