Globalization and Growth: Implications for a Post-Crisis World
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8220-2 -- by World Bank 2010 April.
Price: $18.00
This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the prospects for economic growth in developing countries in the wake of the world financial and economic crises of 2008-09. It considers a range of questions, particularly with regard to the future of globalization and the policy implications of the crisis. It considers the important issues pertaining to short-term, medium-term, and long-term growth and puts forward the latest policy ideas for fostering sustained economic growth in the developing world.
Đô thị hóa và tăng trưởng
Spence, Michael; Annez, Patricia Clarke; Buckley, Robert M.
Ủy ban Tăng trưởng và Phát triển, 2010.
Giá tiền: 2 USD
- Tại sao năng suất ở thành phố lại cao hơn?
- Đô thị hóa là nguyên nhân thúc đẩy tăng trưởng hay tăng trưởng là nguyên nhân thúc đẩy đô thị hóa?
- Các quốc gia đạt được tốc độ tăng trưởng nhanh hay thu nhập cao mà không cần đô thị hóa hay không?
- Các nhà hoạch định chính sách làm thế nào để gặt hái lợi ích của đô thị hóa mà không phải trả giá quá cao?
- Liệu hỗ trợ quá trình đô thị hóa có nghĩa là coi nhẹ khu vực nông thôn hay không?
- Tại sao chỉ có chính phủ một số nước hoan nghênh đô thị hóa?
- Chính phủ các nước cần làm gì để cải thiện điều kiện về nhà ở ở các thành phố trong khi đô thị hóa?
- Những đổi mới trong chính sách cung cấp các tài chính để phát triển nhà ở là tốt hay xấu đối với các quốc gia đang phát triển?
- Chính phủ các nước sẽ làm thế nào để cấp hàng nghìn tỷ đôla tiền vốn để đầu tư hạ tầng cần thiết cho các thành phố ở các quốc gia đang phát triển?
Là cuốn đầu tiên trong bộ báo cáo chuyên đề, cuốn sách này được biên soạn theo yêu cầu của Ủy ban về Tăng trưởng và Phát triển nhằm đánh giá mức độ hiểu biết về mối quan hệ giữa đô thị hóa và tăng trưởng kinh tế. Báo cáo này không nhằm mục đích cung cấp tất cả các câu trả lời, mà nhằm xác định các vấn đề và đòn bầy chính sách để giúp các quốc gia lồng ghép đô thị hóa thành một phần của chiến lược tăng trưởng quốc gia. Báo cáo này nghiên cứu một loạt các đề tài như: tính thích hợp và ý nghĩa chính sách của những tiến bộ gần đây trong nghiên cứu kinh tế học đô thị hóa cho các quốc gia đang phát triển, vai trò của địa kinh tế trong xu hướng kinh tế và mô hình thương mại toàn cầu, tác động của quá trình đô thị hóa đối với sự bất bình đẳng giữa các vùng trong một quốc gia, và các phương pháp tiếp cận khác trong việc cấp vốn đầu tư hạ tầng cơ bản cần thiết cho các thành phố ở các quốc gia đang phát triển.
Được viết bởi các chuyên gia hàng đầu trong các lĩnh vực có liên quan, báo cáo Đô thị hóa và Tăng trưởng cố gắng để hiểu rõ hơn vai trò của đô thị hóa trong quá trình tăng trưởng và cung cấp cho các nhà hoạch định chính sách thông tin để đối phó với những thách thức to lớn mà quá trình này đưa ra.
Unlocking Land Values to Finance Urban Infrastructure
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8329-2 -- by World Bank 2010 June
Price: $13.00
Land-based financing of urban infrastructure is growing in importance in the developing world. Why is it so difficult to finance urban infrastructure investment, when land values typically increase by more than the cost of investment? Unlocking Land Values to Finance Urban Infrastructure examines the theory underlying different instruments of land-based finance, such as betterment levies, developer exactions, impact fees, and the exchange of publicly owned land assets for infrastructure. It provides a wealth of case-study illustrations of how different land-based financing tools have been implemented, and the lessons learned from these experiences. This practical guide is designed to help expand the role of land-based financing in urban capital budgets in a way that strengthens urban infrastructure finance and urban land markets. –
“This study shows that a rethinking of traditional approaches to urban finance in developing countries is necessary. It discusses why this potential source of revenue has been largely overlooked by analysts from developed countries, as well as why much greater attention should be paid to these transactions. This book is written in a lively, accessible style without sacrificing analytical rigor.” – Robert Buckley, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation –
“A grand magnitude of financing in infrastructure can be obtained from unlocking land values. Dr Peterson presents a deep and often innovative analysis. This book will be a great resource for an unusually broad audience—from international consultants to national and municipal officials.” – Olga Kaganova, Coeditor, Managing Property Assets: International Experiences, and Senior Associate, Urban Institute
A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8386-5 -- by World Bank 2010 June
Price: $13.00
This book offers policy makers a hands-on approach, tested in the World Bank’s field work in many countries, for developing policies that improve access to safe, effective medicines in health systems of low- and middle-income economies.
Innovation Policy: A Guide for Developing Countries
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8269-1 -- by World Bank 2010 May
Price: $17.00
Innovation–in all its forms–and particularly technological innovation in recent years has become a crucial driver for spurring growth, enhancing competitiveness, and increasing social well being in all economies of the world. Innovation should be understood in a broad and diversified sense including not only the creation of new knowledge and technology and the adaptation of existing ones, but even more importantly, the diffusion and use of technologies, products, processes, and practices which are new in a given country context – a definition that is particularly relevant for low- and medium- income countries.
Innovation policy, by its very nature, is an inter- or multi-departmental policy, touching policy areas as complementary and different as education and training, skills development, science and technology, the business environment, ICT and other infrastructure (e.g. logistics). This guidebook therefore necessarily draws upon a large and diversified set of policy areas as sources of knowledge and competence in order to provide a holistic discussion of innovation policy. It offers a broad methodological framework into which concerned policy making communities can design, conceive and implement policy measures adapted to their context. The framework would provide some fundamental principles which can then be applied and customized for specific circumstances. In order to foster a coherent and systemic approach to the design of innovation policy, this book integrates the analysis and information from policy-related departments that usually tend to work in silos and who need to work together for having a common, relevant and efficient understanding of innovation policy. In light of a key issue in low and medium income countries is the resistance of innovation systems to significant improvements, this book also addresses the relations between innovation policy and institutions.
Business Regulation and Economic Performance
ISBN: 978-0-8213-7407-8 -- by World Bank 2010 January
Price: $18.00
"The Schumpeterian process of “creative destruction” is an essential ingredient of a dynamic economy. In many countries around the world, however, this process is weakened by pervasive regulation of product and factor markets. This book documents the regulatory obstacles faced by firms, particularly in developing countries, and assesses their implications for firm renewal and macroeconomic performance.
Combining a variety of methodological approaches -- analytical and empirical, micro and macroeconomic, single- and cross-country --, the book provides evidence that streamlining the regulatory framework would have a significant social pay-off, particularly in developing countries that are also burdened by weak governance. The book’s chapters trace out analytically and empirically the links between microeconomic policies and distortions, on the one hand, and aggregate performance in terms of productivity, growth and volatility, on the other.
The volume adds to a novel but increasingly influential literature that seeks to understand macroeconomic phenomena from a microeconomic perspective, and derive the relevant lessons for development policy. Such literature is still fairly scarce in the case of industrial countries, and virtually in its infancy for developing countries.
Endorsements:
"To the benefit of interest groups, most of the large costs associated with excessive business regulation remain hidden in the complexities of the ongoing process of restructuring. Business Regulation and Economic Performance does a great service to all of us by unearthing some of these costs with a convincing array of cross-sectional evidence. A must-read for policy makers, especially in heavily regulated regions such as Latin America."
- Ricardo Caballero, Chairman and Ford International Professor,
Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"Despite greater macroeconomic stability and increased openness to trade and investment, many developing countries have failed to thrive. This original study links microeconomic regulation to aggregate measures of growth, productivity, and volatility to explain the poor performance of emerging economies around the world, and especially in Latin America. The authors convincingly show that excessive regulation of business and labor has led to adverse macro performance. Stringent regulations perform a double punch. First, they prevent resources from moving to their most productive uses and economies from adjusting to external shocks. Second, they provide insidious incentives for rent seeking to the relevant authorities, especially when governance is weak. Business Regulation and Economic Performance is essential reading for policy makers seeking to improve growth and stability in developing countries."
- Simeon Djankov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bulgaria, and
former lead author of Doing Business, The World Bank "
Equity and Growth in a Globalizing World
ISBN: 978-0-8213-8180-9 -- by World Bank 2010 May
Price: $17.00
- What has been the evolution of poverty and equity during the recent globalizing decades?
- How have poor countries fared on the Millennium Development Goals?
- What role does wealth inequality play in the level and efficiency of investment and, hence, in economic growth?
- Is gender equity a smart pro-growth strategy as well as a pro-poor one?
- How is equality different from equality of opportunity, and should policy makers pursue one, the other, or both?
- In formulating distributional strategies, should the middle class be integrally considered, or should the focus be entirely on the poorest of the poor?
- What are the precise impacts of globalization on poverty and equity, and what are the policy implications of these impacts?
- Is the problem with globalization that a key element is missing—the globalization of labor employment?
- What is the role of international migration in the evolution of equity within and between nations?
This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge on the relationship between poverty, equity, and globalization. It considers a range of questions on poverty and equity within nations, and the policy frameworks that can best address distributional concerns as the basis for a growth strategy. It also examines the important issue of equity between nations, in particular the possible role of international migration in alleviating this inequity.
Written by prominent analysts in their fields, Equity and Growth in a Globalizing World seeks to create a better understanding of the interactions between globalization, growth, and different dimensions of equity and poverty, and to inform policy makers of possible policy levers to address central concerns in the debates in this area.
Cẩm nang đánh giá tác động: Các phương pháp định lượng và thực hành
Khandker, Shahidur R.; Koolwal, Gayatri B.; Samad, Hussain A.
Ngân hàng Thế giới, 2010
Giá tiền: 2 USD
Cẩm nang đánh giá tác động giới thiệu một cách thực tiễn và toàn diện các phương pháp mới nhất trong đánh giá các chương trình công ích, hướng đến đối tượng là các nhà nghiên cứu cũng như hoạch định chính sách. Cuốn sách liên kết những nghiên cứu toán kinh tế mới nhất về đánh giá tác động với kinh nghiệm thực tế của các nhà quản lý và người đánh giá chương trình cũng như những phương pháp khảo sát tác động phân bổ và cấu trúc của chương trình.
Các phần thảo luận và nghiên cứu điểm được trình bày ở từng chương, đúc rút kinh nghiệm thực tế của các nhà quản lý và người nghiên cứu chương trình trong quá trình triển khai các mặt hoạt động như chính sách về giáo dục, tài chính vi mô, y tế và hạ tầng. Đối với người nghiên cứu muốn học hỏi cách thức sử dụng những mô hình này bằng phần mềm thống kê, cuốn Cẩm nang còn cung cấp các bài tập Stata với tình huống đánh giá các chương trình tín dụng vi mô lớn ở Bănglađét, như chương trình của ngân hang Grameen.
Cuốn Cẩm nang cũng được sử dụng trong các khóa học về chính sách và kinh tế ở cấp cao, cũng như làm tài liệu bổ sung trong các khóa học kinh tế học phát triển cấp đại học. Cuốn Cẩm nang sẽ có ích cho sinh viên, nhà nghiên cứu và các cấp hoạch định chính sách.
Những giải pháp tiện lợi giải quyết thực tế phiền phức: Cách tiếp cận dựa vào hệ sinh thái để giải quyết vấn đề biến đổi khí hậu
Ngân hàng Thế giới, 2010
Giá tiền: 2 USD
Những giải pháp tiện lợi để giải quyết thực tế phiền phức đã trình bày luận cứ thuyết phục cho thấy bảo tồn tính đa dạng sinh học, bảo vệ các hệ sinh thái và khu/vùng cư trú tự nhiên có thể góp phần thực hiện hiệu quả các chiến lược giảm phát thải và thích ứng để giải quyết các vấn đề về biến đổi khí hậu.
“Thích ứng dựa vào hệ sinh thái là giải pháp dựa trên nguyên tắc win-win: nó đồng thời giải quyết thách thức của biến đổi khí hậu và bảo vệ đa dạng sinh học và những dịch vụ mà các hệ sinh thái cung cấp, là những yếu tố đặc biệt quan trọng đối với sự sinh tồn của loài người. Các cơ quan phát triển, các quốc gia và các Công ước về đa dạng sinh học và biến đổi khí hậu cần phải thừa nhận rằng bảo tồn và phục hồi các hệ sinh thái là cách tiếp cận có trách nhiệm với xã hội và có tính chi phí – hiệu quả cao để giải quyết đồng thời cả mục tiêu giảm phát thải và mục tiêu thích ứng với biến đổi khí hậu trong khi vẫn đảm bảo cung cấp cho cộng đồng những dịch vụ sinh thái quan trọng và thiết yếu đối với sự thịnh vượng của loài người.”
- Robert Watson
Cố vấn trưởng về khoa học, Cục Môi trường, Thực phẩm và Các vấn đề về Nông thôn, Vương quốc Anh và Giáo sư về khoa học môi trường, Giám đốc Ban chiến lược, Đại học East Anglia, Vương quốc Anh
“Chúng ta phải luôn nhớ rằng đảm bảo an toàn và phục hồi tính đa dạng sinh học và các hệ sinh thái là phương thức quan trọng và có tính chi phí – hiệu quả cao nhất để giảm nhẹ tác động của biến đổi khí hậu và giảm tính dễ bị tổn thương của chúng ta trước những tác động không thể tránh khỏi gây bởi biến đổi khí hậu. Cuốn sách này đã chỉ ra ví dụ rất thuyết phục chứng minh vai trò trung tâm của việc quản lý các hệ sinh thái để đổi phó với biến đổi khí hậu. Đây là cuốn sách cấn thiết đối với những người tham gia xây dựng chính sách, nghiên cứu và triển khai.”
- Richard Cowling – Giáo sư về thực vật học,
Trường đại học Thành phố Nelson Mandela, Port Elizabeth, Nam Phi
“Đồng thời với việc hiểu biết sâu rộng hơn về những tác động phổ biến của biến đổi khí hậu do chính con người tạo ra, chúng ta cáng nhận thức rõ hơn về tầm quan trọng hàng đầu của các mối liên hệ gắn kết chặt chẽ lẫn nhau giữa đa dạng sinh học, các dịch vụ sinh thái và giảm thiểu thích ứng với biến đổi khí hậu không thể tiên liệu được thì chúng ta cần phải tận dụng tất cả các nguồn tài nguyên sẵn có, bao gồm các nguồn tài nguyên mà thiên nhiên đem lại như tính đa dạng về gene, về loài và về hệ sinh thái. Gắn kết những thách thức hai mặt liên quan đến cả biến đổi khí hậu và mất tính đa dạng sinh học là cách tiếp cận không thể thiếu được nhằm đạt được các mục tiêu trong đã đề ra ở Hội nghị Rio.”
- Ahmed Djoghlaf – Giám đốc điều hành, Ban thư ký Công ước Đa dạng sinh học, Montreal, Ca-na-đa
Eco2 Cities: Ecological Cities as Economic Cities
by Hiroaki Suzaki , Arish Dastur , Sebastian Moffatt , Nanae Yabuki , Hinako Maruyama
Published May 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8046-X
Price: $ 15.00
This is a point of departure for cities that would like to reap the many benefits of ecological and economic sustainability. It provides an analytical and operational framework that offers strategic guidance to cities on sustainable and integrated urban development. At the same time case studies are used throughout the book to provide a matter-of-fact and ground-level perspective. This framework is flexible and easily customized to the context of each country or city. Based on the particular circumstances and the development priorities of a city – the application of the framework can contribute to the development of a unique action plan or roadmap in each case. This action plan can be triggered through catalyst projects.
To support this framework, it also begins to introduce some powerful and practical methods and tools that can further enable sustainable and integrated city planning and decision making. These include 1) operational and process methods that can strengthen collaborative decision making and cross-sector synergies in a city; 2) analytical methods ranging from diagnostics, simulation, design and scenario-generation; and 3) accounting and benchmarking methods which can help clarify, define and measure what it means to truly invest in sustainability and resilience.
As additional reference reading, it also features a series of case studies from best practice cities around the world, each demonstrating a very different dimension of the Eco2 approach. It also features a series of infrastructure sector notes (on spatial development, transport, energy, water and waste management), each of which explore sector specific issues as they pertain to urban development, and the many opportunities for coordination and integration across sectors.
Energy Efficient Cities: Assessment Tools and Benchmarking Practices
Edited by Ranjan K. Bose
Published April 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8104-0
Price: $ 14.00
Energy is intrinsic to urban settlements, embedded in the built environment, and directly used to power socio-economic activity, transport and communications, and enable the provision of municipal services. In response to the crucial role of urban energy efficiency for environmentally sustainable and inclusive development processes, ESMAP’s Energy Efficient Cities Initiative (EECI) was launched in October 2008 to facilitate the implementation of practical energy solutions that meet the development priorities of cities, and simultaneously build their climate resilience.
Chapter 1 begins with a contextual background on the inter-related associations between energy, socio-economic progress and urbanization. This edited volume compiles seven topical papers presented at the two EECI sponsored sessions during the World Bank’s fifth Urban Research Symposium, held at Marseille, France, June 28-30, 2009.
Chapters 2–8 comprise the papers presented at these sessions: i) tools and assessment approaches on energy efficient urban development, and ii) good practices that promote low carbon sectoral interventions. The analytical tools and policy insights offered in this volume extend from integrated assessments of new cities to the impacts of socio-economic, climate and demographic changes on existing cities. Sector-specific interventions are discussed in the context of tools to ‘green’ buildings in Australia, the transformation to efficient lighting systems in the Philippines, and Demand Responsive Transport Systems in France.
In addition, the documentation and benchmarking of a variety of low-carbon and carbon neutral good practices provides a range of practical insights on plausible energy efficient interventions in urban sectors. Thus the chapters in this publication comprise significant contributions to the ESMAP objective of mainstreaming and leveraging knowledge and initiatives on urban energy efficiency. Following from them, the last chapter 9 provides a contextual overview of ESMAP’s programmatic priorities to support energy efficient urban growth, to be effected through EECI.
Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance
by Mike Goldberg , Eric Palladini
Published April 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8228-4
Price: $ 14.00
Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance brings together the latest information on microfinance institutional sustainability from leading international experts and microfinance practitioners in four Latin American countries. Each chapter focuses one topic: risk management; good governance; interest rates; microinsurance; housing microfinance; microleasing; disaster preparedness; or new technologies.
The papers in the book are the result of a series of meetings financed by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and supported by the World Bank’s Global Development Learning Network. The Bank engaged practitioners in these four countries in response to a movement in some South American governments to impose policies and practices that would, in the long run, reduce the microfinance institutions’ (MFIs’) sustainability. The meetings were designed to strengthen MFIs by disseminating innovative approaches in the above eight areas, promoting a South-South dialogue, encouraging greater ties between these MFIs, and highlighting the Bank’s ability to mobilize international experts and local practitioners. The discussions took place between 2006 and 2008.
Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance covers risk management topics such as risk management systems, good governance, interest rates, and microinsurance. The authors present information on new product development and efficient delivery methodologies including housing microfinance, microleasing, disaster preparedness, and new technologies. A Web site (www.dgroups.org) provided a forum for further discussion and knowledge sharing.
Managing Risk and Creating Value with Microfinance is intended for MFI board members, managers, and staff, students and professors of microfinance, and government regulators and supervisors.
Politically Exposed Persons: A Guide on Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector
by Theodore S. Greenberg , Larissa Gray , Delphine Schantz , Carolin Gardner , Michael Latham
Published April 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8249-7
Price: $ 14.00
In recent years, revelations of grand corruption and the plunder of state assets have led to greater scrutiny of financial relationships with politically exposed persons (PEPs) - senior government officials, family members and close associates - and potential money laundering risks associated with these customers. Notwithstanding the efforts by many financial institutions and regulatory authorities to prevent corrupt PEPs from entering and using the financial system to launder the proceeds of corruption, there has been an overall failure in the effective implementation of risk-based systems to detect corruption proceeds. Politically Exposed Persons: A Guide to Strengthening Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector is designed to help banks and regulatory authorities address the risks posed by PEPs and prevent corrupt PEPs from abusing domestic and international financial systems to launder the proceeds of corruption. The book provides recommendations and good practices aimed at improving compliance with international standards and increasing supervisory effectiveness.
Implementation of an effective PEP regime is a critical component of the prevention and detection of transfers of proceeds of crime and, therefore, ultimately in the process of recovering these proceeds of corruption. The United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Financial Action Task Force Forty Recommendations on Money Laundering require countries to ensure that financial institutions implement systems to identify and verify PEP customers, enhance due diligence procedures at account opening, and provide ongoing monitoring of transactions.
Politically Exposed Persons: A Guide to Strengthening Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector will be an important tool for individuals, governments, financial and private sector companies, and international organizations involved in developing and implementing standards aimed at fighting corruption and money laundering, and trying to recover stolen assets and the proceeds of corruption.
Economic Opportunities for Women in the East Asia and Pacific Region
by Amanda Ellis , Daniel Kirkwood , Dhruv Malhotra
Published May 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8300-0
Price: $ 13.00
The East Asia and Pacific region has made great progress, relative to other regions, with regard to both economic development and, specifically, economic opportunities for women. However, aspiring female entrepreneurs continue to face unequal barriers to starting, operating, and growing their businesses. Not only does this hurt business women in the region, but it also ultimately hurts poverty reduction and economic growth.
'Economic Opportunities for Women in the East Asia and the Pacific Region' brings together data and available evidence on the constraints that female entrepreneurs in the region face with regard to: access to assets, business regulations and governance issues, and available avenues for expanding businesses and trading with larger markets. The authors present recommendations at the end of each chapter.
This book will be of interest to policy makers, donors, nongovernmental organizations, and researchers looking to further examine the constraints that are holding back female entrepreneurs in East Asia and the Pacific.
Analyzing the Effects of Policy Reforms on the Poor: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of World Bank Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
Published May 2010 by World Bank ISBN: 0-8213-8293-4
Price: $ 11.00
This IEG evaluation, requested by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, represents the first independent evaluation of the PSIA experience.
The evaluation finds that:
- The PSIA approach has appropriately emphasized the importance of assessing the distributional impact of policy actions, understanding institutional and political constraints to development, and building domestic ownership for reforms
- PSIAs have not always explicitly stated their operational objectives (i.e., informing country policies, informing Bank operations, and/or contributing to country capacity)
- PSIAs have had limited ownership by Bank staff and managers and have often not been effectively integrated into country assistance programs
- Quality assurance and M&E of the overall effectiveness of PSIAs have been weak
The evaluation recommends that the World Bank:
- Ensure that Bank staff understand what the PSIA approach is and when to use it
- Clarify the operational objectives of each PSIA and tailor the approach and timeline to those objectives
- Improve integration of the PSIA into the Bank’s country assistance program by requiring that all earmarked funding for PSIAs be matched by a substantial contribution from the country unit budgets
- Strengthen PSIA effectiveness through enhanced quality assurance
A field guide to the large mammals of Vietnam
Parr, John W.K.; Hoang, Xuan Thuy; Illustrated by Kamol Komolphalin and Mongkol Wongkalasin
Thong Tan Publishing House, 2008
Price: 25 USD
The book “A field guide to the large mammals of Vietnam” presented here is a joint effort between PanNature and Dr John Parr. The contents of this field guide have been based upon available literature and records from mammalian research on mammals in Vietnam and neighboring countries. The species plates in this publication are illustrated by two outstanding wildlife artists in Southeast Asia, Kamol Komolphalin and Mongkol Wongkalasin.
“I strongly believe this Field Guide will be an excellent resource for all readers, not only for those working in nature conservation but for scientists, students and nature enthusiastists. It is my great pleasure to introduce this Field Guide to all of you and to offer my thanks and congratulations to all those involved in its preparation.” -- Professor Vo Quy, Center for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies (CRES), Hanoi National University.
Hướng dẫn nhận dạng các loài thú ở Việt Nam
Parr, John W.K.; Hoàng, Xuân Thủy; Illustrated by Kamol Komolphalin and Mongkol Wongkalasin.
Nhà xuất bản Thông tấn, 2008
Giá tiền: 9 USD
Để củng cố và cập nhật tài liệu nhận dạng các loài thú ở Việt Nam, tiến sĩ John Parr và Trung tâm Con người và Thiên nhiên (PanNature) đã hợp tác tiến hành biên soạn và phát hành cuốn “Hướng dẫn nhận dạng các loài thú ở Việt Nam”. Tài liệu này được biên soạn dựa trên các thành tựu nghiên cứu và các tài liệu sẵn có về thú ở Việt Nam và các nước trong khu vực từ trước đến nay. Đặc biệt, cuốn sổ tay được hai họa sĩ “thiên nhiên” nổi tiếng của Thái Lan là Kamol Komolphalin và Mongkol Wongkalasin vẽ minh họa.
“Tôi tin rằng cuốn sách này sẽ rất bổ ích cho độc giả, không những cho các cán bộ có liên quan đến công tác bảo tồn thiên nhiên, mà cả cac nhà khoa học, các sinh viên và những người yêu thích thiên nhiên. Rất vui mừng được giới thiệu cuốn sách với các bạn”. -- Giáo sư Võ Quý, Trung tâm Nghiên cứu Tài nguyên và Môi trường, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội.
Making Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Work: A Capacity Development Tool Kit
by Marelize Goergens , Jody Zall Kusek
English -- Published March 2010 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-8186-5
Price: $ 18.00
What happens after your program's strategy has been designed? How do you now wether you've been successful in implementing the strategies you planned? After more than a decade of development investments in monitoring and evaluation few countries are able to regularly report on how effective their policies and programs are in achieving the results they desire. It is not through lack of good Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) design, nor political mandates to support the effort, but from a lack of sustained management and delivery of effective M&E programs within established organizations. This title will not only help you build functional M&E systems, but also provide you with the tools and concepts for helping others build their systems.
In Trinidad, we used the 12-component model as a diagnostic framework to assess capacity building needs to improve our national health monitoring and evaluation system. We evaluated our own system against each of the 12 components to determine where we are today, and where we need to be to better be able to monitor and manage HIV/AIDS and other health issues in our country. We appreciate this simple, yet comprehensive model and plan to continue to use it in our M&E capacity building plans.
-Dr. Violet Duke , Government Official, Ministry of Health, Trinidad and Tobago
The training I undertook on the 12 components has come in very useful. I am developing a course on Results-based M&E in Ireland, and am also using the framework to develop M&E plans and frameworks for a number of organizations, including Barnardos, UCC, and the Ministry of Resources and Rural Development in Malta and the Hope Foundation in Calcutta. This is the most practical program I have ever been exposed to on monitoring and evaluation and I intend to incorporate its principles in my work going forward.
-Niamh Kenny, M&E Consultant, EXODEA Europe Consulting, Cork, Ireland
On its way toward development, it is imperative for Turkey to pull different systems together in a logical way: to make systems talk to each other. The 12 components provided different public sectors-from transport to agriculture, health to education with a way of commonly communicating about their M&E systems, understand linkages, and even plan joint activities. It enables someone who wants to make a career out of M&E to learn about one sectors 12-component M&E system and to apply this learning in another sector. The 12 components made me see how the pieces of our M&E system fit together.
-Mehmet Uzunkaya, Planning Specialist, Prime Ministry of Turkey, State Planning Organization
Global Economic Prospects 2010: Crisis, Finance, and Growth
by World Bank
English -- Published February 2010 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-8226-8
Price: $ 15.00
This report explores both the short- and medium-term impacts of the financial crisis on developing countries. It presents evidence that the financial boom played a critical role in the growth boom experienced by developing countries between 2003 and 2007, but that tighter conditions in the future are expected to result in weaker growth over the next 5 to 15 years.
Although global growth has resumed, the recovery is fragile, and unless business and consumer demand strengthen, the world economy could slow down again.
Even if, as appears likely, a double-dip recession is avoided, the recovery is expected to be slow. High unemployment and widespread restructuring will continue to characterize the global economy for the next several years. Already, the crisis has provoked large-scale human suffering. Some 64 million more people around the world are expected to be living on less than a $1.25 per day by the end of 2010, and between 30,000 and 50,000 more infants may have died of malnutrition in 2009 in Sub-Saharan Africa, than would have been the case if the crisis had not occurred.
Over the medium term, economic growth is expected to recover. But increased risk aversion, a necessary and desirable tightening of financial regulations in high-income countries, and measures to reduce the exposure of developing economies to external shocks are likely to make finance scarcer and more costly than it was during the boom period.
In the longer term, however, developing countries can more than offset the implications of more expensive international finance by reducing the cost of capital channeled through their domestic financial markets.
Gender and Governance in Rural Services
World Bank , International Food Policy Research Institute -- Published by the World Bank, 2010 -- ISBN 978-0-8213-7658-4
Price: $14.00
The book “Gender and Governance in Rural Services: Insights from India, Ghana and Ethiopia” provides policy-relevant knowledge on strategies to improve agricultural and rural service delivery with a focus on providing more equitable access to these services, especially for women. It focuses India, Ethiopia, and Ghana, and focuses on two public services: agricultural extension, as an example of an agricultural service, and on drinking water, as an example of rural service that is not directly related to agriculture but is of high relevance for rural women. It provides empirical microlevel evidence on how different accountability mechanisms for agricultural advisory services and drinking water provision work in practice, and analyzes factors that influence the suitability of different governance reform strategies that aim at making service provision more gender responsive. It presents major findings from the quantitative and qualitative research conducted under the project in the three countries, which are analyzed in a qualitative way to identify major patterns of accountability routes in agricultural and rural service provision and to assess their gender dimension.
This book is intended for use by a wide audience interested in agricultural and rural service provision, including researchers, members of the public administration, policy makers, and staff from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international development agencies who are involved in the design and management of reform efforts, projects, and programs dealing with rural service provision. –
"A thorough, well researched, and carefully structured study that analyzes the nature of womenA?s experience of rural public services A? and the findings are fascinating. The introductory framing of the research problem and questions is extremely well-written and compellingly sets out the reasons why the issue of womenA?s access to agricultural extension services and water are such major developmental concerns. Gender and Governance in Rural Services is rich with data and has strong recommendations that will go a long way in forming our thinking on technical assistance and policy advice in governance of service delivery." -Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor, Governance, Peace and Security, UNIFEM
"Gender and Governance in Rural Services contains an impressive amount of important information regarding extension services and will provide useful knowledge in the design of projects and approaches to address the needs of women farmers." -Jeannette Gurung, Director, Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources (WOCAN)
"Gender and Governance in Rural Services is well researched and informative. It is a good action-research report that contains a lot of information and provides practical policy inputs to improve access to economic services in rural areas, particularly for women." -Meheret Ayenew, Professor, Faculty of Business and Economics, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
"I want to convey my deep appreciation to the authors of this report for their excellent data collection, covering a large section of relevant stakeholders, analytical case studies, and a thorough analysis of the status of service delivery in the countries surveyed, especially for women." -Dr. S. S. Meenakshisundaram, Visiting Professor, Rural Development and Decentralized Governance, National Institute of Advanced Studies, India.
Safer Homes, Stronger Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing After Natural Disasters
by Abhas K. Jha , with Jennifer E. Duyne Barenstein , Priscilla M. Phelps , Daniel Pittet , Stephen Sena -- Pulished by World Bank, 2010 -- ISBN 978-0-8213-8045-1
Price: $13.00
Best practices in post-disaster housing and community reconstruction are constantly evolving. Technology is changing how reconstruction is done, as is the frequency and severity of the disasters themselves. Reconstruction projects are increasingly focused on the need to reduce future risks by ensuring that what is rebuilt is safer and more disaster-resilient than what was there before. The expanding role of communities in managing community reconstruction, with financial and technical assistance from government, is another way reconstruction is changing.
Safer Homes, Stronger Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing after Natural Disasters provides advice on how to ensure that reconstruction empowers communities to rebuild, and gives them the support they need to build back in a way that the risk of future disasters is greatly reduced. Written for policy makers and project managers engaged in major housing and community reconstruction programs, the handbook provides guidance on the roles and responsibilities of various actors, and explains what the scope of a reconstruction policy should be and how decisions in each aspect of reconstruction contribute to larger reconstruction goals. For project managers who will be charged with implementing reconstruction policy, the handbook provides guidance on the options that should be considered in each aspect of reconstruction, and examples of where they have been used in other reconstruction projects.
It includes more than one hundred short case studies collected from global experts with recent experience in housing reconstruction, that illustrate how the policies and practical ideas have been used on the ground. It also includes links to extensive technical information on the topics covered by the handbook.
Vietnam Development Report 2010: Modern institutions
World Bank in Vietnam -- 2009
Price: $ 7.00
Institutions are not buildings or organizations, they are the rules by which citizens, firms, and the state interact. The photographs that grace the cover of this Vietnam Development Report (VDR) 2010 epitomize modern institutions. The settings may not appear modern, but the activities they represent are cutting edge, and are transforming Vietnam. Local level planning with the active engagement of citizens. Monitoring of public works by citizens groups. Efficient administrative services with the citizen as the client. Legal advice being provided to citizens. Professional media coverage of important events. These are the roots which feed the growth of a modern, open, and high-performing society. This VDR focuses on devolution and accountability, two aspects of modern institutions that are the essence of Vietnam's experience in the past two decades. At the risk of over-simplifying, this VDR distinguishes between two types of accountability, upward accountability focusing on compliance with rules, dictates, and instructions coming from within the hierarchy, and downward accountability focusing on the results that the person or body is entrusted to deliver. A person or body concerned with upward accountability emphasizes adherence to rules. Those concerned with downward accountability serve their clients. Both forms of accountability are needed. Vietnam's devolution has shown many positive results. Competition among the provinces is driving them to improve their business environments. Eased entry for non-state providers of services and greater autonomy for the management of state facilities are supporting innovation and increasing the variety of services.
Báo cáo phát triển Việt Nam 2010: Các thể chế hiện đại
Ngân hàng Thế giới tại Việt Nam – 2009
Price: $2.00
Thể chế không phải là một công trình hay tổ chức, thể chế là các qui định theo đó các cá nhân, công ty và nhà nước tác động lẫn nhau. Các bức ảnh minh họa trên bìa của Báo cáo Phát triển Việt Nam này là sự thu nhỏ các thể chế hiện đại. Sự sắp đặt có thể chưa hiện đại, nhưng các hoạt động này mang tính bản lề và cho thấy Việt Nam đang chuyển đổi. Lập kế hoạch ở cấp địa phương với sự tham gia của người dân. Các nhóm dân cư giám sát các công trình công cộng. Dịch vụ hành chính hiệu quả với người dân là khách hàng. Tư vấn pháp lý cho người dân. Báo chí chuyên nghiệp đưa tin các sự kiện quan trọng. Tất cả đều là gốc rễ để có một xã hội hiện đại, cởi mở và hoạt động hiệu quả cao. -- Báo cáo Phát triển Việt Nam này tập trung vào việc phân cấp trao quyền và trách nhiệm giải trình, hai khía cạnh của thể chế hiện đại và là những khía cạnh đổi mới quan trọng nhất của Việt Nam trong hai thập kỷ vừa qua. Nói một cách khái quát, Báo cáo Phát triển Việt Nam này phân biệt hai hình thức trách nhiệm giải trình là: trách nhiệm giải trình hướng lên trên tập trung vào việc tuân thủ các quy tắc, các chỉ thị và chỉ đạo đến từ bộ máy nhà nước, và trách nhiệm giải trình hướng xuống dưới tập trung vào các kết quả mà một cá nhân hay một cơ quan có nhiệm vụ thực hiện. Một cá nhân hay cơ quan với trách nhiệm giải trình hướng lên trên sẽ quan tâm nhiều đến việc tuân thủ các quy định. Còn một cá nhân hay cơ quan với trách nhiệm giải trình hướng xuống dưới sẽ quan tâm nhiều hơn đến việc phục vụ khách hàng. Cả hai hình thức trách nhiệm giải trình này đều quan trọng và cần thiết. -- Quá trình phân cấp và trao quyền của Việt Nam đã cho thấy nhiều kết quả tích cực. Cạnh tranh giữa các tỉnh đang thúc đẩy họ cải thiện môi trường kinh doanh của mình. Việc các nhà cung cấp dịch vụ ngoài quốc doanh tham gia dễ dàng hơn và các cơ sở của nhà nước có nhiều quyền tự chủ hơn trong quản lý đang hỗ trợ cho sự sáng tạo cũng như đa dạng hóa các loại hình dịch vụ.
Two Dragon Heads: Contrasting Development Paths for Beijing and Shanghai
by Shahid Yusuf , Kaoru Nabeshima
English Paperback -- Published January 2010 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-8048-6
Price: $ 10.00
Sources of economic growth are well understood. Successfully translating that knowledge into sustained high rates of growth is harder to achieve. Relatively few countries have done so. Of those, China—with an unmatched average GDP growth rate of 10 percent between 1978 and 2008—stands out.
At the crux of China’s success lie two cities: Beijing, the powerful hinge of the Bohai region, and Shanghai, the economic axis of the thriving Yangtze River Delta. The performance of these two megacities, along with a handful of other urban regions, will determine China’s economic fortunes in the decades to come. Can their momentum be sustained? Can the growth rates of the past be continued into the future?
Two Dragon Heads explores the contrasting development options available to Beijing and Shanghai, and it proposes strategies for each city based on the current and acquired capabilities of each, the experiences of other world cities, the emerging demand in the national market, and likely trends in global trade. Its fi ndings, which are supported by a wealth of research, will be of particular interest to policy makers, urban planners, business people, and researchers.
This is a fascinating book about the future development paths of the 'twin capitals' of China: the political capital of Beijing and the commercial capital of Shanghai. The authors weave economic growth, urban development, and technological innovation into a seamlessly coherent and cogent analysis. The book not only offers important insights and lessons for the development of other megacities in China, but also has long-term implications for many developing countries undergoing similar transitions.
-LAN XUE, Professor and Dean, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University
Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform
Edited by Pippa Norris
English Paperback -- Published November 2009 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-8200-4
Price: $ 15.00
What are the ideal roles the mass media should play as an institution to strengthen democratic governance and thus bolster human development? Under what conditions do media systems succeed or fail to meet these objectives? And what strategic reforms would close the gap between the democratic promise and performance of media systems?
Working within the notion of the democratic public sphere, Public Sentinel: News Media and Governance Reform emphasizes the institutional or collective roles of the news media as watchdogs over the powerful, as agenda setters calling attention to social needs in natural and human-caused disasters and humanitarian crises, and as gatekeepers incorporating a diverse and balanced range of political perspectives and social actors. Each is vital to making democratic governance work in an effective, transparent, inclusive, and accountable manner. The capacity of media systems—and thus individual reporters embedded within those institutions—to fulfill these roles is constrained by the broader context of the journalistic profession, the market, and ultimately the state.
Successive chapters apply these arguments to countries and regions worldwide. This study brought together a wide range of international experts under the auspices of the Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) at the World Bank and the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University.
The book is designed for policy makers and media professionals working within the international development community, national governments, and grassroots organizations, and for journalists, democratic activists, and scholars engaged in understanding mass communications, democratic governance, and development.
The Social Dimensions of Climate Change: Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World
Edited by Robin Mearns , Andrew Norton
English -- Published December 2009 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-7887-2
Price: $ 13.00
Climate change is arguably the most profound challenge facing the international community in the 21st century. It is as much a challenge for poverty reduction, growth and development as it is a global environmental issue. It could undermine or reverse progress in reducing poverty and attaining the Millenium Development Goals, thereby unraveling many of the development gains of recent decades. It already threatens the livelihoods, health and well-being of millions of people worldwide, and of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in particular. And it has potentially far-reaching implications for international relations and for personal, national and regional security.
While significant uncertainties still remain, tremendous strides have been made over recent years in improving scientific understanding of the human processes driving global climate change and the likely impacts on world ecosystems. What is much less well understood is how these dynamics in the physical environment will interact with those of socio-economic systems, what the consequences will be for society, and how best to address them.
In order to focus attention on these previously neglected and poorly understood social dimensions of climate change, the World Bank convened an international workshop in March, 2008, with the participation of community activists, former heads of state, leaders of Indigenous Peoples, representatives of non-governmental organizations, international researchers, and staff of the World Bank and other international development agencies. This edited volume brings together revised versions of many of the papers presented during that workshop, as an initial step in taking stock of existing knowledge on the social dimensions of climate change. Several new papers were also commissioned for this volume.
Convenient Solutions for an Inconvenient Truth: Ecosystem-based Approaches to Climate Change
by World Bank
English -- Published November 2009 by World Bank -- ISBN: 0-8213-8126-1
Price: $ 11.00
Global warming and changes in climate will have severe and lasting impacts on national efforts to alleviate poverty and promote sustainable development. Some of the world’s poorest countries and communities are the most vulnerable and are already suffering the consequences. Yet often these countries are rich in natural capital, ecosystems, and biodiversity that can contribute to solutions as they can to climate change. Biodiversity is the foundation and mainstay of agriculture, forests, and fisheries.
Biological resources provide the raw materials for livelihoods, agriculture, medicines, trade, tourism, and industry. Forests, grasslands, freshwater, and marine and other natural ecosystems provide a range of services, often not recognized in national economic accounts but vital to human welfare: regulating water flows and water quality, flood control, pollination, decontamination, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, and nutrient and hydrological cycling.
Current efforts to address climate change focus mainly on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly through cleaner energy strategies, and on attempting to reduce vulnerability of the communities at risk by improving infrastructure to meet new energy and water needs. This book sets out a compelling argument for including ecosystem-based approaches to mitigation and adaptation as a third essential pillar in national strategies to address climate change. Such ecosystem-based strategies can offer cost-effective, proven and sustainable solutions contributing to, and complementing, other national and regional adaptation strategies.
"Ecosystem-based adaptation is a win-win situation: it simultaneously addresses the challenge of climate change and protects biodiversity and ecosystem services, which are essential for human well-being. Development agencies, countries, and the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change need to recognize that conserving and restoring ecosystems is a cost-effective and socially responsible approach to both mitigating and adapting to cli
