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This paper describes and analyses the growth of private sector participation in public transport supply in the countries in the Former Soviet Union in which the World Bank has had recent sector involvement. This includes Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz S.R. and Turkmenistan. While this does not covers only 7 out of the 15 independent states comprising the former, this sample of countries accounts for over 96 percent of the land area and 85 percent of the population of the FSU. It also includes a wide spectrum of countries in terms of size, reform philosophy and income levels. The region only contains two megacities with populations in excess of 5 million (Moscow and St. Petersburg) but has many cities in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 million. Privately owned buses already carry the majority of bus passengers in Russian secondary cities and in Kyrgyzstan, probably about half in Uzbekistan, and a growing proportion in all other countries except turkmenistanstan. In Kazakhstan, where some of the competing companies still have majority state ownership the process of privatization is likely to be taken to completion in the near future. That trend, which merely reflects the ownership structure trends world wide is unlikely to be reversed. Only in Latvia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine is there strong resistance to this trend. But that is not to say that the current situation is stable or sustainable. The threats to that sustainable development can be grouped either by country or by issues.

Economic Liberalization --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Private Participation in Infrastructure --- Private Sector Development --- Private Sector Economics --- Public Sector Development --- Public-Private Partnerships --- Regulatory Reform --- Transport --- Urban Development

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India experienced sustained economic growth for more than two decades following the economic liberalization in 1991. While economic growth reduced poverty significantly, it was associated with an increase in inequality. Does this increase in inequality reflect deep-seated inequality of opportunity or efficient incentive structure in a market oriented economy? This paper provides evidence on economic mobility in post-reform India by focusing on the educational attainment of children. It uses two related measures of immobility: sibling and intergenerational correlations. The paper analyzes the trends in and patterns of educational mobility from 1992/93 to 2006, with a special emphasis on the roles played by gender and geography. The evidence shows that family background plays a strong role; the estimated sibling correlation in India in 2006 is higher than the available estimates for Latin American countries. There is a persistent gender gap in rural and less-developed areas. The only group that experienced substantial improvements is women in urban and developed areas, with the lower caste women benefiting the most. Almost 70 percent of the variance in children's education can be accounted for by parental education and geographic location. The authors provide possible explanations for the apparently puzzling improvements for urban women in a country with strong son preference.

Agriculture --- Economic Liberalization --- Education --- Education and Society --- Equality of Opportunity --- Gender Gap --- Intergenerational Correlation --- Intergenerational Mobility --- Population & Development --- Population Policies --- Primary Education --- Rural Development --- Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems --- Rural-Urban Inequality --- Sibling Correlation --- India

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The Marshall Plan is invoked whenever policy makers contemplate large-scale foreign aid. A cursory Google search turns up 'A Marshall Plan for Africa,' 'A Marshall Plan for Haiti,' 'A Marshall Plan for Eastern Europe,' and 'A Marshall Plan for the East.' The foreign aid program officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), but forever associated with the name of Secretary of State George C. Marshall, is widely regarded as a singular success. Over the four years from 1948 through 1951, the United States transferred USD 13 billion (roughly USD 115 billion at current prices) to the war-torn nations of Europe. The transfer represented approximately two per cent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and roughly the same share of the collective GDP of the recipient countries. The recipients, seemingly on the brink of economic collapse, mounted a strong recovery. Industrial production in the recipient European countries leapt from just 87 per cent of pre-Second World War levels in 1947 to fully 135 per cent in 1951, a 55 per cent jump in just four years. At least as importantly, the resumption of growth was sustained. Europe embarked on a 'golden age' of economic growth that spanned a period of decades. No wonder, then, that the Marshall Plan is widely regarded as the most striking historical example of a successful large-scale foreign aid program. And no wonder that there have been repeated attempts to identify the key ingredients of its success in the hope that this might be replicated in other times and places.

Conflict and Development --- Corporate Law --- Debt Markets --- Decentralization --- Economic Liberalization --- Emerging Markets --- Exchange Rates --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Foreign Aid --- Law and Development --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Market Economy --- Monopolies --- Political Economy --- Political Parties --- Post Conflict Reconstruction --- Private Sector Development --- Property Rights --- Public-Private Partnerships --- Reputation --- Roads --- Rule of Law --- Savings --- Treaties --- Violence

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This study on Latin America is based on a sample of eight countries, comprising the big four economies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico; Colombia and Ecuador, two of the poorest South American tropical countries; the Dominican Republic, the largest Caribbean economy; and Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America. Together, in 2000-04, these countries accounted for 78 percent of the region's population, 80 percent of the region's agricultural value added, and 84 percent of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of Latin America. The key characteristics of these economies-which account for only 4.5 percent of worldwide Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but 7.7 percent of agricultural value added and more than 10 percent of agricultural and food exports. The table reveals the considerable diversity within the region in terms of stages of development, relative resource endowments, comparative advantages and, hence, trade specialization, and the incidence of poverty and income inequality. This means that these countries represent a rich sample for comparative study. Nicaragua's per capita income is only one-seventh the global average, while the incomes of Colombia and Ecuador are one-third of this average. By contrast, the per capita incomes of Argentina and Chile average just one-eighth below and that of Mexico is one eighth above the global average. Only Argentina, Brazil, and Nicaragua are well above the global average in endowments of agricultural land per capita; the Dominican Republic and Ecuador are well below this average; and Chile, Colombia, and Mexico are a little less than one-third above the average.

Adverse Effects --- Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agricultural Trade --- Agriculture --- Beef --- Cocoa --- Consumers --- Crops --- Deregulation --- Developing Countries --- Economic Development --- Economic Liberalization --- Economics --- Exchange Rates --- Gdp --- Grains --- Gross Domestic Product --- Human Capital --- Industrialization --- Inflation --- Interest Rates --- Livestock --- Maize --- Marketing --- Political Economy --- Price Stability --- Private Investment --- Privatization --- Soybeans --- Sugar --- Total Factor Productivity --- Trade Liberalization --- Trade Policy --- Urbanization --- Wheat --- World Development Indicators --- World Trade Organization

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This report provides an overview of the municipal debt market as it exists and has evolved over the past ten years. It provides an assessment of trends and patterns from both bank and bond sources covering all types of municipal governments. The overall objective of the work is to assess the regulatory environment pertaining to municipal borrowing in the country and to generate recommendations to improve this in a manner which expands municipal access to private debt finance while ensuring that risk is appropriately allocated and properly priced. More particularly, this report: 1) outlines the need and rationale for expanding access to credit finance on part of municipalities in India; 2) provides an overview of the existing municipal debt market; 3) provides an overview of the chief characteristics of the regulatory environment pertaining to municipal borrowing in India, places the existing regulatory system in international context, and outlines a suggested overall direction for reform; and 4) provides specific recommendations to improve the regulatory regimes over which the state and union governments have respective control.

Accounting --- Bailouts --- Bank Accounts --- Banking Sector --- Bankruptcy --- Capital Markets --- Collateral --- Commercial Banks --- Creditworthiness --- Debt Management --- Debt Markets --- Debt Restructuring --- Domestic Debt --- Economic Liberalization --- Expenditures --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Crisis --- Financial Institutions --- Financial Management --- Financial Regulation & Supervision --- Foreign Banks --- Human Resources --- Interest Rates --- Legal Framework --- Legal System --- Life Insurance --- Living Standards --- Moral Hazard --- Municipal Financial Management --- Public Debt --- Revolving Funds --- Securities --- Stock Exchanges --- Transparency --- Urban Development