This paper revisits economic growth in Colombia using a growth diagnostics methodology to identify the most binding constraints for economic growth and the policies that, if implemented, can have the largest positive impact. The data shows economic reactivation in areas with falling violence....

Este documento ofrece una visión acerca del estado del sector turismo en México y promueve una reflexión con respecto a la forma de optimizar su contribución al desarrollo sostenible. Se destaca que el turismo puede constituir una alternativa en regiones con problemas estructurales que ven...

We study here the early impacts of the Peruvian Rural Roads Program (RRP), characterized by a decentralized mechanism that contracts private local firms for the rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads with local supervision by community leaders setting incentives that favour prevention...

This paper examines the trade-off between resource intensive development and preservation of natural resources in the context of groundwater. Use of public schemes that expand groundwater irrigation to mitigate poverty is challenged as being unsustainable, especially when water tables around the...

The main goal of this study is the evaluation of impact perception upon West region of various programmes that have financed the development of touristic projects.

Electricity and water are often subsidized in developing countries to increase their affordability for low-income households. Ideally, such subsidies would create sufficient demand in poor neighborhoods to encourage private investment in their infrastructure. Instead, many regions receiving...

Are ostensibly demand-driven public programs less susceptible to political clientelism even when private goods are allocated? We investigate this conjecture using expenditure data at the local level from India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. By focusing on one state where...

Countries in the ACP region will face significant challenges in the years to come as they try to step up economic growth, deal with increasingly integrated world markets and meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially those focused on hunger and poverty. These efforts will take...

The new conventional wisdom holds that a large increase in the minimum wage would be desirable policy. Advocates for this policy dismiss the traditional concern that such an increase would lower employment for many of the low-skilled workers that the increase is intended to help. Recent economic...