Person:
Ellis, Peter
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
urban economics,
urban development,
municipal finance,
South Asia
Degrees
Departments
Global Practice on Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience, The World Bank
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Peter Ellis is currently Lead Economist in the Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice of the World Bank, based in Washington, DC. His main focus is on the South Asia Region. Prior to this he was based in Jakarta, Indonesia as coordinator for the urban and local government program. He has also worked extensively on Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Russia, India and Pakistan. His area of expertise covers local governance, decentralization, urban development, municipal finance, and housing markets. Before joining the World Bank he worked as a Senior Economist at Standard & Poor’s. He holds degrees in Earth Sciences, Economics and Urban Studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Publication Search Results
1 - 4 of 4
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Publication
Strengthening Fiscal Transfers in Indonesia Using an Output-Based Approach
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-01)In 2010 the World Bank approved a US$220 million loan for a Local Government and Decentralization project in Indonesia. The project aims to improve the accountability and reporting of the central government's Specific Purpose Grants (DAK). Piloted in four infrastructure sub-sectors-irrigation, roads, sanitation, and water the project is the World Bank's first to apply innovative Output-Based Aid (OBA) design principles on a large scale to target improvements in inter-governmental fiscal transfers. Under the project, the DAK grants will work in a similar way to OBA subsidies, which reimburse service providers for independently verified, pre-agreed physical outputs. Up to 81 local governments in five provinces are eligible to take part in this project. This note presents an overview of the project objectives and design. -
Publication
Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for Prosperity and Livability
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016)The number of people in South Asia's cities rose by 130 million between 2000 and 2011--more than the entire population of Japan. This was linked to an improvement in productivity and a reduction in the incidence of extreme poverty. But the region's cities have struggled to cope with the pressure of population growth on land, housing, infrastructure, basic services, and the environment. As a result, urbanization in South Asia remains underleveraged in its ability to deliver widespread improvements in both prosperity and livability. Leveraging Urbanization in South Asia is about the state of South Asia's urbanization and the market and policy failures that have taken the region’s urban areas to where they are today--and the hard policy actions needed if the region’s cities are to leverage urbanization better. This publication provides original empirical and diagnostic analysis of urbanization and related economic trends in the region. It also discusses in detail the key policy areas, the most fundamental being urban governance and finance, where actions must be taken to make cities more prosperous and livable. -
Publication
A Free, Open-Source Tool for Identifying Urban Agglomerations Using Point Data
(Taylor and Francis, 2015-10-29)This paper describes a software tool for identifying urban agglomerations in low-information settings. The framework outlined in this paper is designed to work using point data. Our tool and all required data are provided free and in open-source format. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using point-based geographies in regional analysis, discusses the practical and ethical challenges of distinguishing urban from rural regions, details the function of our software, and directs the interested reader to the source code. The paper also examines the tool's outputs for Sri Lanka and compares them with published United Nations urbanization figures. Our outputs indicate that Sri Lanka's urban population is significantly undercounted in official statistics. -
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Urban Land and Housing Markets in the Punjab, Pakistan
( 2009)Well-functioning urban land and housing markets are critical success factors for achieving robust economic growth. This paper provides an overview of urban land and housing market performance in Punjab Province of Pakistan. It describes the characteristics of well-functioning markets and argues that the Punjab's present markets are not performing adequately. In fact, there exists a range of impediments to efficient urban land and housing market performance: excessive public land ownership, inadequate infrastructure services, weak property rights, pervasive public- and private-sector rent seeking, counter-productive urban planning policies and regulations, costly sub-division and construction regulations, limited financing for property development and acquisition, rent controls, and inadequate property-tax-based revenue-generating mechanisms. The paper concludes by suggesting that a prioritised comprehensive reform agenda is needed to improve urban land and housing market performance in Punjab Province. The analytical and conceptual approach used to research this paper is based on standard neo-classical economics. Therefore, the paper does not address broader political economy or structural issues. Consequently, the paper's contribution should be viewed as limited in scope.