The author analyzes decentralization reforms in the education sector in Latin America (their status, impact, and ongoing challenges) by making use of the accountability framework developed by the World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. She starts by identifying three...

Developing country governments tend to favor joint ventures over other forms of foreign direct investment, believing that local participation facilitates the transfer of technology, and marketing skills. The author assesses joint ventures'potential for such transfers by comparing the...

The authors use the newly available Yugoslavian Labor Force Survey data to investigate wage differentials and employment decisions in the state and private sectors in Yugoslavia. For the analysis the authors use three empirical models that rely on different statistical assumptions. They extend...

The authors provide an overview of how different approaches to improving public sector management relate to so-called core or essential public health functions, such as disease surveillance, health education, monitoring and evaluation, workforce development, enforcement of public health laws and...

The author uses quantile regression to document the evolution of the earnings structure of salaried and self-employed female workers in urban areas in three Latin American countries-Argentina, Brazil, and Costa Rica-after structural reforms were introduced. The analysis covers pre- and...

If the marginal gains from investment in physical capital depend positively on knowledge, but a household cannot hire skilled labor to compensate for low skills, then even if it has access to credit, the household will achieve lower returns than an educated household. If, as is common, the...

Vietnam's ethnic minorities, who tend to live mostly in remote rural areas, typically have lower living standards than the ethnic majority. How much is this because of differences in economic characteristics (such as education levels and land) rather than low returns to characteristics? Is there...

This study presents an analysis of non-farm family businesses in Peru. It uses the enterprise rather than the individual as the unit of analysis, and incorporates enterprise characteristics (capital, nonlabor inputs, focus of operation) explicitly. The central question addressed is: does formal...

Since women are half the world, every Government decision, and every economic process affects them. The definition of what constitutes a women's issue must be more restrictive than this. Three approaches are suggested. On one, policies are seen as women's issues to the extent that they affect...

This paper review PHN lending for FY88. PHN lending rebounded in FY88 to $ 304.9 million for eight projects, a 50 percent increase in volumeover the previous five year average. Lending for health predominated, while population lending accounted for 27 percent of the total. Interest in nutrition...