A major policy goal of low-income countries is to promote the creation of competitive economic capacities in order to achieve sustained growth and raise the material well being of the population. Economic growth is, however, associated with increasing environmental pressures, and the question is...

The paper analyses the determinants of long-term economic performance of east European and CIS economies in two periods: 1960-1989 (the era of central planning) and 1990-2005 (the transition to the market economy system). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s economic growth in eastern Europe...

The diversity and socio-economic differentiation of the real world prevents the full-scale cultivation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to the benefit of all. Furthermore, the lack of determination and political will in some countries and slowness of responses to new...

This paper argues that the most important question regarding the efficacy of development assistance is not how much but rather for what. Economic integration and subsidiarity provides the conditions necessary for ODA to produce higher rates of economic growth on a sustained basis.

The paper analyzes the trade flows of the CIS countries with an emphasis on manufactured goods. An abstract in Russian is also provided. Manufactured exports were particularly hard hit by the breakup of the Soviet Union and the CMEA. The study examines trends in the volume of this trade and its...

The effect of financial openness on economic integration for two clusters of countries is estimated: the formerly planned economies of Eastern Europe and central Asia (emerging market economies) and some western advanced economies. We focus on two dimensions of economic integration: convergence...

This report was prepared as an input into the addendum of the Report of the U.N. Secretary-General on Financing for Development for the 2007 General Assembly High Level Review of the Monterrey Consensus. It evaluates the progress that has been made in the transition economies in terms of...

Central to the goals of competitiveness and sustainable development is the issue of energy. Is there enough? Where will it come from? What will it costs? Is its production and use environmentally sustainable? Many of these questions are now discussed under the general topic commonly referred to...

This paper addresses a set of conflicting national objectives, that between economic competitiveness and environmental quality. In lower-income economies, the perceived benefits of improved environmental quality may be valued less than in richer economies while the perceived opportunity costs of...

As a complementary activity to the WTO’s Doha Round of trade negotiations, the Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, China, in 2005 mandated that technical assistance and capacity-building activities needed to be expanded so that developing countries could take better advantage of the...