This paper uses international cross-sectional and time-series infrastructure bond risk premium and credit rating history data from the past decade to examine the factors that influence investor risk perceptions and that inflate the cost of borrowing for essential infrastructure. The information...

The main objective of this report is to evaluate World Bank lending for small enterprises between FY89 and FY93, including both small and medium enterprises and microenterprises. There has been a marked shift in the Bank's work in this area, and this review details the nature and content of this...

This is a comparative study of the legal framework for water users' associations (WUAs) in six countries, namely, Colombia, India, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines and Turkey. The study postulates that, since water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource and irrigation is the single largest...

This paper summarizes the World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region. The rural sector includes the people; economic; development activities; institutional, economic, and social infrastructure; and natural resources in rural areas and is thus not confined to agriculture....

Conserving biodiversity faces complex problems when the natural resources from the land also provide income and substance to its local inhabitants. Finding a balance between biodiversity conservation and the socio-economic development of a community near protected areas is the goal of integrated...