There is a general consensus that The Gambia's civil service has a number of key capacity weaknesses. Pay is too low to hire, motivate and retain key technical and professional staffs. Staffs are not managed to achieve results, neither rewarded for good performance nor sanctioned for poor...

Brazil's pension system takes up an oversized proportion of its social protection spending. It comprises of Regime Geral de Previdéncia Social (RGPS), covering private sector workers, and over two thousand Regimes Pröprios de Previdéncia Social (RPPS), insuring public civil servants at...

The question of how best to compensate veterans in the aftermath of war is one that is relevant to many developing countries. Civil wars and independence struggles often affect the poorest regions of the world, and leave an enormous financial burden, including benefits to former fighters and...

"In this paper, the author attempts to identify the characteristics of the business climate in India that can help explain the different performance of individual states in terms of investment and growth. The paper develops a new Investment Climate Index aimed at summarizing the aspects of the...

"Alm, Annez, and Modi review the options for reform of stamp duties on immovable property transfers collected by Indian state governments. After briefly reviewing some of the many administrative difficulties experienced with the tax, they turn to an examination of its economic impacts. A review...

India has embarked on a substantial program of decentralization following the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts to the Constitution, which call for establishing and significantly empowering Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) at district, sub-district (block), and village and urban local levels. The...

Both central and state governments have carried out significant correction of financial imbalances since 2000, through the implementation of fiscal reforms including enactment of fiscal responsibility (FR) acts. However, the improvement in the finances of all states in aggregate hides wide...