From The World Bank Group: Documents
and Reports Archive
From
World Development
Reports:
Selected World Development Indicators |
2009 Reshaping Economic Geography
Spatial Disparities and Development Policy
Economic growth will be unbalanced, but development still can be inclusive—that is the message
of this year’s World Development Report. As economies grow from low to high income,
production becomes more concentrated spatially. Some places—cities, coastal areas, and connected
countries—are favored by producers. As countries develop, the most successful ones also
institute policies that make living standards of people more uniform across space. The way to get
both the immediate benefi ts of the concentration of production and the long-term benefi ts of a
convergence in living standards is economic integration.
Although the problems of economic integration defy simple solutions, the guiding principle
does not have to be complex. The policy mix should be calibrated to match the diffi culty of the
development challenge, determined by the economic geography of places. Today, policy discussions
about geographic disparities in development often start and end with a consideration of
spatially targeted interventions. The Report reframes these debates to include all instruments for
economic integration—institutions, infrastructure, and incentives. The bedrock of integration
efforts should be spatially blind institutions. As the challenges posed by geography become more
diffi cult, the response should include connective infrastructure. In places where integration is
hardest, the policy response should be commensurately comprehensive: institutions that unite,
infrastructure that connects, and interventions that target.
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2008 Agriculture for Development
– The latest World Development Report calls for greater investment in
agriculture in developing countries and warns that the sector must be placed at
the center of the development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and
hunger by 2015 are to be realized.
Titled ‘Agriculture for Development’, the report
says the agricultural and rural sectors have suffered from neglect and
underinvestment over the past 20 years. While 75 percent of the world’s poor
live in rural areas, a mere 4 percent of official development assistance goes to
agriculture in developing countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a region heavily
reliant on agriculture for overall growth, public spending for farming is also
only 4 percent of total government spending and the sector is still taxed at
relatively high levels.
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2007 Development and the next generation
With 1.3 billion young people now living in the developing world-the
largest-ever youth group in history-the report says there has never been a
better time to invest in youth because they are healthier and better educated
than previous generations, and they will join the workforce with fewer
dependents because of changing demographics. However, failure to seize this
opportunity to train them more effectively for the workplace, and to be active
citizens, could lead to widespread disillusionment and social tensions.
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2006 Equity and Development
(final version)
Inequity within countries: individuals and groups - Equity from a global
perspectivey - Why does equity matter? - Equity and well-being -
Inequality and investment - Equity, institutions, and the
development process - Leveling the economic and political playing fields -
Human capacities - Justice, land, and
infrastructure - Markets and the macroeconomy - Achieving greater global
equity
- Selected World Development Indicators
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2006 Equity and Development
(draft)
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2006 Equity and Development
(outline)
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2005 Improving the investment
climate(final version)
The Investment Climate, Growth, and Poverty - Confronting the Underlying Challenges - Tackling a Broad Agenda - Delivering the Basics -
Stability and Security - Regulation and Taxation - Finance and Infrastructure - Workers and Labor Markets - Going beyond the basics -
Selective Interventions - International Rules and Standards - How the International Community Can Help
- Selected Indicators: Measuring the Investment Climate & Selected World Development Indicators
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2005 Improving the investment
climate(draft)
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2004 Making Services work for
poor people
Services can work for poor people but too often they fail - Governments should make
services work - The framework for service provision - Clients and providers - Citizens and politicians - Policymakers and
providers - Basic education services - Health and nutrition
services - Drinking water, sanitation, and electricity - Public sector underpinnings of service reform - Donors and service
reform
- Selected World Development Indicators
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2003 Sustainable Development in a
dynamic economy
Achievements and Challenges - Managing a Broader Portfolio of Assets - Institutions for
Sustainable Development - Improving Livelihoods on Fragile Lands - Transforming Institutions
on Agricultural Land - Getting the Best from Cities - Strengthening National
Coordination - Global Problems and Local Concerns - Pathways to a Sustainable Future
- Selected World Development
Indicators
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2002 Building Institutions for
Markets
Building Institutions: Complement, Innovate, Connect, and Compete - Farmers - Building more secure and transferable rural land institutions -
Governance of Firms - Financial Systems - Political Institutions and Governance - The Judicial System - Competition -
Regulation of Infrastructure - Norms and Networks - The Media
- Selected World Development Indicators
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2000/2001 Attacking Poverty
The Nature and Evolution of Poverty - Causes of Poverty and a Framework for Action - Growth, Inequality, and
Poverty - Making Markets Work Better for Poor People - Expanding Poor People - Making State -Institutions
More Responsive to Poor People - Removing Social Barriers and
Building Social Institutions - Helping Poor People Manage Risk - Managing -Economic Crises
and Natural Disasters - Harnessing Global Forces for Poor People - Reforming Development
Cooperation to Attack Poverty
- Selected World Development
Indicators
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1999 Entering the 21st Century
New directions in development thinking - The changing world - The world trading system: the road ahead -
Developing countries and the global financial - Protecting the global commons - Decentralization:
rethinking government - Dynamic cities as engines of growth - Making cities
livable - Case studies and recommendations - Selected
Indicators on Decentralization, Urbanization, and the Environment
- Selected World Development Indicators
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1998 Knowledge for Development
The Power and Reach of Knowledge - Acquiring Knowledge - Absorbing Knowledge - Communicating Knowledge -
Information, Institutions, and Incentives - Processing the Economy's Financial Information -
Increasing Our Knowledge of the Environment - Addressing Information Problems
That Hurt the Poor - What Can International Institutions Do? - What Should Governments Do? -
Appendix: International Statistics on Knowledge
- Selected World Development Indicators
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1997 The state in a changing world
The evolving role of the state - Refocusing on the effectiveness of the State - Securing the economic and social fundamentals -
Fostering markets: liberalization, regulation and industrial policy - Building institutions for a capable public sector -
Restraining arbitrary state action and corruption - Bringing the state closer to people - Facilitating international collective action -
The challenge of initiating and sustaining reforms - The agenda for change - Appendix: selected indicators on public finance
- Selected World Development Indicators
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1997 The state in a changing world (overview)
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1996 From plan to market
Understanding transition - Patterns of reform, progress, and outcomes - Liberalization, Stabilization, and growth - Property rights and enterprise reform -
People and transition - Legal institutions and the rule of law - Building a financial system - Toward better and slimmer government -
Investing in people and growth - Transition and the world economy - Conclusions, and the unfinished agenda
- Selected World Development Indicators
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1996 From plan to market. Selected World Development Indicators
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1991 The Challenge of Development
The world economy in transition - Paths to development - Investing in people - The climate for enterprise - Integration with the global economy -
The macroeconomic foundation - Rethinking the state - Priorities for action
- World Development Indicators
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1990 Poverty
Diverging trends in the world economy - What do we know about the poor? - Progress on poverty: lessons for the future -
Promoting economic opportunities for the poor - Delivering social services to the poor -
Transfers and safety nets - The 1980s: shocks, responses, and the poor - International factors in reducing poverty - Prospects for the poor
- World Development Indicators
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1986 Agriculture
The hesitant recovery and prospects for sustained growth - Trade and pricing policies in world agriculture - Agricultural policies
in developing countries: exchange rates, prices, and taxation - Agricultural policies in developing countries: marketing
and stabilization, subsidies, and policy reform - Agricultural policies in industrial countries
- World Development Indicators
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1979 The Development Experience, 1950-75
- 2
Development
Prospects and International Policy Issues - Structural Change and
Development Policy - Urbanization: patterns and Policies -
Approaches to Poverty Alleviation - Growth and Equity: the Record -
Sustaining Economic Growth in a Changing World - Development in
Primary Producing Countries - Policies to Increase Productive
Employment and Alleviate Poverty
- Annex: World Development
Indicators
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1978 The Development Experience, 1950-75
- 1
The Development Experience, 1950-75 - International Policy Issues - Prospects for Growth and Alleviation of Poverty -
Low Income Asia - Sub-Saharan Africa - Development Priorities in the Middle Income Developing Countries - Conclusions
- Annex: World Development
Indicators
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