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World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography

(World Bank, 2009) World Bank

Places do well when they promote transformations along the dimensions of economic geography: higher densities as cities grow; shorter distances as workers and businesses migrate closer to density; and fewer divisions as nations lower their economic borders and enter world markets to take advantage of scale and trade in specialized products. World Development Report 2009 concludes that the transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are essential for development and should be encouraged. The conclusion is controversial. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. A billion people live in lagging areas of developing nations, remote from globalizations many benefits. And poverty and high mortality persist among the world’s bottom billion, trapped without access to global markets, even as others grow more prosperous and live ever longer lives. Concern for these three intersecting billions often comes with the prescription that growth must be spatially balanced. This report has a different message: economic growth will be unbalanced. To try to spread it out is to discourage it to fight prosperity, not poverty. But development can still be inclusive, even for people who start their lives distant from dense economic activity. For growth to be rapid and shared, governments must promote economic integration, the pivotal concept, as this report argues, in the policy debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration. Instead, all three debates overemphasize place-based interventions. Reshaping Economic Geography reframes these debates to include all the instruments of integration spatially blind institutions, spatially connective infrastructure, and spatially targeted interventions. By calibrating the blend of these instruments, today’s developers can reshape their economic geography. If they do this well, their growth will still be unbalanced, but their development will be inclusive.
Environmental Licensing for Hydroelectric Projects in Brazil : A Contribution to the Debate

(Washington, DC, 2008-03-28) World Bank

This study points out that hydroelectric plants will continue to play a prominent role in the Brazilian electric matrix. A significant portion of the potential hydroelectric plants of the country is located in the Amazon, environmentally sensitive region. The licensing of hydroelectric projects in Brazil is considered a major obstacle for the expanding the capacity of generating electricity. The non-expansion, in turn, represents a serious threat to economic growth. This study, designed as a contribution to the debate in progress about the subject, examines the legal and institutional milestones of the environmental licensing of hydroelectric ventures, including studies of selected cases, an assessment of transaction costs of the processes and a comparison with international practices. Two conclusions emerge from this study. The first is that the costs of dealing with environmental issues and social development of enterprises hydroelectric in Brazil represent 12 percent of the total cost of the work. And the second is that costs of taxes, in general, the contractual and regulatory uncertainty, excluding the licensing environmental, represent about 7.5 percent of the total cost. In other words, the conclusion is clear: the environmental and social costs can be easily integrated. This study does not suggest radical changes to the system of environmental licensing. Any reform of the Brazilian environmental licensing can not be dealt with based on a single, simple solution. Rather, the system is complex and multifaceted, with a long legal and institutional history. A process of broad national discussion on the energy issue and its implications for environmental goods of the country is essential and is already in progress.
Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool

(Washington, DC, 2008-02-05) World Bank

The World Bank is developing a program to assist developing countries improve debt management in collaboration with other partners. The objective of the program is to help strengthen capacity and institutions in developing countries to manage government debt in an effective and sustainable manner in the medium to long term. A cornerstone of the program is the Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool (DeMPA), a methodology for assessing performance through a comprehensive set of performance indicators spanning the full range of government debt management (DeM) functions. The intention is that the indicator set will be an internationally recognized standard in the government debt management field and may be applied in all developing countries. The DeMPA highlights strengths and weaknesses in government DeM practices in each country. Performance assessment facilitates the design of plans to build and augment capacity and institutions tailored to the specific needs of a country. The debt management performance report will not, however, contain specific recommendations or make assumptions as to the potential impact of ongoing reforms on government DeM performance. The DeMPA also facilitates the monitoring of progress over time in achieving the objectives of government DeM consistent with international sound practice. [Revised November 2008]
Debt Management Performance Assessment : Sao Tome and Principe

(Washington, DC, 2008-02) World Bank

During February 2-14, 2008 a World Bank team comprised of Per-Olof Jonsson and Frederico Gil Sander traveled to Sao Tome e Príncipe to undertake an assessment of the government's debt management capacity and institutions using the Debt Management Performance Assessment Tool (DeMPA). The DeMPA is a methodology for assessing government debt management (DeM) performance through a comprehensive set of indicators spanning the full range of DeM functions. The assessment reveals that despite notable progress since the inception of the debt office in 2004, overall Sao Tome Príncipe meets the minimum requirements set out by the DeMPA only in the fields of evaluation of debt management operations and coordination with monetary policy. The Government does not meet the minimum requirements in the other indicators. The gap between existing practices and the minimum requirements is narrow in some areas. Among the areas for improvement where greater effort is required to reach good practices, the mission identified the legal framework and the managerial structures as key priorities in a reform program.
World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development

(Washington, DC, 2007) World Bank

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. World Development Report 2008 seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the World Development Report.
World Development Report 2005: A Better Investment Climate for Everyone

(World Bank, 2004) World Bank

Firms and entrepreneurs of all types from microenterprises to multinationals play a central role in growth and poverty reduction. Their investment decisions drive job creation, the availability and affordability of goods and services for consumers, and the tax revenues governments can draw on to fund health, education, and other services. Their contribution depends largely on the way governments shape the investment climate in each location through the protection of property rights, regulation and taxation, strategies for providing infrastructure, interventions in finance and labor markets, and broader governance features such as corruption. The World Development Report 2005 argues that improving the investment climates of their societies should be a top priority for governments. Drawing on surveys of nearly 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, country case studies, and other new research, the Report explores questions such as: What are the key features of a good investment climate, and how do they influence growth and poverty? What can governments do to improve their investment climates, and how can they go about tackling such a broad agenda? What has been learned about good practice in each of the main areas of the investment climate? What role might selective interventions and international arrangements play in improving the investment climate? What can the international community do to help developing countries improve the investment climates of their societies? In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Bank's new program of Investment Climate Surveys, the Bank's Doing Business Project, and World Development Indicators 2004‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.