Search

Motivation: The Panama Papers scandal highlighted the scale of financial secrecy, anonymous ownership and shell companies and their role in profit shifting and tax avoidance. We show the importance of international tax planning within the structure of corporate entities owned by shareholder‐individuals through Panama Papers destinations. Purpose: To identify profit‐shifting channels and to estimate related government revenue losses to European Union Member States. Methods: Using company data from the Amadeus/Orbis database (Bureau Van Dijk, n.d.a, n.d.b), we applied micro‐data analysis to the financial statements of multinational companies (MNEs) owned by shareholder‐individuals. Two groups—one with and the other without links to Panama Papers tax havens—alongside an analysis of profit‐shifting indicators. Findings: Profit is generally shifted by moving operating revenues or costs, though the use of debt channels is also important. Also, groups linked to tax havens pay significantly less tax per unit of profit before tax, and require less operating revenue to achieve higher profits. Finally, related government revenue losses were assessed at EUR 8.67 billion. Policy implication: Our results are relevant to the European Commission's Comprehensive Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCCTB) as it aims to counter profit shifting out of the European Union (EU) into tax havens. Further, our research highlights the importance of setting up registries of ultimate beneficiary owners in EU Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shifts in thinking and practice concerning aid have posed serious challenges in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for both donors and recipients, but progress in reform remains slow. An important first step in any initiative involving M&E capacity development is the diagnosis of the systems' current status. This article presents a diagnostic checklist that captures issues of M&E policy: indicators, data collection and methodology; organisation; capacity-building; participation of nongovernmental actors; and use. It applies it to a review of the PRSP M&E arrangements of 20 aid-dependent countries in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate comparative strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Books reviewed in this article: Eliminating World Poverty: Making Governance Work for the Poor – A White Paper on International Development. By the Secretary of State for International Development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The development of human capital is a priority for most nation states, accelerated by the COVID‐19 global pandemic. In the context of reimagining a "new normal" post‐COVID, we reconsider the concept of human capital, and focus on knowledge, skills, and training of individuals in order to capture aspects of inclusive development. Purpose: This paper shows how the perspective of women, informal sector workers, representing some of the most marginalized workers in society, informs and improves our understanding of human capital and its development and utilization. Methods and approach: Our findings are derived from field‐based research conducted over the summer of 2021 in which multiple (virtual) focus group discussions (FGDs) were held with selected members of the Self‐Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India. Findings: Through our FGDs, the participants provided new perspectives and insights into our knowledge of human capital, emphasizing the importance of social protection programmes, gender equity, ongoing training opportunities, decentralized supply chains, and income security. Perhaps most significantly, the benefits accrued to women through being organized have been key to unlocking their human capital potential. Policy implications: Our research highlights themes that are often overlooked in the literature or are beyond the scope of more narrow conceptualizations of human capital. We show that human capital is tightly interwoven with other forms of capital (community assets), and hence efforts to build the former cannot be achieved in isolation from attending to the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: It is increasingly common for international development actors to work in difficult and fragile settings, yet much of our understanding of accountability through social and political action comes from more stable settings. As an increasing percentage of the world's population live in places characterized by fragility, it is essential to understand the context for accountability in these settings. Purpose: This article proposes a framework based on three domains of contestation: natural resources, identity, and legitimacy. Based on this framework, it unpacks the constraints towards progress on accountability in difficult settings, and the challenges in creating an environment for citizen claim‐making. Methods and approach: The article draws on research from a five‐year Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) programme which focused on examining social and political action in Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria, and Pakistan. Research papers from the programme were analysed together with a close reading of existing literature to decipher the common traits hampering citizen action and state response in difficult settings. Findings The core argument is that a weak state and the prevalence of non‐state groups vying for power are fundamental to difficult contexts in three different domains: natural resources, legitimacy, and identity, in which underlying contestation generates conflict, violence, and fragility. The three domains are set within two structural factors: historical legacies and social norms. The article traces how contestation in these domains within structural factors influences the behaviour of powerholders as well as the outlook of citizens who could make accountability claims. Policy implications: The article concludes by suggesting that lessons for development actors attempting to promote accountability in these settings are: to "work with the grain", e.g. recognize the context and work with it; explore possibilities for change at the local level, e.g. where alliance building and networking might be more feasible; and look for the small wins—because in a context fraught with difficulties, small achievements such as overcoming fear should be counted as a success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: Latin America has witnessed massive increases in production and consumption of chicken meat over the last 60 years and well beyond its share of the developing world's population. Chicken is now a major source of livestock protein in regional diets; leads livestock production in 25 out of the region's 33 countries; production, slaughtering, and sales provide millions of jobs. Purpose: To analyse growth rates for chicken meat in Latin America, why they have differed, how the role of innovation and development policies contributed to bringing about this growth, in turn leading to the patterns of governance of these activities today. Methods and approach: This study used a modified value chain framework along with FAO statistics, national data, published and unpublished studies to analyse macro‐level developments and their linkages to shifts in the organization of activities in the value chain for chicken from pre‐production through to consumption and trade from past to present. Findings Different natural resource endowments, demographics, and dietary preferences combined with frequent innovations and an array of policy measures led to a spectacular surge in output and productivity, lower costs, and facilitated a steady rise in consumption. As part of that growth, these activities became increasingly concentrated in Brazil, Mexico, and Peru and within those countries in a few very large firms. Their operations expanded in the value chain beyond the farm gate, across the region, and in some cases around the world. Policy implications: This paper has implications for greater transparency in grower contracts, better working conditions for slaughterhouse workers and bird catchers, more environmentally and bird‐friendly chicken production, accelerated adoption of practices as per Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems in the value chain for broilers in Latin America and the Caribbean, and improved enforcement of laws and regulations governing the technical and financial operations of value chains for chicken, along with renewed collaboration among government authorities to that effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: As governments move in earnest toward a green economy, few countries are considering education policy that can facilitate the development of green skills for such transitions. Where policy discussions are happening, green skills are often conflated with science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) skills, with little attention to the breadth of green skills needed to achieve climate justice. Purpose: We present a green skills framework to help support policy stakeholders imagine a continuum of green skills for a just transition. Methods and approach: This article applies a critical feminist lens to understand how green skills have been conceptualized across the gender and adolescence, greening and sustainability, and education fields. It also integrates the perspectives of stakeholders from climate, education, and gender‐focused multilateral, government, and non‐governmental organizations working on green skills. Findings The analysis finds that green skills coalesce around three distinct but overlapping paradigms. The first understands green skills through a technical lens as the specific capacities needed for green jobs. The second and third paradigms understand green skills through a sociological lens, seeking to tackle the behaviours and social structures driving the climate crisis. As such, they centre on cross‐cutting generic capacities and transformative capacities, respectively. Taken together, the article offers a new definition of green skills for policy stakeholders. Policy implications: The three approaches to green skills outlined in this paper constitute the pillars of a new green learning agenda for climate action, climate empowerment, and climate justice. This green learning agenda fills a significant void in both climate policy and education policy, and could help governments address current capacity building needs while setting their populations up for the long‐term social transformations required to achieve a just transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) expand the development agenda. While all major development actors support policy coherence for development (PCD), analysis has been lacking on how this can be achieved as the development agenda expands. We discuss the relationship between SDGs and PCD through a comprehensive case study from Finland. Purpose: To examine the coherence of Finland's foreign and development policy for achieving the SDGs, while leaving no one behind. Particular focus is given to policies related to the private sector's role in development, and attention is also paid to ministries other than the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Approach and methods: We carried out interviews with policy‐makers and other stakeholders, and analysed relevant documents. We reviewed governmental high‐level policy statements, sectoral alignments, and development aid documents. We also reviewed the position papers that the Finnish Government had issued on European Union (EU) processes, particularly regarding development relating to the private sector. Findings: Finland has been uniquely positioned to advance PCD in its foreign policy, thanks to co‐ordination structures across government. Nonetheless, mainstreaming of the expanded development agenda has been largely limited to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and its development policy department. The breadth of the SDG agenda has enabled individual targets to be cherry‐picked, with less attention paid to advancing the Agenda 2030 as a whole and to implementing its Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principle. Despite an institutional framework seemingly ideal for policy coherence, traditional sectoral divisions between development policy as a separate field and sustainability as an environmental issue, remain. Five factors in particular hindered policy coherence: (a) Finland's position papers to the EU on taxes and migration all but ignored Agenda 2030 commitments; (b) the Finnish emphasis on the private sector in development narrowed the considerations of development to economic growth; (c) sustainability was seen as green technology, with scant regard to social sustainability; (d) private firms interpreted the SDGs to mean that environmental sustainability could address human rights‐related concerns with corporate social responsibility initiatives; and (e) cuts to staffing in the Finnish Government stymied innovative thinking and working across departmental boundaries. Policy Implications: Finland is generally seen as a front‐runner in mainstreaming development issues, which makes it an interesting case. We outline the key challenges that Finland has faced in tackling PCD, which should be relevant for other Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries as well. Many challenges related to PCD are political and organizational. As such, they are highly dependent on the particular institutional settings in each country. Our methodological approach could be replicated in other similar countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: The Government of Ethiopia has a long‐standing commitment to improving the quality of education. In recent years, this has shifted to include a more explicit focus on equity in learning outcomes. In this paper, we examine the education reform design process in the context of Ethiopia's political environment which is widely recognised as a strong developmental state. Purpose: The article examines how federal, regional, and international donor actors negotiate their interests in relation to Ethiopia's national quality education reform programme, the General Education Quality Improvement Programme for Equity (GEQIP‐E). Methods and approach: We conducted 81 semi‐structured, key informant interviews with federal and regional government officials and international donors who were involved in the design of GEQIP‐E. Findings We find that federal government was able to leverage considerable political influence over high‐level priorities and the framing of GEQIP‐E. Large donors leveraged financial influence to exclude some specific priorities, while smaller donors were able to draw on social influence and technical expertise to include priorities aligned with their interests. Regional governments—which are responsible for policy implementation—were largely excluded from the reform design process. Policy implications: Our analysis highlights the importance of recognizing and understanding different forms of influence in the dynamic process of negotiating reform between government and donors. It identifies that both government and donor voices counted in the process of negotiations, but in different ways and to varying degrees. Understanding how different actors draw on their relative political, financial, and social influence is vital for ensuring successful implementation and sustainability. Importantly, we identify that voices of local actors are left out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The growth diagnostics methodology was developed to encourage context‐specific problem‐solving and priority‐setting as a substitute for the universal prescriptions that characterized the Washington Consensus era. While growth diagnostics have been praised and become popular in development planning, little is known about what they do in practice. Purpose: The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a new aid agency, adopted growth diagnostics in 2007 to guide decision‐making for bilateral development assistance after forging nearly 20 agreements informed by existing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This study examines how the MCC's adoption of growth diagnostics affected its development investments. Approach and methods: The study used a mixed‐methods approach with primary and secondary data and an interrupted time‐series research design that compares MCC agreements designed with and without growth diagnostics. Findings: The study found that growth diagnostics helped move the MCC's investment portfolio away from multi‐sector integrated rural development programmes aimed at high‐poverty regions towards programmes in fewer sectors concentrated in urban areas with large policy and institutional reform components reminiscent of earlier structural adjustment programmes. The article explains how features of the growth diagnostic methodology largely contributed to these changes. Policy implications: Development planners committed to using diagnostics should employ inclusive growth diagnostics, which modify the original diagnostic in ways that identify and target constraints to achieve pro‐poor growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to government‐sponsored health insurance schemes (GSHIS), many microfinance institutions (MFIs) and community‐based organizations (CBOs) in India have started microinsurance health insurance schemes. These include health mutuals for the benefit of their members. This article explores these as an alternative health‐financing model in India. A literature search produced 926 relevant publications. After applying advanced search options and removing duplicates, abstracts of 324 papers were read and then 47 papers reviewed, and finally 29 were included in this review. Five key themes emerged: (1) "Health for all" arguments and opportunities in favour of micro health insurance schemes; (2) micro health insurance products; (3) impact of micro health insurance schemes; (4) systematic irregularities and regulatory framework; and (5) innovation. We also look at the emerging market patterns that will define micro health insurance products. Health mutuals can effectively provide mass health protection to the poor and not so poor through efficient business models, bespoke benefit packages and multiple payment plans. They can reduce financial vulnerability and improve health outcomes. While GSHIS can cover a substantial tranche of expected health‐related costs, the balance can be supplemented through innovative financial products that reduce financial risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 15 years, a set of ideas now referred to as "thinking and working politically" (TWP) has coalesced into a "second orthodoxy" about how to take context into account when implementing development interventions. This approach stresses the importance of obtaining a better understanding of the local context ("thinking politically") in order to support local actors to bring about sustainable developmental change ("working politically"). However, the evidence base to justify this new approach remains thin, despite a growing number of programmes which purport to be implementing it. Officials in development agencies struggle with putting it into practice and it is unclear how TWP differs—or not—from similar approaches, such as Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) and Doing Development Differently (DDD). This Special Issue sheds light on what TWP means in practice by examining a set of initiatives undertaken by both development partners and government departments in Nigeria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, China and India. This overview article outlines, in brief, each of the Special Issue's four papers and then draws out five lessons—for funders and for practitioners—from across all the papers. Our five lessons are: (1) the fundamental importance of undertaking political economy analysis (PEA) to adapt programmes to their contexts; (2) the importance of having a realistic level of ambition for interventions; (3) the need to support local ownership—not just "agreement ownership" (between a donor agency and government) or local "management ownership" of the programme, but critically "driver ownership" by generating trust with the key local actors driving change; (4) the need for a more effective set of tools for measuring results in complex programmes that attempt to achieve improvements in long‐run governance; and, (5) that although the political economy of donors is often seen as a barrier to applying TWP, the articles show how much can be done with a TWP approach if the analysis takes into account the political economy of donors as well as that of the local context. We conclude with a set of operational recommendations for donors and implementors, as well as suggestions of avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: Youth employment has risen to the top of Africa's development agenda. But there is an often‐ignored tension between the current focus of policy and implementation on self‐employment and entrepreneurship, and the ability of employment in the informal economy to meet the commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "decent work for all". Formal‐sector employment is more likely to offer decent work, but a policy focus on it can be dismissed as unrealistic, if not elitist. Purpose: This paper aims to review and synthesize evidence about formal‐sector employment in countries in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) and young people's engagement with it, for the purpose of bringing such employment more centrally into policy and interventions to address the continent's youth employment crisis. Approach and methods: The article reviews evidence provided by selected labour‐market surveys and recent research studies from SSA on formal‐sector employment and informal employment within the formal sector. Findings: Formal‐sector employment is concentrated in urban areas, as are the vast majority of young Africans who have completed secondary school, and it is more likely to provide decent work than other forms of employment. These facts make it a serious mistake to underestimate the role of employment in the formal sector in addressing Africa's youth employment challenge. Policy implication: A long‐term commitment to (a) the creation of new employment opportunities within the formal sector and (b) improving the governance of labour markets should be central to the co‐ordinated response to Africa's youth employment crisis. Building on the existing base of educated young people and formal‐sector employment in urban areas is likely to be the most effective way of creating a "decent work economy". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: This article provides the first comprehensive evidence on the relationship between skills and labour productivity among manufacturing firms across Africa. It makes two contributions. First, we re‐examine the relationship between skills and labour productivity using nuanced firm‐level data. Second, we examine whether the relationship between employee skills and firm productivity varies by size and age of the firm. Purpose: This paper poses two questions. What is the relationship between skills and labour productivity using nuanced firm‐level data? Is the relationship between employee skills and firm productivity mediated by firm size and age? Approach and Methods: We used the World Bank's Enterprise Survey data and employed the pooled Ordinary Least Squares estimation. Owing to endogeneity concerns, we used Instrumental Variables, where country‐sector‐size averages instrument for high school and university education. Propensity Score Matching was used to estimate the effects of training. Findings: We find that the effects of high school and university education are higher among small and young firms respectively. Training is positively associated with labour productivity, particularly among older and large firms. Policy implications: Overall this article highlights the importance of skills development in Africa's aspiration to boost manufacturing. Key to this is encouraging schoolchildren to complete the education cycle. It helps too if employers can identify the level of education that suits their needs for skills, given firm size and age. They need to identify skill gaps, then match training to the skills employees require. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: How is research on social issues shaped in Latin America? How much attention do researchers give to poverty and inequality? What is the focus of research on these issues? Purpose: The paper aims to analyse the main patterns of academic publications on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Approach and methods: A bibliometric analysis based on different sources is used to review the main trends of publications on poverty and inequality in the region between 1990 and 2014. Findings: We find that although Latin America is widely recognized as one of the most unequal regions worldwide, poverty—not inequality—has been at the centre of the region's research agendas for many years. We detect a gradual shift in research from poverty to inequality, both in the academic literature and in the publications of international organizations. Policy implications: These findings provide new elements to better understand how and why researchers choose certain topics over others. This understanding is important both to gain knowledge on what researchers are prioritizing, and to shed light on the relationship between those priorities and public policies to combat poverty and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the impact of intellectual property laws on development in small island developing states. Much of the literature on intellectual property and development proceeds on the basis that there is only one model of each, namely the global model of intellectual property underpinned by the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and a neoliberal development framework. This paper argues, conversely, that there are multiple models of both. Exposing this plurality should enable a far more creative approach to intellectual property policy, particularly in countries whose levels of technological development and social structures are very different to those in the global North. This argument is explored through focusing on the example of sea transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the nature and origins of state-society relations in sub-Saharan Africa ( SSA). It traces the region's predatory state-society relations to slavery and colonialism and the concomitant extractive institutions, which are not conducive to sustainable economic development. Consequently, attempts to achieve sustainable development have been largely futile. The paper proposes a strategy for transforming the region's economic and governance institutions for inclusive and enduring growth and development. This strategy includes the promulgation and enforcement of coherent international codes and guidelines for state-society relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commitment or political will is often notable by its absence. While lack of commitment is a key factor in policy failure, it has been challenging to identify and operationalize how commitment can shape successful implementation. This article applies Brinkerhoff's (2000) framework of expressions of commitment to explain how commitment of policy elites shape policy implementation processes. Evidence for five characteristics of commitment traces these expressions from two types of policy elites — politicians and bureaucrats. Primary data from four Indian states were used—Chhatisgarh, Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh—to examine the case of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA). The data were collected through interviews with state‐level elites, supplemented by secondary data on the political economy of these states. In explaining how successes and failures of the MGNREGA are attributable to the commitment of these actors, the article considers the politics of policy implementation. It argues that commitment is critical at the sub‐national level in India, and explains the different outcomes of MGNREGA in the four states. The article considers how to strengthen policy implementation, and demonstrates that this can be done through capitalizing on positive feedback loops between different strands of commitment, as well as between commitment of administrative elites and political party leaders. The paper concludes that commitment and capacity feed off each other, improving implementation of social policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The above article from Development Policy Review, published as Accepted Article online on 12 June 2019 in Wiley Online Library (http://wileyonlinelibrary.com) has been withdrawn by agreement among the authors, the Journal Editor‐in‐Chief Annalisa Prizzon and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. on behalf of Overseas Development Institute. The withdrawal has been agreed because the paper was published inadvertently as the result of an administrative error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study reviews the post‐2005 national development strategies of 50 countries from diverse income groups, geographical locations, human development tiers and official development assistance (ODA) levels to assess Millennium Development Goal (MDG) absorption into development planning. Reviewing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and non‐PRSP national strategies, the majority of the development plans have either adopted the MDGs as planning tools or ‘localized’ them in a meaningful way, using diverse adaptation strategies. A high correlation is detected between the income group, PRSP status and ODA reliance of countries, and their propensity to incorporate MDGs in their planning instruments. However, MDG alignment is not coterminous with greater pro‐poor or MDG‐oriented policies. Countries that have not integrated MDGs into their national plans were as likely to allocate government funds to social sectors as MDG aligners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the relationship between donor agencies and government during the development of Lao basic education policy in the post-Cold War period, 1991-2000. We argue that Laos had only recently been 're- born' from colonial regimes, and was thus unable to resist or mediate donor policy agendas and donors who acted on behalf of economically developed nations. The nature of the power relationship between donor and government is explored through an analysis of policy developed at that time as well as the perceptions of aid conditionalities, as recalled by government officials and those working in the aid sector at that time. These perceptions were gathered through interviews conducted by one of the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1999, poor countries that want to qualify for concessionary IMF loans and debt relief must elaborate and implement Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Donors claim that the PRSP approach will increase aid effectiveness since PRSPs will enhance broad country ownership and lead to better 'partnership' with donors, implying more donor co-ordination under government leadership. By examining the experiences of Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua, this article finds that the results are disappointing. The article also shows that, by emphasising rational planning and ignoring politics, the PRSP approach has unintended and sometimes harmful consequences. This leads to recommendations for changes of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an interesting and continuing debate on the nature and role of social protection in poverty reduction. Within the health sector, discussion has focussed on the drawbacks associated with fee exemption schemes and community-based health insurance, with much less attention paid to the policy option of abolishing user fees. This paper reviews empirical evidence on the impact of the Government of Uganda's decision in 2001 to abolish user fees for health services. The paper finds that this policy intervention has had a significant positive impact on health-seeking behaviour in Uganda and concludes that this policy measure can make an important contribution towards a more ‘promotional’ policy approach to social protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is over six years since the World Bank and the IMF started promoting a PRS approach to development management in low-income countries. The 2005 review endorsed the approach, but highlighted the need for a renewed focus on the principles underpinning it: country ownership; results orientation; comprehensiveness; partnership focus; and long-term outlook. Uganda is often hailed as one of the best PRS performers. This article finds that Uganda's Poverty Eradicaton Action Plan (PEAP) has brought significant gains to development management, but that its performance against several of the PRS principles is disappointing. A return to these principles could improve the practice of the government and development partners around the PEAP - a finding likely to be applicable to many countries implementing a PRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash transfers have risen rapidly up the agenda in both emergency and developmental contexts, provoking widely disparate reactions and raising a number of political, financial and operational challenges for governments, donors and NGOs. This special theme issue of Development Policy Review considers growing experience with cash transfers in development in Africa and Asia and draws on lessons learned from the implementation of cash transfer schemes in Latin America. It is complemented by the simultaneous publication of papers in Disasters: The Journal of Disasters Studies, Policy and Management 30 (3) which consider experience with cash transfers in emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the debate over the most appropriate exchange-rate regime for low-income countries. The debate revolves around: the effect of the exchange-rate regime on macroeconomic management, particularly inflation; the links between the exchange-rate regime and vulnerability to crisis (often in the form of twin banking and currency crises); and the effect on international trade and competitiveness. The theoretical and empirical literature and the views of international organisations are reviewed. It is concluded that a hard peg might constitute the most appropriate regime but this is contingent on a number of important preconditions. This view, supported by recent empirical research, is shown to be at odds with the current orthodoxy of international organisations such as the IMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the content of 15 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers from a growth and poverty reduction perspective. Contrary to new trends in developed and middle-income countries, their policy frameworks lack the necessary flexibility to deal with external shocks and address macroeconomic volatility appropriately. Their fiscal and monetary policies are too narrowly focused on fiscal balance and price stability and consequently pay too little attention to economic fluctuations arising from external shocks, which have major effects on poverty and growth. To address these issues, the article proposes a set of policy measures, including avoidance of excessively tight inflation and fiscal targets (with provisions for fluctuations in commodity prices), more room for countercyclical policy and the adoption of permanent safety nets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1999, poor countries that want to qualify for concessionary IMF loans and debt relief must elaborate and implement Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Donors claim that the PRSP approach will increase aid effectiveness since PRSPs will enhance broad country ownership and lead to better ‘partnership’ with donors, implying more donor co-ordination under government leadership. By examining the experiences of Bolivia, Honduras and Nicaragua, this article finds that the results are disappointing. The article also shows that, by emphasising rational planning and ignoring politics, the PRSP approach has unintended and sometimes harmful consequences. This leads to recommendations for changes of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poverty reduction strategy paper (PRSP) approach has taken centre stage in development asssistance over the past five years. International endorsement of the approach has led to important gains in government focus on poverty reduction, civil society participation and donor behaviour. Yet PRSPs also potentially offer a much greater contribution to aid effectiveness, good governance and poverty reduction in developing countries. With a second generation of PRSPs now set to appear, this article examines the technical and political challenges that need addressing to realise their potential over time. Emerging issues include how to respond to political transitions, alternative design approaches, how to assess financing needs, and ways of enhancing the predictability of aid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new construction on poverty reduction links the Millennium Development Goals, an international consensus on how to reduce poverty, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, a new set of instruments for delivering aid, and, underpinning the others, results–based management. This new construction has undoubted strengths. There are also cross–cutting risks, that targets will oversimplify, citizenship will be neglected, trade–offs and conflicts of interest will be obscured, macro–economic policy will be neglected, social sectors will be emphasised at the expense of growth policies, and commitment to partnership will degrade into a form of covert conditionality. These risks are not immutable. A way forward is proposed, with a list of six principles and a set of Dos and Don’ts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, development policy–makers have paid increasing attention to social protection issues. Despite growing consensus around key points, there remains considerable diversity on what exactly social protection means. Individuals and institutions differ on the relative importance of managing vulnerability as opposed to assisting the chronically poor; whether social protection should be based in rights; and whether actions to protect basic welfare can or should also aim to promote economic opportunities. While public policy needs to understand and value existing informal practices of risk management and assistance, it must also moderate the costs these impose on households. The focus of work should now be at the country level, where Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers provide a good opportunity to recast social protection in a holistic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the World Bank’s conceptual framework to document the nature and scope of social protection policy and practice in Bolivia. It also assesses the manner in which social protection issues have been included in the Bolivian Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). This highlights limitations in the existing framework, and provides the opportunity to recommend a number of measures that would make it a more comprehensive component of the PRSP. This is a preliminary review of a highly complex subject, which merits considerable further attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article donor practice is examined in relation to a number of major issues — current and emerging — in rural development. The article focuses first on areas in which there appears to be growing convergence and then on those characterised by differences of approach. Practical problems likely to limit the effectiveness of donor strategy include those of managing sector-wide approaches and of linking rural and urban policy. Constraints on the implementation of pro-poor initiatives are pervasive, but have received little attention in poverty-focused initiatives such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. Finally, chronic political instability continues to limit development support (as distinct from relief) in many of the areas in which concentrations of the poor are greatest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]