This paper is an account of the World Bank's effort to collect household-level data on poverty in developing countries and what that data says about the effects of government policies on living conditions of the poor. The main objective of the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) surveys is...

Countries vary systematically with respect to the incentives of politicians to provide broad public goods, and to reduce poverty. Even in developing countries that are democracies, politicians often have incentives to divert resources to political rents, and to private transfers that benefit a...

In the United States, gross business fixed investments constitute about 10 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP). Such investments may represent GNP's most important component because: a) plant and equipment have a long-term effect on the economy's productive capacity, b) changes in...

A large number of public pension schemes around the world have accumulated significant reserves. Pre-funding might reduce the risk that future governments will not be able to meet pension obligations. The management of these funds therefore, has a direct effect on financial sustainability and...

In this paper, the authors discuss the possibility that the North and South may have differing technological needs. Just as the North would like to develop drugs against cancer and heart disease, and the South drugs against tropical disease, so the North's labor saving innovations are less...

This paper contains a numerical listing of working papers prepared by the Policy, Research Complex. Each citation contains a brief abstract, and the contactpoint for the paper.

The authors analyze national and international policy options to encourage the international transfer of technology, distinguishing between four major channels of such transfer: trade in products, trade in knowledge, foreign direct investment, and intra-national and international movement of...

The question of the most effective order of reforming state-owned enterprises has been hotly debated over the years. In the early 1990s, many western advisers encouraged Eastern European countries, and the former Soviet Union, to privatize firms quickly under the assumption that market...

The Latvian economy made great strides in recovering from the economic shock of the early transition and the adverse aftereffects of the 1998 Russian financial crisis. Nevertheless, Latvia faces serious challenges to its future growth and prosperity despite these impressive achievements and the...

Investment rates in Uganda are similar to others in Africa, - averaging slightly more than ten percent annually, with a median value of just under one percent. But the country's profit rates are considerably lower. These results are consistent with the view that Ugandan firms display more...