Concrete literally holds the modern world together. The material and its binding agent cement comprise a key ingredient in the buildings and roads essential for development and in infrastructure critical to sustainable growth. The cement industry also generates about seven percent of the world's...

This set of technical papers was commissioned by the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) members in India. CSI is a member-led program of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The report represents the independent work of the CII - Godrej Green Business Centre (CII,...

"The authors explore the relationship between transaction costs and generalized trust. Using panel data from 2,100 households in 135 rural communities of the Philippines, the paper shows that where transaction costs are reduced (proxied by road construction), there is an increase in generalized...

"This paper explores the social capital impacts of a large-scale, community-driven development project in the Philippines in which communities competed for block grants for infrastructure investment. The analysis uses a unique data set of about 2,100 households collected before the project...

"More attention and resources have been devoted in recent years to early childhood development (ECD) in low- and middle-income countries. Rigorous studies on the effectiveness of ECD-related programs for improving children's development in various dimensions in the developing world are scant....

"Since the early 1980s the Philippines has undertaken substantial trade reform. The current Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations is now likely to bring further reform and shocks to world import prices and export demand. The impact of all these developments on the poor is not...

"Millions of households in developing countries receive financial support from family members working overseas. How do the economic prospects of overseas migrants affect origin-household investments-in particular, in child human capital and household enterprises? Yang examines Philippine...