The recurrent global food price spikes in 2008 and 2010 rekindled interest in the use of national food grain stockpiles ('stocks') to enhance food security. They were a commonly used instrument in government responses to these food prices spikes. They were also widely considered as a useful tool...

Central Asia has made much progress in public health and animal health in the last 20 years but was as unprepared as other regions in the world to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The region also faces challenges from other emerging diseases, re-emerging diseases, and climate change. Since...

"The rationale for public investment in rural roads is that households can better exploit agricultural and nonagricultural opportunities to use labor and capital more efficiently. But significant knowledge gaps remain as to how opportunities provided by roads actually filter back into household...

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the largest country in the Pacific region, and one of the most diverse countries in the world. The key development challenge in this lower-middle income country is how to translate macroeconomic gains from the resource sector into better opportunities and services for...

Bhutan has registered rapid economic growth in the recent past. But the private sector's contribution to this growth has not been significant. Recognizing that the private sector can play an important role as an engine of growth, the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) mapped out strategies to...

The remote and sparsely populated provinces of Papua and West Papua face a time of great change. Monetary transfers from Jakarta have grown extraordinarily in recent years, by more than 600 percent in real terms and 1300 percent in nominal terms since 2000, greatly increasing demand for goods...