Empirical insights on household behavior and electricity consumption patterns in this book reveal that, in Europe and Central Asia, the erosion of tariff based subsidies has disproportionately affected the poor, while direct transfers through social benefit systems have often been inadequately...

This report brings together lessons from previous studies, supplemented by new analysis. It frames the challenges facing the rural and agri-food sector in the Western Balkans to illustrate the directions for policies, now and in the future. Part one looks at the characteristics of the rural and...

Increasing cost recovery for utilities is a cornerstone of the Government of Armenia's economic reform program. This report assesses the 1999 electricity tariff increase and the potential for future improved water sector cost recovery, with particular attention to questions of service...

Heating is a critical issue for the livelihoods of Eastern Europe and Central Asia's people. The region's gold climate, the legacy of central planning, and the drop in household incomes over the past 10 years, influence profoundly the design of heating strategies for the urban poor. This paper...

The authors measure the monetary value households place on preventing malaria in Tembien, Tigray Region, Ethiopia. They estimate a household demand function for a hypothetical malaria vaccine and compute the value of preventing malaria as the households maximum willingness to pay to provide...

In times of highly volatile commodity markets, governments often try to protect their populations from rapidly-rising food prices, which can be particularly harsh for the poor. A potential solution for food-deficit countries is to hold strategic reserves, which can be called on when...

While providing affordable warmth to the urban poor is among the main challenges facing many developing countries, so far there has been no empirical work on the demand for space heating for the urban poor in developing countries. One explanation for this gap in the literature is that the urban...

Despite the great benefits from preventing malaria, the fact that vaccine demand is price inelastic suggests that it will be difficult to achieve significant market penetration unless the vaccine is subsidized. The results are similar for bed nets treated with insecticide.Cropper, Haile,...