1. Water challenge : an institutional diagnosis -- 2. Understanding institutions : nature, performance, and change -- 3. Existing literature : approaches, attempts, and limitations -- 4. Evaluating institutional linkages : towards an alternative methodology -- 5. Analytical framework and...

Despite positive economic growth in recent years, basic labor market outcomes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remained stagnant and have only improved slightly in the past 10 years. A number of recent and ongoing analyses have stressed the pressing need for many economies in the...

For the past six years, the State of Andhra Pradesh in India has been at the vanguard of efforts to modernize the economy and the state while pursuing policies to improve the lives of the poorest. The Chief Minister and head of the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, is...

1992 was both a year of bitterness and hope. A decade of civil war had devastated the country but left no clear winner or loser; it was time to try peace. The governing ARENA party and the FMLN rebels signed peace accords requiring the demobilization of the FMLN and its incorporation into the...

In January 1999, Poland launched a new pension system that was the result of 5-6 years of broad outreach campaigns and complex negotiations within the government and between the government and key stakeholder groups. A number of compromises were made to broaden support for the reform; these...

With development soaring in construction, manufacturing, mining and services, Lao PDR's economic outlook in 2012 is positive. As the driving force behind the domestic economy, these sectors are anticipated to drive a projected growth of 8.3 percent by year-end. To begin, higher wholesale and...

This Country Economic Memorandum reviews the significant changes Mozambique underwent in the last five years, specifying that to continue its rapid growth, and reduce its high levels of poverty, the country will need to adopt a new set of reforms. Such reforms, focused on increasing the...

Iran's economic performance in the last two decades has been very disappointing. This is highlighted by the fact that per capita GDP was 16 percent lower in 1998 than in 1979. However, the most important single reason for this poor performance was not any domestic economic policy, but the long...

In the one hundred days since assuming office, the new administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri has made little progress on structural and governance reforms. The events of September 11 and the slowdown in the global economy worsened the investment climate in Indonesia, adding to the...