The literature on regional integration agreements (RIAs) is vast and deals with political, economic, and political economy issues. The literature on the economics of RIAs deals mostly with static effects, and concludes that these effects are, in general, ambiguous. So far there has been no...

This paper contains a numerical listing of working papers produced by Policy, Planning, and Research. Each citation contains a brief abstract, and the contact point for the paper.

The woodlands in some parts of the Sahel are effectively an open-access resource. Under open access, fuelwood cutters have no incentive to allow for benefits that might accrue if the wooded area were managed rather than mined. Those benefits include sustainable streams of fuelwood, fruits, and...

Political outcomes - such as agricultural taxation, subsidization, and the provision of public goods - result from political bargaining among interest groups. Such bargaining is likely to be efficiency-enhancing and growth-enhancing when equally powerful interest groups - aware of the...

The objective of this paper is to clarify, on the basis of detailed farm level data derived from recent surveys,the importance of factors related to tenure security, farm size and credit availability in constraining farmers'agricultural investment. In particular, a direct measure of...

Drawing on experience with direct income-support programs recently introduced in the European Union, Mexico, and the United States, the authors highlight problems that may arise when a developing economy's agricultural sector moves from price-based subsidies to income support programs. They...

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Dominican farmers produce coffee and cocoa, nearly 40 percent of all agricultural producers. The sectors also provide employment for tens of thousands of field laborers and persons employed in linked economic activities. The majority of coffee and cocoa producers are...

In Poland, present policies are aimed at promoting large, mechanized farms over smaller family farms. These policies are based on the perception that large farms offer real economies of scale. But international evidence indicates that such large, mechanized farms are generally less efficient and...

The report focuses on the investment in agriculture through the diversification of crops in Asia so as to maintain rural incomes, which maybe adversely affected by declining contribution of rice based farming. In the short - term, the diversification should be directed toward crops where there...

Interventions in this small impoverished West African nation have been based mainly on credit ( debt ). Public and private lending institutions have failed dramatically, with the resultant mounting debts. Yet, lenders continue extending loans into the countryside. The author suggests that there...