This paper has been prepared in accordance with the terms of reference for a study on power system planning in India: incorporating externality costs and benefits. It reviews estimates of the external costs of power in international studies as well as in India and compares the figures available....

This report provides estimates of social and financial costs of environmental damage in India from three pollution damage categories: (i) urban air pollution, including particulate matter and lead; (ii) inadequate water supply, poor sanitation, and hygiene; (iii) indoor air pollution; and four...

Alcohol abuse is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Alcohol abuse is responsible for 4 percent of global deaths and disability, nearly as much as tobacco and five times the burden of illicit drugs (WHO). In developing countries with low mortality, alcohol is the leading...

This report provides an integrated view of Sri Lanka's long term development challenges for sustainable growth and poverty reduction. Sri Lanka's substantial achievements in human development are well known. In several dimensions - such as universal primary enrollment, gender equality, infant...

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...

"Food policy often depends on markets and markets depend on institutions. But how good do institutions have to be before reforms can be launched? Relying on well timed surveys of agricultural prices and a joint study by the Government of Bulgaria and the World Bank on agricultural market...