Municipalities play a large role in the Bulgarian public sector. They provide primary and secondary education. They own and operate about one-third of the hospitals in the country. Until 2003, they administered all the major social assistance programs (except pensions and unemployment...

The study assesses Bulgaria's progress in its transition to a market economy, and in its preparation for accession to the European Union (EU), through an analysis of economic developments during the 1990s, with special emphasis on the 1997-1999 period. It identifies the major challenges the...

As Bulgaria approaches European Union accession, it has the opportunity to narrow the income gap, and raise productivity and investment, and set the economy on a higher growth path. To address these challenges and accelerate convergence with the European Union, this report proposes a reform...

This study explores the international development community's understanding of poverty and illustrates how it is related to environmental degradation. the study relies on three sources: a comprehensive general literature review, a review of past donor interventions in Nigeria, and original...

This paper tells a story about conditions in Tanzania's hidden economy, the parts of the natural resource sector often ignored in conventional economic analyses and studies, and makes recommendations for future policy actions. The paper draws primarily from extensive background studies...

This report provides information about some of the common issues that have arisen and lessons that have been learned in countries implementing Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), and to which the World Bank's EITI team has been exposed through its involvement in supporting EITI...

Recent studies in the DRC tend to focus on human rights abuses or on the status of women, however few investigations examine the link between mining and sexual violence. There is a dearth of research specifically into the gender dimensions of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) as a means to...

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was established as a global initiative in 2002. The EITI has since become the highest profile international standard for promoting transparency and accountability in countries dependent on oil, gas, minerals, and metals. As it is built...

A long period of economic mismanagement and political instability in the early 1990s, delayed Bulgaria's transition from planned, to market economy by nearly a decade, leading to the collapse of Bulgaria's economy in 1996-97. The introduction of a Currency Board Arrangement (CBA) in July 1997...