The gains from the transition in post-communist Russia were captured by the new managerial class, which won rents from the state in the form of privatized enterprises, state subsidies, credits, and opportunities for tax evasion. Those rents reduced state revenues that could have supported social...

Despite social, and economic diversity within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, social protection systems share common characteristics. This report develops a framework for a more integrated approach to social protection, and proposes general strategic lines of actions to guide the...

Twenty years of rapid economic development in Ghana has done little, if anything, to reduce the historical North, South divide in standards of living. While rural development and urbanization have led to significant poverty reduction in the South, similar dynamics have been largely absent from...