It is now generally accepted that the approach of enlarging state-based social security systems in developing countries in order to achieve universal coverage has failed. It is the poor and rural population in particular who are largely excluded from any kind of social insurance. This paper...

Even though China has no rule of law tradition, it has been making rapid progress - since 1978 when the policy of opening-up was adopted - in setting up a legal system that is supportive of a market economy. This paper contains a comprehensive overview of legal reforms in China. Section 2...

Nutrition Improvement Projects (NIPs) are sets of planned activities specifically undertaken as interventions to reduce malnutrition and its associated problems in the communities. The study focused on five NIPs of varying nature. The projects included the internationally known Iringa Nutrition...

It appears to be common wisdom that the basic cause of Thailand's crisis is its extraordinarily weak financial institutions. The paper questions this proposition from an empirical viewpoint. It is well established that the long-term performance of Thailand's financial system is favorable. The...

With growing awareness of the dangers of an irreversible loss of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA), there has been a major effort devoted to collecting and conserving plant genetic resources. The objective of this study is to assess the level of investments in PGRFA...

When productivity is fostered by an individual's own human capital as well as by the economy-wide average level of human capital, individuals under-invest in human capital. A strictly positive probability of migration to a richer country raises both the level of human capital formed by...

Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) spielen in Industrie- und Schwellenländern eine immer bedeutendere Rolle. Seit Mitte der 80er Jahre werden von seiten der Industrie- und Schwellenländer große finanzielle und organisatorische Anstrengungen unternommen, um die technische...

Many of the poor borrow, more save, and most of them demand insurance products or related substitutes. However, most of these financial products, especially those catering towards the need for consumption stabilization are only offered by the informal market. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)...

This study examines four sets of questions: What is desertification, and how can its impact on productivity be monitored? How extensive is the desertification problem in the MENA region now, and how has it changed over time? What is the current status of the water-harvesting techniques used to...