This report focuses on growing trade in food staples in the Southern and Eastern African region of Africa as one of the largest growth opportunities available to African farmers. This paper examines the impact of regional trade in food staples, both for maintaining farmer incentives in surplus...

"This paper examines the ways in which lower-income households obtain basic financial services in urban communities in Mexico and the United States. And it discusses the efforts that private sector and government organizations are making to lower the cost or improve the quality of those...

"Dabalen, Paternostro, and Pierre investigate the differences in outcomes (earnings and consumption) between individuals (households) who participate in the nonfarm sector and those who do not. They use propensity score matching methods where they create appropriate comparison groups of...

The report is structured as follows. Section one examines the contribution of the rural economy to the national economy, the structure of the farm and non-farm sectors and their relative importance. Section two describes policies and constraints affecting the wider rural economy including,...

The report reviews the macroeconomic perspectives of Uruguay, focused on its rural development and natural resources intensive sectors, to form the basis for expanding agricultural production, and increasing productivity. It reviews the country's sectoral composition, exports of natural resource...

This report presents an overview of current and projected market trends for off-grid lighting. It was commissioned and coordinated by Lighting Africa,a joint initiative from IFC and the World Bank.The report provides a snapshot of the off-grid lighting market and provides industry level data and...

This report aims to analyze key aspects of the low-income housing sector in Brazil, and to provide an analytical framework for reviewing alternatives to addressing the lack of adequate formal housing and urban services for the poor. It addresses four fundamental questions for policymakers in the...

The outlook for Low-Income Countries (LICs) is gradually improving, but they face persistent macroeconomic vulnerabilities, including liquidity challenges due to high debt service. There is significant heterogeneity among LICs: the poorest and most fragile countries have faced deep scarring from...