In the GLDN seminar, the recovery procedures in the aftermath of the Kobe earthquake and the Asian tsunami were discussed. This introduction to Catastrophe Risk Financing Frameworks seminar provided participants with an understanding of catastrophe risk financing frameworks. In addition, it...

"The paper evaluates the effects of privatization in the post-communist economies and China. In post-communist economies privatization to foreign owners results in a rapid improvement in performance of firms, while performance effects of privatization to domestic owners are less impressive and...

"An AIDS epidemic threatens Ethiopia with a long wave of premature adult mortality, and thus with an enduring setback to capital formation and economic growth. The authors develop a two-sector model with three overlapping generations and intersectorally mobile labor, in which young adults...

"The authors describe the main trends of Brazil's fiscal policy during the past decade and analyze (1) the ability to raise the primary surplus in response to external shocks, (2) the pro-cyclical nature of fiscal policy, and (3) the long-run impact of government expenditure composition and...

"The authors apply the dynamic macroeconomic framework developed by Agnor, Bayraktar, and El Aynaoui (2004) to Niger. As in the original model, linkages between foreign aid, public investment (disaggregated into education, infrastructure, and health), and growth are explicitly captured. Although...

"Regulation is purportedly enacted to serve specific social purposes. In reality, however, it follows a more complex political economy process, where legitimate social goals are mixed with the objectives of particular interest groups. Whatever its justification and objectives, regulation can...

The second Lao PDR investment climate assessment identifies the key constraints of the country's non-resource sector firms. This Assessment summarizes the results of a national survey conducted in late-2009 and draws on extensive interviews with policymakers and practitioners. Survey results...

Sri Lanka is now a middle income country and already at the advanced stages of aging and disease transitions. This report aims to stimulate policy dialogue for control and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and to improve the quality of NCD services to the people of Sri Lanka. It...