Publication:
Explaining South Asia's Development Success : The Role of Good Policies

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (2.68 MB)
625 downloads
English Text (205.76 KB)
141 downloads
Published
2006
ISSN
Date
2012-06-05
Editor(s)
Abstract
South Asia has performed well over the past 25 years in reducing poverty, improving human development and increasing growth, but faster progress with poverty reduction will require a higher rate of growth. This book shows that the development performance is not a puzzle but largely explained by good policies. Countries in the region have maintained good macroeconomic environments, opened up their economies to greater domestic and international competition, and reduced the role of corrupt and inefficient public enterprises.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Ahmed, Sadiq. 2006. Explaining South Asia's Development Success : The Role of Good Policies. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7129 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Yemen - Development Policy Review
    (Washington, DC, 2008-04) World Bank
    Yemen is the second poorest country in the Middle East and North Africa region, with 42 percent of its population counted as poor in 1998. GDP has stagnated at around US$530 per capita in real terms since 2002. Unemployment, estimated at 11.5 percent in 1999, is expected to have worsened as the population has climbed at 3 percent a year and the labor force has burgeoned. Extreme gender inequalities persist. Malnutrition is so severe that Yemeni children suffer the world's second worst stunting in growth. And natural resources are increasingly constrained. Two-thirds of Yemen's known oil reserves were depleted by 2003, and production has already begun to decline and will plummet by 2012 if no new reserves are discovered. Freshwater is also increasingly scarce: per capita availability in Yemen is about 2 percent of the world average and projected to diminish by a third in the next 20 years because of the expected increase in population. Compounding these economic, social, and resource problems are Yemen's policy and institutional failings, which have prompted donors to cut aid. Yemen received a meager US$13 in development assistance per capita in 2004. In 2005, the Development Assistance Committee cut International Development Association (IDA) 14 (2006-08) allocations to Yemen by nearly a third, and the U.S. government's Millennium Challenge Corporation suspended Yemen's eligibility for assistance because of its worsening corruption, regulatory quality, and fiscal policies. The main challenges to Yemen's growth are the impending rapid decline in oil revenues, the weak capacity of governance institutions, the pressures of high population growth, and the worsening scarcity of freshwater. The country has yet to come to grips with the imminent oil decline and its consequences. The Government is concerned about governance problems and is recently attempting to speed up reforms. The last two challenges-high population growth and water crisis- are long recognized by the government, but reforms have been slow.
  • Publication
    Jordan : Poverty Assessment Executive Summary, Volume 1
    (Washington, DC, 2004-12-01) World Bank
    This report assesses poverty in Jordan in 2002-03, and examines the changes that have occurred since 1997 as a result of economic growth and the income distribution policies of the Government of Jordan. The study concludes that poverty declined in Jordan in that time period, no matter which poverty line one chooses to use, and was made possible with an equally remarkable growth in per capita private consumption, in which the poor participated, at about 3.5 percent a year. The fast rise in private consumption appears to be due to a recovery in consumption trends that is mainly policy driven. The report, however, identifies some concerns about the sustainability of poverty reduction, and recommends that long-term policy focus more on regional imbalances in development; improve access of the poor in education, health, and jobs; plug the leakage in government transfer programs; and institute poverty monitoring systems for timely remedial action.
  • Publication
    Africa Development Indicators 2007
    (Washington, DC, 2008) World Bank
    The Africa Development Indicators 2007 essay explores the patterns of growth in Sub- Saharan Africa over the past three decades. It finds that the volatility of growth-an outcome of conflict, governance, and world commodity prices-has been greater than in any other region. Volatility has dampened expectations and investments-and has obscured some periods of good performance for some countries. The essay shows that pickups in growth were seldom sustained- indeed, that they were often followed by ferocious declines, and hence, Africa's flat economic performance over 1975-2005. The essay shows that avoiding economic declines is as important as promoting growth. Indeed, it may be more important for the poor, who gain less during the growth pickups and suffer more during the declines. The essay discusses a key question for economic policymakers in Africa: how best to sustain pickups in growth and its benefits. The Africa Development Indicators suite of products is designed to provide all those interested in Africa with a set of indicators to monitor development outcomes in the region and is an important reference tool for those who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa.
  • Publication
    Delivering on the Promise of Pro-Poor Growth : Insights and Lessons from Country Experiences
    (Washington, DC: World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) Besley, Timothy; Cord, Louise J.; Besley, Timothy; Cord, Louise J.
    Delivering on the Promise of Pro-Poor Growth contributes to the debate on how to accelerate poverty reduction by providing insights from eight countries that have been relatively successful in delivering pro-poor growth: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Tunisia, Uganda, and Vietnam. It integrates growth analytics with the microanalysis of household data to determine how country policies and conditions interact to reduce poverty and to spread the benefits of growth across different income groups. This title is a useful resource for policy makers, donor agencies, academics, think tanks, and government officials seeking a practical framework to improve country level diagnostics of growth-poverty linkages.
  • Publication
    Sustaining and Sharing Economic Growth in Tanzania
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007) Utz, Robert J.
    This book is designed to contribute to the government's thinking on how best to translate broad MKUKUTA (the government of Tanzania's National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty) policy objectives into practical tactics and programs well suited to Tanzania's economic priorities and to the removal of key institutional and infrastructure bottlenecks. The book aims to respond to three fundamental questions: (a) what factors explain Tanzania's recent acceleration in economic growth, (b) how well has the accelerated growth translated into reduced poverty, and (c) what needs to be done to sustain growth that is also pro-poor. This book focuses on three issues that are central to the success of Tanzania's poverty reduction efforts: What factors explain Tanzania's recent acceleration in economic growth? Has the accelerated economic growth translated into reduced poverty? What must be done to sustain economic growth that is pro-poor? The book presents evidence from the macroeconomic, sectoral, firm, and household levels that shed light on these questions. In addition, the book examines the effectiveness of measures that support the poor in efforts to accumulate human and physical capital, which would enhance their prospects of contributing to economic growth. Finally, it is important to mention that this book is a compilation of chapters written by authors from the African Development Bank (Peter Mwanakatwe), COWI Consultants (Kerstin Pfliegner), independent consultancies (Marianne Simonsen and Annabella Skof), and the World Bank (Jean-Eric Aubert, Vandana Chandra, Louise Fox, Henry Gordon, Johannes Hoogeveen, Pooja Kacker, Ying Li, Allister Moon, Philip Mpango, Ravi Ruparel, Anuja Utz, Robert J. Utz, and Michael Wong).

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21) Luna-Bazaldua, Diego; Levin, Victoria; Liberman, Julia; Gala, Priyal Mukesh
    This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.
  • Publication
    South Asia Economic Focus, Fall 2016
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2016-10-03) World Bank
    South Asia defies a sluggish world economy and continues its path of gradual acceleration during 2016. Led by a solid India, the region remains a global growth hot spot. While South Asian economies proved resilient vis-à-vis external headwinds such as China’s slowdown or uncertainty surrounding monetary policy in advanced economies, some are beginning to feel the sting from slowing remittance flows or waning oil price dividends. Against this backdrop of relative stability but fading tailwinds, India is set to grow at 7.6 percent in 2016, the same speed as in 2015, but may increase its pace again in 2017 to 7.7 percent. The region will remain steadfast in the face of future volatility and is expected to grow at 7.1 percent in 2016, however, its medium term performance strongly hinges on investment and exports. Downside risks are concentrated around political uncertainty as well as fiscal and financial vulnerabilities. While export growth is set to return to positive territory, it will deliver only gradually as global demand picks up. A reality check reveals that private investment – the key future growth driver across South Asia – is yet to be ignited to sustain and further increase the pace of economic activity.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2006
    (Washington, DC, 2005) World Bank
    This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹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.
  • Publication
    Argentina Country Climate and Development Report
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11) World Bank Group
    The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.