The Pacific region is expected to contract by 0.6% in 2021, and to grow by 4.7% in 2022. This issue of the Pacific Economic Monitor explores how the region can reopen and rebuild. Besides safely resuming travel and protecting health, a resilient recovery will depend on promoting fiscal sustainability and strengthening economic management, including regional cooperation to revitalize tourism.

Priority assessment methods are relatively well developed for commodity improvement programs, however, innovation is needed for other, newer areas of research which have impact pathways that are harder to predict. Focusing on priority setting practices for agricultural research, this book analyzes various priority assessment methods and research in the context of real-world experiences and new innovations. Chapters present methods that have been used to articulate, explore and assess impact pathways and research priorities, while also considering their strengths and weaknesses and drawing together methodological lessons.

This publication reviews 91 impact evaluations of transport interventions in developing countries, summarizes findings on outcomes, identifies evidence gaps, and proposes ways forward. Most of the studies reviewed find significant effects on at least one of the outcomes investigated. However, impact evaluation has given relatively little coverage to major areas of investment, such as urban and sustainable transport, transport corridors, and efficiency enhancing measures. New methods and increasing openness of geospatial data provide scope to generate more innovative impact studies in this sector.

This report aims to support impact evaluation in the energy sector by assessing what has been produced against what might be possible. It reviews 85 impact evaluations of energy interventions in developing countries, summarizes findings on outcomes, identifies evidence gaps, and proposes ways forward. It notes that impact evaluation has so far focused on rural electrification and improved cookstoves, while most investments are in power generation and transmission. It highlights where future impact evaluation investments can best contribute new evidence and how such studies could be approached.