The countries of the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region are confronting a number of demographic challenges over the coming decades. These include shrinking populations and labor forces because of below replacement-level fertility and older age structures, high mortality in a large portion of...

The paper analyses how the global economic crisis will affect the economies of the low income Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and discusses the fiscal measures which can be taken to help mitigate the adverse impact of the crisis. It focuses on Tajikistan, the poorest member of the CIS...

Tajikistan's economy has recovered strongly after the collapse of the 1990s, but sustaining rapid economic growth over the long term and reducing poverty present major challenges for policymakers. This paper contributes to the debate over the strategic role for fiscal policy to play in meeting...

The slowdown and possible reversal in the rural-to-urban flow of labor in Ghana is symptomatic of a basic shortcoming in the country's economic recovery: the inadequate growth of the productive sector in the non-agricultural economy. The rate of growth of GDP has been adequate but much of the...

Using the household survey and other data sources, the authors analyze returns to education and other aspects of Ghana's labor market profile from 1987 to 1991. The labor force grew slower than the population did between 1980 and 1990, but the supply of labor is expected to increase as the...

Child labor is a widespread, growing problem in the developing world. About 250 million of the world's children work, nearly half of them full-time. Child labor (regular participation in the labor force to earn a living or supplement household income) prevents children from participating in...