This annual report covers the period from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002, and is prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The first of two volumes discusses the World Bank's...

Most economies with a legacy of central planning are changing in fundamental ways. With the rapid economic, social, and political changes in these economies an update of the first edition of Historically Planned Economies (HPEs): A Guide to the Data, has become necessary. In addition to...

This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000, spells out the guiding principles of the Bank's work: country ownership, long-term integrated approach, partnership, and results focus. This vision was put into practice under a pilot approach, the Comprehensive...

This annual report covers the period from July 1, 2001, to June 30, 2002, and is prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The first of two volumes discusses the World Bank's...

This Annual Report covers the period from July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2001, and details the World Bank strategy for meeting the poverty challenge. After the Introduction, Chapter 1 provides an overview of Bank activities in 2001 that focused on multi-dimensional support, improved development...

The World Bank Annual Report for 2003, reviews the strategy and action pursued by the Bank, based on the Strategic Framework, and Strategic Directions (and Management Action Plan), focused on meeting the development challenges embodied in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). To this end, the...

The acute water shortage, and pollution problems in North China have been exacerbated by the continued population growth, and the accelerated industrial expansion over the past half-century, conducive to increasingly severe freshwater shortages, and catastrophic consequences for the future....

"Since the early 1980s, China has begun gradually integrating with the global system. In doing so the country has moved toward its own unique brand of market socialism, which recognizes private ownership, and is adopting market institutions and pursuing industrial change within the framework of...

"Rapid development, a widening regional gap, and growing concentration of activities have characterized the Chinese economy since the reforms in the late 1970s. This paper examines the spatial disparities of the economic concentration in different stages of development from a geographic approach...