What are the common characteristics among radicalized individuals, willing to justify attacks targeting civilians? Drawing on information on attitudes toward extreme violence and other characteristics of 30,787 individuals from 27 developing countries around the world, and employing a variety of...

Despite the increasing attention in recent years to the spatial dimensions of economic development, consideration of the importance of space and the recognition that macro, aspatial perspectives can prove to be misleading are not new. Around the world, much of the disappointment with the...

Many development policies, such as placement of infrastructure or local economic development schemes, are "place-based." Such policies are generally intended to stimulate private sector investment and economic growth in the treated place, and as such they are difficult to appraise and evaluate....

In the context of Romania's push toward sustainable and inclusive development, the government has asked the World Bank to support the harmonization of public investments financed by the European Union and the state budget. The current report describes the national program for local development...

As the World Bank's 2012 Golden Growth report emphasized, the European Union, since its founding, has been a 'convergence machine,' generating wealth and a higher quality of life for the poorest in the 28 EU member states. More recently, the Growing United report highlighted that while the...

In pursuing a decentralization policy that sets out to devolve elements of state authority to municipalities, the Government of Timor-Leste faces a key challenge: how to combine different types of governance systems that have legitimacy at local and state levels. In order to inform this process,...

Word War second left Japan crippled, affecting its economy, governance, demography, settlements, social well-being, and others. However, Japan used this as an opportunity to restructure itself to become a progressive, balanced, and well-rounded country. Spatial or territorial development is...

Place-based policies target specific geographic areas for special treatment. They attempt to stimulate growth and development in lagging regions by (1) attracting firms, (2) attracting workers and human capital, and (3) improving local public goods. This report conducts a critical review of...

Many governments in developing countries have pursued policies targeting specific geographic areas over the past several decades. However, only a few have rigorously evaluated the causal impact of these interventions. This paper examines the effectiveness of a prominent place-based policy in...