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Transport prices for most African landlocked countries range from 15 to 20 percent of import costs. This is approximately two to three times more than in most developed countries. It is well known that weak infrastructure can account for low trade performance. Thus, it becomes necessary to understand what types of regional transport services operate in landlocked African nations and it is critical to identify the regulation disparities and provision anomalies that hurt infrastructure efficiency, even when the physical infrastructure, such as a road transport corridor, exists. Transport Prices

Transportation --- Costs. --- Public transportation --- Transport --- Transportation, Primitive --- Transportation companies --- Transportation industry --- Economic aspects --- Locomotion --- Commerce --- Communication and traffic --- Storage and moving trade

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Starting with the hypothesis that behaviors are the critical (and often overlooked) factor in public sector performance, this paper explores the notion of how behavioral change (and thus institutional change) might be better motivated in the public sector. The basis for this study is "an accidental experiment" resulting from the World Bank's operational engagement in Cameroon. In 2008, World Bank staff successfully concluded preparation on a project to support the Government of Cameroon to improve transparency, efficiency, and accountability of public finance management. The USD 15 million project supported a number of ministries to strengthen a broad range of management systems and capacities. Independently and concurrently, other Bank staff initiated a low-profile, technical assistance project to improve performance in Cameroon's Customs, supported by a small trade facilitation grant of approximately USD 300,000. One approach appears to have succeeded in initiating change while the other has signally failed. The two projects of different scale, scope and design in the same governance environment offer a very interesting natural experiment (unplanned but accidental for that reason) that allows insights into the nature of institutional change and the role of behavior and incentives and approaches that offer greater prospects for making reform possible. The paper confirms the value of using ideas from behavioral economics, both to design institutional reforms and to critically assess the approach to institutional reform taken by development agencies such as the World Bank.

Aid effectiveness --- Behavioral economics --- Capacity building --- Cultural Policy --- Customs --- E-Business --- Environmental Economics & Policies --- Governance --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- National Governance --- Poverty Reduction --- Public Sector Development --- Public Sector Economics --- Cameroon

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This book was written because at the time when Development Partners focus especially on rural mobility, it is worth trying to know how to achieve better aid effectiveness in rural transport. So far, most Development Partners and governments in SSA have relied on two overarching assumptions, which have led to massive road investments: (i) most households in rural areas in Africa are not connected to markets and therefore need a road passable for a truck (all the more as they are remote), (ii) roads with high level of service are crucial to achieve high economic impact. We demonstrate in this bo

Rural roads --- Rural development --- Country roads --- Roads --- Rural roads - Africa, Sub-Saharan --- Rural roads - Africa, Sub-Saharan - Case studies --- Rural development - Africa, Sub-Saharan

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In recent years, the number of studies looking at the effect of politics on economic outcomes has flourished. For developing economies, these studies are useful to better understand why long overdue reforms are not implemented. The studies analyze the overall context within which reforms are being implemented and the underlying incentive framework. However, it seems difficult to make such studies actionable, especially in sectors where donors have a heavy presence that can sometimes distort incentives in addition to the reluctance from some governments to amend the existing systems in place. This paper focuses on some conclusions emerging from the political economy diagnostics carried out in Zambia in various sectors in recent years. Based on interviews of World Bank task managers, the paper attempts to assess the relevance of these studies for the implementation of projects and the policy dialogue and draws lessons on how they have influenced the implementation of the World Bank's support to programs in various sectors in Zambia as well as the main challenges for this type of exercise.

World Bank --- Debt Markets --- Environmental Economics & Policies --- Governance Indicators --- Infrastructure --- Political Economy --- Public Sector Corruption & Anticorruption Measures --- Public Sector Development --- Zambia

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"The pallet is a platform used for storing, handling, and transporting products. There are hundreds of different pallet sizes around the world. Raballand and Aldaz-Carroll examine the case of pallets to illustrate the impact of multiplicity of standards on trade costs. They select this case because pallets are used all around the world, pallet standards are not too sophisticated, and data on the impact of pallet standards are to some extent available. The authors examine why there are so many different pallet sizes, the associated trade costs, and the reasons why countries have not harmonized pallet sizes to eliminate such costs. They then present options for exporters to mitigate the adverse effects of standards multiplicity while complying with destination markets' standard requirements. The range of options is limited in the case of exporters from less developed countries because of the lack of rental and exchange pallet markets. To mitigate the costs of this multiplicity of standards, the World Bank's strategy should be divided in two directions: to develop awareness of costs related to the multiplicity of standards and to support actively harmonization at the global level (within International Organization for Standardization) and at the regional level (within regional cooperation agreements). This paper--a product of the International Trade Department, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network--is part of a larger effort in the network to analyze the impact of standards on trade"--World Bank web site.

International trade --- Pallets (Shipping, storage, etc.) --- Finance. --- Standards.