Stand alone books
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Publication
Addressing China's Water Scarcity : Recommendations for Selected Water Resource Management Issues
(World Bank, 2009)This report reviews China's water scarcity situation, assesses the policy and institutional requirements for addressing it, and recommends key areas for strengthening and reform. It is a synthesis of the main findings and recommendations from analytical work and case studies prepared under the World Bank Analytical and Advisory Assistance (AAA) program entitled 'Addressing China's Water Scarcity: from Analysis to Action.' These studies focus on several strategically important thematic areas for China where additional research was needed, as identified by the research team and advisory group based on a review of pressing issues. These areas are governance, water rights, pricing, ecological compensation, pollution control, and emergency response. The approach has been to evaluate Chinese and international experience to identify policy and institutional factors that have proven effective in promoting the adoption of water conservation and pollution reduction technologies. The research was based on literature reviews, qualitative and quantitative policy analyses, household surveys, field trips, and case studies to develop feasible recommendations for a plan of action based on realities on the ground. -
Publication
Public Finance in China : Reform and Growth for a Harmonious Society
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)This publication focuses on public finance, development economics, and the Chinese economy. The government will focus on the public good aspects of education and training-compulsory education and some aspects of higher education and training. The publication encourages seven reforms including raising government expenditure on education to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP), and ensuring that all children actually receive nine years of basic education. Improving and widening access to medical care, especially for the rural population. The target is to extend the cooperative medical scheme to 80 percent of the rural population from the current coverage rate of just over 20 percent. China has sufficient fiscal resources to afford the level and type of spending commensurate with a harmonious society. This reallocation of resources can be done only gradually. It must go hand in hand with a better specification of roles and functions of the various levels of China and stronger mechanisms for accountability, to ensure that poorer local governments use the resources given to them. -
Publication
Financing Energy Efficiency : Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)Energy for heating, cooling, lighting, mechanical power, and various chemical processes is a fundamental requirement for both daily life and economic development. The negative impact on the environment of current energy systems is increasingly alarming, especially the global warming consequences of burning fossil fuels. The future requires change through the development and adoption of new supply technologies, through a successful search for new, less resource-intensive paths of economic development, and through adoption of energy. Greater energy efficiency is key for shifting country development paths toward lower-carbon economic growth. Especially in developing countries and transition economies, vast potential for energy savings opportunities remain unrealized even though current financial returns are strong. Activities included specialized technical assistance, training, and applied research covering the four primary areas of country interest: (a) development of commercial banking windows for energy efficiency; (b) support for developing energy service companies (ESCOs); (c) guarantee funds for energy efficiency investment financing; and (d) equity funding for ESCOs or energy efficiency projects. One clear message from the experience of the three country Energy Efficiency Project is the importance of establishing and maintaining practical, operationally focused dialogue between the banking community and the energy efficiency practitioner community. -
Publication
China's Information Revolution : Managing the Economic and Social Transformation
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2007)This report presents a comprehensive overview of the information, communication and technological sector in China, and the role it has played during economic and social transformation in the past decade. It provides guidance on the kind of reforms policy makers in China may wish to consider in pursuing the country's quest for continued ICT development. It also combines local perspectives with international experiences on how issues in areas such as legal and regulatory environment, telecommunications infrastructures, and IT industry have been addressed by other countries. -
Publication
Dancing with the Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2007)This report takes a dispassionate and critical look at the rise of China and India, and asks questions about this growth: Where is it occurring? Who is benefiting most? Is it sustainable? And what are the implications for the rest of the world? The book considers whether the giants' growth will be seriously constrained by weaknesses in governance, growing inequality, and environmental stresses, and it concludes that this need not occur. However, it does suggest that the Chinese and Indian authorities face important challenges in keeping their investment climates favorable, their inequalities at levels that do not undermine growth, and their air and water quality at acceptable levels. The authors also consider China's and India's interactions with the global trading and financial systems and their impact on the global commons, particularly with regard to climate. The book finds that the giants' growth and trade offer most countries opportunities to gain economically. However, many countries will face strong adjustment pressure in manufacturing, particularly those with competing exports and especially if the giants' technical progress is strongly export- enhancing. For a few countries, mainly in Asia, these pressures could outweigh the economic benefits of larger markets in, and cheaper imports from, the giants; and the growth of those countries over the next fifteen years will be slightly lower as a result. The giants will contribute to the increase in world commodity and energy prices but they are not the principal cause of higher oil prices. The giants' emissions of CO2 will grow strongly, especially if economic growth is not accompanied by steps to enhance energy efficiency. At present, a one-time window of opportunity exists for achieving substantial efficiency improvements if ambitious current and future investment plans embody appropriate standards. Moreover, doing so will not be too costly or curtail growth significantly. From their relatively small positions at present, the giants will emerge as significant players in the world financial system as they grow and liberalize. Rates of reserve asset accumulation likely will slow, and emerging pressures will encourage China to reduce its current account surplus. -
Publication
Stepping Up : Improving the Performance of China's Urban Water Utilities
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007)Drawing upon the World Bank's experience in China, as well as the Bank's global knowledge, this report paints an attainable vision for the urban water sector in the year 2020. This vision entails the provision of safe and reliable drinking water for all, comprehensive stormwater drainage, and the collection and treatment of all municipal wastewater -- provided by efficient and financially sustainable water utilities. The strategic framework and set of recommendations presented in this report provide a starting point for achieving the 2020 sector vision. The development of specific policies and programs within this strategic framework will naturally need further research and testing, but the direction is clear and requires coordinated action from national, provincial, and municipal governments, as well as water utilities. The World Bank stands ready to deepen our partnership with China through continued financing of urban water projects, as well as conducting additional research, sharing international experience, and engaging in policy dialogue at all levels of government. We trust that this report will serve as the foundation for a new generation of World Bank support for China's urban water sector. -
Publication
Postindustrial East Asian Cities : Innovation for Growth
(Washington, DC : World Bank and Stanford University Press, 2006)Post-Industrial East Asian Cities analyzes urban developments and policies responsible for the growth of producer services and creative industries. This study is based on the findings of firm surveys conducted in East Asia and a review of the data and literature on several key regional cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok and Tokyo) that are transitioning away from traditional manufacturing activities. -
Publication
Under New Ownership : Privatizing China's State-Owned Enterprises
(Washington, DC: World Bank and Stanford University Press, 2005)This publication is organized as follows: Chapter 1, discuses China's industrial system: where it is now, where it should be headed, and why. Chapter 2, contains reform in China. Chapter 3, discusses the accelerated change in enterprise ownership 1997-2003. Chapter 4, covers Chinese ownership reform in the East European mirror. Chapter 5, discusses assessing the effects of ownership reform in China. Chapter 6, considers making privatization work. -
Publication
Corporate Governance and Enterprise Reform in China : Building the Institutions of Modern Markets
(Washington, DC: World Bank and the International Finance Corporation, 2002-03)This book explores the short- to medium-term corporate governance issues that China is encountering during the course of corporation and ownership transformation of its enterprise sector. The study looks at companies participating in the two main forms of ownership diversification: listed companies and small and medium enterprises whose ownership structure is dominated by insiders. The focus is on the new mechanisms and stakeholders emerging during the process of ownership diversification and their role in corporate governance. Recommended priorities for action are based on the following guiding principles: 1) Corporate governance scandals in emerging and developed markets indicate that there is no perfect corporate governance model. An effective corporate governance system should be capable of identifying weaknesses before they develop into systemic problems. 2) The institutional mechanisms of corporate governance comprise a system that can employ alternative yet complementary instruments of control to effectuate changes in companies' behavior. Based on these principles, the following areas emerge as recommended priorities for policy action: a) alleviate the negative impact of dominant state ownership on market discipline and on the regulatory capacity of the state; b) building an institutional investor base; and c) strengthening the role of banks in corporate governance. -
Publication
China : Air, Land, and Water - Environmental Priorities for a New Millennium
(Washington, DC, 2001-08)This report represents a further chapter in the dialogue between the World Bank and the People's Republic of China about how to promote economic growth and protect China's environment. There are three cross-cutting issues that keep recurring throughout the analysis. These issues characterize the environmental management challenge over the next decade: First, the environmental agenda is becoming so complex and large that it cannot be adequately managed by one agency--the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and its counterparts at lower levels--working on its own. Effective solutions will require the combined and coordinated efforts of many different branches of government and the re-thinking of many development policies. Second, the systemic fiscal and budgetary problems facing the country as a whole are making it difficult for environmental institutions to do their work. There is a growing gap between assigned responsibilities and the resources provided to carry out those responsibilities. Third, the government has to continue to diversify the approaches it takes and the environmental tools it uses to provide a better fit between the solutions developed and the problems being experienced in different parts of the country. The "one-size-fits-all" approach, as exemplified by various mass environmental campaigns, played a useful role in the past, but is proving increasingly inadequate to meet current demands.