Privatization and capital markets support and reinforce each other to promote economic growth around the world. This work is intended to fill a gap in the literature by discussing the links between privatization and capital markets, and to provide useful insights for policy makers in developing countries and in the international donor agencies, for academics and practitioners dealing with economic development, and for the internationally minded private sector around the world. Privatization, in its various forms, and the development of capital markets will be a primary catalyst for economic growth and development well into the next century.

Many scholars of sub-Saharan Africa agree that inward-oriented development policies have hampered economic development in the region. Quinn questions traditional explanations for the low economic growth levels of sub-Saharan African countries by showing that majority state ownership of enterprise is a sufficient condition for inward-oriented policies and that this variable is a better predictor of such policies than other current explanations in the development literature. Supporting his observations through compelling case studies, Quinn offers a major statement that will be of interest to anyone concerned about African political and economic conditions and the future welfare of African peoples struggling to come to terms with the imperatives of a changing global economy.

Looking beyond the materialistic boundary of the conventional development paradigm, this book identifies our spiritual underdevelopment which is being reflected as self-centeredness and greed, as the root cause of conventional development's failure to alleviate poverty and inequality, achieve sustainability and deliver happiness to humanity.

This book surveys the competing, or sometimes complementary, roles of the state and the market in shaping China's pattern of regional development during the Communist era. The uneven pace of industrialisation across China's provinces during its economic transition raises numerous questions regarding spatial patterns of industrial development in a developing, transitional economy. Jane Golley's book answers questions such as: Why have inter-regional inequalities in industrial development come to exist? Why are they tending to increase? How have regional policies and reform strategies impacted on these trends? How, if at all, can these trends be reversed? A comparative economic systems analysis of the Mao and Deng eras, combined with theoretical and empirical evidence of the disequilibrium nature of regional development, depicts the recent trend of rising inequality across China as being both inevitable and ongoing. The central government's 'Western Development Strategy' is assessed in this context. The most novel contribution of the book is the development of a framework for thinking about regional development and policy, which combines two distinct approaches - 'new' economic geography and comparative economic systems analysis - which can be used to understand patterns of regional development anywhere in the world. The application of this framework to regional development during the Mao and Deng eras provides a uniquely holistic and easy-to-read coverage of the topic. The Dynamics of Chinese Regional Development will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Chinese economy. The book will also find an audience in scholars and researchers of Chinese and Asian studies more generally as well as students and scholars of economics, political economy and regional science.

This book is a collection of working papers, policy briefs and training modules, published by the International Poverty Centre in Brazil, which provides a comprehensives set of recommendations for alternative economic policies that can generate growth, employment and poverty reduction in developing countries.

As technology advances, mobile devices have become more affordable and useful to countries around the world. As a result, mobile evolution has become an essential part of economic and social advancement. Mobile Technologies and Socio-Economic Development in Emerging Nations provides emerging research on the role of mobile devices as an important aspect of social and economic growth in developing countries. While highlighting topics, such as device authentication, mobile data management, and sensor services, this book explores how mobile devices have evolved to become an extremely useful tool. This book is a vital resource for academicians, researchers, students, practitioners, politicians, and professionals seeking current research on the uses, applications, and advantages of mobile services in increasing economic growth.

In recent years, the Republic of Guinea has shed its reputation as one of the most tightly controlled state economies in Africa, leaving behind a cloistered era marked by an extraordinarily closed economic and political system. In breaking with its dismal past, Guinea has launched an ambitious program of reform which has affected the entire range of the country's institutions, regulations, and markets.

Culling data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, and numerous interviews and previously unpublished government data, Jehan Arulpragasam and David E. Sahn here present an overview of the Guinean economy, and its evolution--from independence, through crisis, to reform--and model implications of these changes for economic performance and living standards of the poor. Highlighting the chasm between theory and practice, between well-intentioned program and problematic implementation, the authors reveal how Guinea both parallels and contradicts past experiences of economic reform in Africa. Most notably, reform in Guinea has been hindered by the weighty administrative, managerial, and logistical demands of undertaking a vast battery of economic adjustments, all in one fell swoop.

The most detailed and informative study of the Guinean economy to date, "Economic Transition in Guinea" illustrates not only the successes of the nation's reform agenda, but also the fundamental constraints to development that often lie beyond the reach of such reform.

This book demonstrates a broadly successful transformation process that has been limited by challenging political, economic and social constraints. David Turnock traces the complex issues that have influenced Romania's reform and restructuring programme since the revolution at the end of 1989. The Transition from Communism to the European Union provides an overview of economic change in Romania, and studies in detail the transformation in industry, energy and agriculture, drawing on fieldwork in all parts of the country. The monitoring of the economic press throughout the post-communist period has also yielded much source material. Although the political context is examined at some length, the prime consideration is economic restructuring, involving the establishment of a free market system after decades of government control through central planning. It is made clear that the process is still not complete since global competitiveness remains a major challenge now that many people are beginning to experience a degree of prosperity. The book will be of invaluable interest to students and researchers in the fields of regional economics and post-communism, as well as readers with a general interest in Romania, the Balkans or the EU.

"Weitz summarizes the results of both studies and practical experience undertaken by the Rehovot Settlement Study Center, which he heads in Israel, and outlines an integrated, interdisciplinary regional approach to development that they have worked out. . . . Weitz's thoughtful discussion should interest those wanting to learn ways of promoting more effective development." Choice

This volume examines one of the major systemic changes in world economic history: the economic transformation in the Central European nations and the former Soviet states. Part I considers the dramatic adjustments in commodity structure and the geographic distribution of trade in these countries, while Part II surveys the sweeping transition of the Central and Eastern European countries' payments systems and the evolution of financial markets, exchange rates, and banking systems. Forms of integration with the global economy and proposed requirements for accession to the European Union are considered in Part III, and Part IV presents a model evaluating the record of structural adjustments in these transforming economies. The economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe has been one of the major systemic changes in world economic history. This volume examines the dramatic changes in trade and payment systems in Central European nations and the former Soviet states during the first half of the 1990s. Part I considers the dramatic adjustments in commodity structure and the geographic distribution of trade in these countries, while Part II surveys the sweeping transition of the Central and Eastern European countries' payments systems and the evolution of financial markets, exchange rates, and banking systems. Forms of integration with the global economy and proposed requirements for accession to the European Union are considered in Part III, and Part IV presents a model evaluating the record of structural adjustments in these transforming economies. The main objective of this volume is to thoroughly cover the latest research advances in international trade and payments among these transforming economies. Written by noted authorities from prominent research centers, the chapters have a predominantly survey character and are supported by sound empirical evidence. Combining empirical research with policy evaluation and recommendations, this volume will serve as a resource for further studies on the economic transformation of the former Soviet bloc countries.

Cash Transfers and Basic Social Protection offers a ground-breaking analysis of the discourses that facilitated the rise of cash transfers as instruments of development policy since the 1990s. The author gives a detailed overview of the history of social protection and identifies the factors that made cash transfers legitimate policy.

This book attempts to provide an effective strategy for industrial development based on the KAIZEN management training experiments conducted in Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and Tanzania. We focus on micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in industrial clusters, because clusters consisting of MSEs are ubiquitous and have high potential to grow.

"Development Connections" takes stock of recent advances in what is broadly known as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)--cell phones, computers, and related Internet applications, as well as software advances that aim at improving the welfare of societies by empowering them. It is a comparative look at Latin America and ICTs in relation to the rest of the world and other countries in the region and the trends for widespread use of ICTs. In turn, the authors seek to discover how information and telecommunication technologies affect both the public and private sectors of the region and how they can optimize ICT returns to society. Projects focus on the use of ICTs for education, health, finance, environment, and labor. ICT trends are crucial to policy makers and ICT development is critical to the future of the region.

This book examines the relationship between development economics, social protection and democratization in the specific context of Sub-Saharan Africa. Moving existing theories of transformation into a new terrain, it sheds light on the exclusive origins of dictatorship and democracy. The book explains how development, social protection and democracy-enhancing policies have been produced by existing institutional frameworks and contingent responses to emergency events, and that these have themselves been shaped by the actions of actors and by their embeddedness in the surrounding political, economic, cultural and social environment. The book also draws attention to the most relevant institutional and social mechanisms, with associated elite strategies and power politics relations in the creation of politically-induced conflicts. In doing so, it highlights the important role of welfare institutions in the reduction and reproduction of vertical and horizontal inequalities as well as their repercussion in the emergence of social conflicts.

The ability to harness Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) is increasingly at the heart of competitiveness and sustainable growth. As countries engage in an increasingly competitive global economy, they are trying to weave ICT into their development strategies, in the same way enterprises have learned to use ICT to transform their business models and strategies. This integration offers a new path to development that is responsive to the challenges of our times.

In National Strategies to Harness Information Technology, Nagy Hanna and Peter Knight provide a framework for assessing the opportunities, challenges, and prospects for "e-transformation"and for analyzing the options and innovations adopted to manage the e-transformation process. They ask hard questions: what does it take to harness ICT to transform an economy? Why some countries accelerate their development journey with ICT while others fail? How did successful countries balance the need for strategic leadership with bottom up innovation? Can countries reduce the risks of digital divide? What have been the roles of government and private sectors? What lessons can be learned for countries at different levels of development?

Featuring contributions from country experts, the editors and authors provide in-depth case studies of ICT deployment in Singapore, Finland, the Philippines, and South Africa, and asses the progress of such efforts. The result is an essential resource for academic researchers, policy analysts, policymakers, and industry leaders interested in the role of ICT in national development, innovation, and economic growth.In National Strategies to Harness Information Technology, Nagy Hanna and Peter Knight provide a framework for assessing the opportunities, challenges, and prospects for "e-transformation"and for analyzing the options and innovations adopted to manage the e-transformation process. They ask hard questions: what does it take to harness ICT to transform an economy? Why some countries accelerate their development journey with ICT while others fail? How did successful countries balance the need for strategic leadership with bottom up innovation? Can countries reduce the risks of digital divide? What have been the roles of government and private sectors? What lessons can be learned for countries at different levels of development?

Featuring contributions from country experts, the editors and authors provide in-depth case studies of ICT deployment in Singapore, Finland, the Philippines, and South Africa, and asses the progress of such efforts. The result is an essential resource for academic researchers, policy analysts, policymakers, and industry leaders interested in the role of ICT in national development, innovation, and economic growth."

"This book analyses privatisation in Ireland, a European economy that has experienced rapidly changing fortunes over the last 30 years. It examines the effects of privatisation in terms of corporate performance, public finances and the distributional aspects of privatisation including the impact on employment and share ownership"--

India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. However, high economic growth is accompanied by social stratification and widening economic disparity between states. This book illustrates some important aspects of underdevelopment and the process by which the underclass is left behind by focusing on the country's most neglected regions.

In the new millennium, understanding China's energy economy is crucial for politicians, businesspeople and energy economists, as China's energy policy choices will mean both challenges and opportunities for the world in terms of an increasing share of primary energy consumption and investment. This book initially reviews the literature on China's energy economy and in so doing reveals that many important areas have been overlooked or are outdated in their coverage. Given the size of China and its global importance, the book then review s China's current energy situation and fills the gaps in the literature for those who are interested in and concerned about China's economic development and energy reform in the new millennium.

The book is different from previous studies in several important ways: Firstly, it presents recent, pioneering research rather than a simple textbook, several sections of which have been published in high-quality energy journals. Secondly, the book first subdivides China's energy intensity change into aspects of budget constraint, technological change, factor substitution, energy demand and economic growth using a newly developed econometric approach. Thirdly, it provides many new and different econometric findings and derives many new policy implications for China's energy economy. And lastly, it brings to light a wealth of new knowledge for those who are interested in China's energy economy, the world energy market and global environmental and climate change issues."

This edited volume looks at energy poverty, an issue whose pivotal role in the fight for human development is only now being recognised by policymakers. Nearly one quarter of humanity still lacks access to electricity. Close to one third rely on traditional fuels like firewood and cow dung for cooking, at great cost to their health and welfare. While most prevalent in parts of Africa and Asia, energy poverty is a global problem which concerns us all. This book, which brings together economists, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and other practitioners from all over the world, is dedicated to a single goal: finding a solution to this haunting problem. It is part history, part economics, part political analysis, part business case review, and part field handbook. Part One focuses on defining and measuring the problem and benchmarking progress in solving it, an obvious prerequisite to any successful energy-access policy. Part Two reviews past and current energy access programs, with an eye towards finding out what worked and what didn't and what can be replicated elsewhere. These case reviews are told as seen on the ground - China's experience by top Chinese officials and Africa's by African regulators and scholars. Based in part on those cases, the book's last, more forward-looking section aims to present practitioners with a tool kit, a menu of options to speed up their efforts. The energy access agenda is gaining traction at a time of rising concerns about climate change and resource constraints. This book shows that bringing modern energy to those who lack it not just a moral imperative, but will likely benefit the world as a whole without harming the environment or unduly stretching finite resources.

This book builds on cutting-edge scholarship and the author's quarter century of hands-on experience at the World Bank to lay out an innovative with-the-grain approach to integrating governance and growth---as a constructive, hopeful way of engaging the challenging governance ambiguities of our early 21st century world.
A 'with the grain' perspective directs attention away from a 'good governance' pre-occupation with off-the-shelf blueprints and optimal policies, and towards the challenges of initiating and sustaining forward development momentum. This altered angle of vision has powerful implications for how we understand and address the challenges of governance reform and development policymaking---both across countries and over time.
The book distinguishes among four broad groups of countries- according to whether their policies are dominant or competitive, and whether their institutions are personalized or impersonal. It also distinguishes among alternative options for governance reform---'top down' options which aim to strengthen formal institutions, and options which aim to support the emergence of 'islands of effectiveness'. And it explores the 'goodness of fit' between alternative reform options and divergent country contexts---including how narrowly-focused initiatives can achieve results even in a broader sea of institutional dysfunction.
The book examines how, over time, virtuous circles can link inclusive growth, positive expectations and ongoing institutional improvement. Taking the decade-or-so time horizon of practitioners, the aim is to nudge things along---seeking gains that initially may seem quite modest but can, sometimes, give rise to a cascading sequence of change for the better. Sometimes the binding constraint to forward movement can be institutional, making governance reform the priority; at other times, the priority can better be on inclusive growth. Over the longer-run, stability depends also on a broad-based commitment among citizens to the institutional order, as one which offers the hope of a better life for all.

Is food aid the way of the future? What are the prospects for integrated public policies informed by the right to food? First World Hunger Revisited investigates the rise of food charity and corporately sponsored food banks as effective and sustainable responses to increasing hunger and food poverty in twelve rich 'food-secure' societies.

This book explores new perspectives on how to improve the chances of success regarding capacity building in developing and emerging countries. Drawing on lessons learned in the course of six decades of capacity building research and practice, it identifies the required conditions for the success of capacity building efforts, and suggests that a radical change in mindset has become a critical aspect in developing countries. In addition, the book discusses capacity building in connection with entrepreneurship (especially female entrepreneurship), transnational diaspora remittances, and combating corruption, which it considers to be essential drivers of sustainable development in developing and emerging countries. The book's contributing authors represent the leading minds in capacity building research and practice, and include researchers from prestigious universities in North America, Europe and Africa, as well as international development experts from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, African Development Bank, and African Capacity Building Foundation. All authors have considerable expertise regarding capacity building issues, and represent 26 emerging and developing countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Caribbean Islands, North America and Europe.