"This paper proposes that individuals care about the relative income of proximate reference groups. Making use of self-reported life satisfaction as a proxy for unobservable utility, the relative income of siblings is tested for relevance as a reference point for new sample data from Venezuela....

Prior to 2003, health outcomes in Turkey, including maternal and child health outcomes, lagged behind those of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and of those in other middle income countries. This report aims to add to this body of evidence through the...

The bank has a long relationship with Uruguay's agricultural sector, expanding over a period of more than 60 years in which several projects and various analytical and advisory assistance initiatives have been implemented. The main purposes of the present report are: a) to analyze the main...

Three billion people will be added to the world ' s population over the next 50 years and 2.8 billion people today already live on less than $2 a day-almost all in developing countries. Ensuring these people have access to productive work and a better quality of life is the core development...

Bangladesh stands out as the shining new example in South Asia of a poor country achieving impressive gains in gender equality. Between 1971 and 2004, Bangladesh halved its fertility rates. In much of the country today, girls' secondary school attendance exceeds that of boys. The gender gap in...

This note reports on the findings of a recent study to assess social change in conflict areas of Nepal. It looks specifically at the impact on hierarchical relations based on gender, caste, and ethnicity. All parts of society have been affected by positive, and negative social changes. Most of...