The success of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) or the Zone Franche in Madagascar is, with the exception of Mauritius, an isolated and unrecognized case in Africa. The Zone Franche has had a highly significant macroeconomic impact in terms of exports and jobs. Madagascar became the number two...

The strong growth of the Vietnamese economy over the last two decades has brought about sweeping economic and social changes. In particular, there has been a sharp downturn in poverty along with an upturn in social inequalities (albeit not as sharp as in China). This makes the question of the...

Who are the most prone to pay bribes? Who are angled for bribes? Who pay? This article explores these issues in sub-Saharan Africa, an area of the world where corruption is widespread. This paper empirical basis is a rich collection of comparable data provided by the Afrobarometer surveys...

This article aims at supplying an interpretative frame of the long-term Malagasy trajectory by redrawing the structuring knots of its political economy. The concomitance of periods of economic expansion and political crises leash indeed to suppose that one of the essential sources of the...

Public statistics face quite a challenge when it comes to measuring new dimensions of development (institutions, governance, and social and political participation). To take up this challenge, modules on Governance, Democracy and Multiple Dimensions of Poverty have been appended to household...

The Health, Inequalities and Social Breakdown (SIRS) survey carried out in Antananarivo in April 2003 on a representative sample of 2,807 people, is part of an international research programme designed to compare the relationships between health, inequalities and social breakdowns in different...

The classical and more recent theories on development all fail to explain Madagascar’s long-running economic underperformance. This paper proposes a reinterpretation of Malagasy history based on the analytical framework of political economy. Our analyses point to the fact that, despite...

New factors such as governance, ownership and citizen’s participation are now a central focus of development programmes, especially in the scope of the new international poverty reduction strategies (PRSP and HIPC initiatives). To gain a better understanding of countries’ trajectories and...

Vietnam is a very important country for the World Bank. It is the first recipient of IDA credits. It is also presented by the Bank as a model country for development success, especially in terms of poverty reduction. At the same time, the Bank is very active in Vietnam: it is the first provider...