This publication addresses the question of whether political, fiscal, and administrative decentralization improves government effectiveness and the debate on whether it is a viable and desirable state-building strategy for post-conflict countries. The publication is a collection of eight papers...

The World Development Report 2011 on conflict, security and development will look at conflict as a challenge to economic development. It will analyze the nature, causes and development consequences of modern violence and highlight lessons learned from efforts to prevent or recover from violence....

Development economics and policy are due for a redesign. In the past few decades, research from across the natural and social sciences has provided stunning insight into the way people think and make decisions. Whereas the first generation of development policy was based on the assumption that...