Other ESW Reports

298 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2209

This includes miscellaneous ESW types and pre-2003 ESW type reports that are subsequently completed and released.

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Long-Term Policy Options for the Palestinian Economy
(Washington, DC, 2002-07) World Bank
In light of deteriorating economic relations between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza, and suspended peace negotiations, it is timely at this juncture between the lapsed Interim Period and a final status agreement to examine past experience with a view to assessing the policy choices facing Palestinian policymakers in the future. The post-Oslo experience points to failed economic normalization and income convergence with Israel. Several reasons for these failures have been advanced, including poor implementation of the Paris Protocol, as well as fundamental flaws inherent to the protocol itself. The experience under the Paris Protocol illustrates the degree to which political and economic factors are intertwined; both types of factors need to be addressed in a comprehensive framework. The fact that political pressures from Israeli security concerns introduced severe economic hardship on the Palestinians and threatened newly-gained Palestinian autonomy contributed to the unraveling of the interim agreement. The economic environment of uncertainty, risk, costly transactions, and inadequate legal, regulatory and financial institutions hampered private sector development and especially Palestinian-Israeli partnerships and business networks at the firm level, effectively weakening an important tie that holds civil society together. These factors further undermined Palestinian economic growth, laying the foundation for political crisis and civil conflict. Given the problems associated with the existing policy framework, this analysis examines alternative policy options that will face Palestinian policymakers in the event of a peace agreement with Israel. These future policy choices relate to trade, labor mobility to Israel, and the business environment and associated public-private interactions. In a first stage, each policy area is analyzed separately, that is, in a partial equilibrium context independent of the others without accounting for broader intersectoral relationships. In a second stage, the analysis brings together these separate areas into an integrated framework. A range of assumptions vis-e-vis the nature of borders between West Bank and Gaza and Israel is delineated, tying together the trade, labor and private sector development considerations to measure their combined impact on growth prospects. The analysis develops scenarios to reflect different combinations of future policy options linked to the nature of borders with Israel. This simulation exercise illustrates the relative merits of each scenario, the associated trade-offs, and the prospects for economic growth in the event of a peace agreement and a completion of final status negotiations.
Arab Republic of Egypt - Toward Agricultural Competitiveness in the 21st Century : An Agricultural Export-Oriented Strategy
(Washington, DC, 2001-12-21) World Bank
The report proposes key elements for an agricultural export-oriented strategy in Egypt, that would build on the achievements of the agricultural strategy during the 1990s. Substantial improvements in the country's macroeconomic environment, following policy reforms - though necessary - have not been sufficient to improve agricultural export performance. Overall, while Egyptian agricultural production increased during the 90s, agricultural exports remained low, and, the fact that both Egyptian production, and world market trends are substantially less volatile, is a first indicator of the potential to increase agricultural exports. The proposed agricultural export strategy starts with an analysis of the agricultural export potential in the country, which includes a review on the overall agricultural export performance; an analysis of the incentive framework in agriculture, including estimates of the current nominal, and effective protection rates of key imports, and exports, and, the estimated effects of alternative agricultural, and trade policy reform scenarios, on the returns to farming in alternative crops. This analysis identifies two agricultural sub-sectors - cotton and horticultural crops - from which Egypt, contingent on policy reforms, could benefit from potentially substantial comparative advantages in trade. Based on the recognition that export promotion requires a mix of sector-wide, and sub-sector specific reforms, the rational focus of the report was to identify the main impediments of export growth in the cotton, and horticultural sectors. The report further offers suggestions to phasing in reforms, so that policies increasing farming returns in exports, precede those that will decrease (absolute) returns in competing crops.
Trade and Foreign Exchange Policies in Iran : Reform Agenda, Economic Implications and Impact on the Poor
(Washington, DC, 2001-11-01) World Bank
Iran's economic performance in the last two decades has been very disappointing. This is highlighted by the fact that per capita GDP was 16 percent lower in 1998 than in 1979. However, the most important single reason for this poor performance was not any domestic economic policy, but the long and costly war with Iraq. Fluctuations in oil prices and the US embargo also adversely affected the economy. Once the war with Iraq had finished, economic performance began to improve slowly; in the decede ending in 1998 per capita GDP growth was positive, although it averaged only 3 percent per year. Although less important than the war with Iraq, Iran's domestic economic policies have not been conducive to rapid economic growth. Economic performance has been and still is hampered by administered prices; large, poorly targeted subsidies; multiple exchange rates (Which remain important, despite recent progress in reducing disparities among them); trade restrictions; and state domination of economic activity. All banks in Iran are sdtate owned, and most large firms are owned by the state or by the quasi-public religious foundations. This report describes Iran;s trade and exchange rate policies, proposes and explains a reform program, and develops a computable general equilibrium of Iran's economy to estimate the gains--to the economy as a whole and to the poor--likely to accrue from various reform options. The report also recommends a program for sequencing the reforms.
Egypt : Social and Structural Review
(Washington, DC, 2001-06-20) World Bank
A social and structural review (SSR) identifies the strategic policy priorities that are likely to yield the highest returns in terms of poverty reduction and development. This SSR identifies those priorities by providing a systematic evaluation of economic policy and structure in order to identify a) the main constraints on poverty reduction and long run development in Egypt and b) the sources of vulnerability, particularly as Egypt considers further global integration through entering into foreign trade agreements. The five priorities for reform include: 1) In order to maintain Egypt's robust economic performance of the late 1990s, the Government will need to continue to maintain stability of the macroeconomic environment by strengthening economic management which may have been pushed off-course by exogenous shocks in the latter half of the 1990s. 2) Trade liberalization remains as an unfinished and critical area for further reform. By sharply reducing tariffs and other trade taxes, especially on manufactures, Egypt can achieve productivity gains and wage growth. 3) It is important to revisit government regulations that increase the cost of doing business in Egypt. 4) Expenditures of the bottom half of population appear to be fairly compressed. 5) The quality of life of population is in part determined by public services such as those that enhance health, education, sanitation, clean water, and air quality.
Poverty in the West Bank and Gaza
(Washington, DC, 2001-06-18) World Bank
This report's overarching objective is to increase understanding of the causes of poverty in order to find ways to reduce it among Palestinaians. Three broad messages emerge from this report: 1) Unless the Palestinian territories are able to achieve high levels of economic growth, the prospects for future poverty reduction are not encouraging. not only will the number of poor Palestinians grow rapidly, but their share in the population will also increase, which could become a socially destabilizing factor. 2) Unless Palestinians gain greater access to external markets and to better paying jobs, whether in Israel or in higher productivity occupations, it will be difficult for them to escape poverty. Presently, the majority of poor Palestinians live in households headed by working adults in low-paying jobs that do not provide sufficient income to raise their families to a minimally acceptable standard of living. 3) The formal safety net does not have the financial resources necessary to have a significant impact on poverty. Nevertheless, it can play an important role in helping to reduce destitution among households headed by the unemployable poor and even the temporarily unemployed. The report's four chapters compare poverty levels and discuss the microdeterminants of poverty; analyze the impacts of economic growth, income redistribution, and labor markets; detail the poverty map; and discuss improving the social safety net.
Repbulic of Tunisia - Private Sector Assessment Update : Meeting the Challenge of Globalization, Volume 3. Annexes
(Washington, DC, 2000-12-14) World Bank
This private sector assessment (PSA) aims at evaluating conditions for private sector development in Tunisia, how they evolved since 1994, and what are the remaining constraints to private investment. It lays out an elaborate framework, placing private sector development in Tunisia, within the context of global economic integration, while facing increased competition from international competitors (particularly those accessing the European market). The analysis of characteristics, and performance of the private sector reveals that although traditionally, Tunisian exports to Europe have been strong, they are now challenged by competition from Asian, and Central/Eastern European countries, a factor exacerbated by the continued anti-export bias of the domestic economy, in light of other countries' rapid investment incentives, which enable private activity to access the opening European market. Thus, improved competitiveness in the country is a major issue. The report proposes reforms in incentives for private sector growth, and in governance; discusses the need, and measures to expand financial access for small/medium enterprises; and proposes options to lay the foundation of a long-term private sector growth strategy. The report contains three volumes, the Executive Summary, and Proposed Reform Agenda; the Main Report; and, Annexes.