The Iraqi Public Distribution System is the largest universal, in-kind subsidy system in the world. In 2012, the Public Distribution System transfers accounted for as much as 30 percent of incomes of the poorest 10 percent of the Iraqi population and provided 70 percent of the calories of the poorest 40 percent.
... See More + In effect, the Public Distribution System remains the only safety net program that covers all the poor and vulnerable in the country. Yet, it is a very inefficient and expensive means to deliver transfers to the poor and creates distortions in the economy as well as an unsustainable fiscal burden. The fiscal crisis since mid-2014 has put reform of the Public Distribution System back on the agenda. This paper employs a mixed demand approach to analyze the consumption patterns of Iraqi households and quantify the welfare impact of a potential reform of the Public Distribution System in urban areas. The results show that household consumption of Public Distribution System items is relatively inelastic to changes in price. Consumption is more inelastic for the poorest quintiles and, for much of the population, these goods are not inferior, but rather normal goods. Cross-sectional comparisons suggest that with improvements in welfare levels, and with well-functioning markets, some segments of the population are substituting away from the Public Distribution System and increasing their consumption of market substitutes. The removal of all subsidies will require compensating poor households by 74.4 percent of their expenditures compared with nearly 40 percent for the richest households in urban areas.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8106 JUN 19, 2017
This report presents an overview of current trends in tax policy, tax administration, and international taxation and provides a broad landscape of practical examples drawn from World Bank operations across global practices over the past several decades.
... See More + As a starting point for a more comprehensive research agenda, it is intended to play two roles: to provide guidance to World Bank staff working on related tax issues and to trigger a wider external dialogue through a forthcoming flagship report addressing strategic aspects of taxation in greater depth. This report analyzes the status of government revenues and identifies policy and administrative steps that may help to mobilize domestic resources in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a view to helping to frame the strategic position of the World Bank at this particular time. The suggestions are meant to support the role of the Bank in the context of the Addis tax initiative and the sustainable development goals 2030 as well as to facilitate the collection of tax and nontax revenue in order to provide LMICs with a stable and predictable fiscal environment.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The development objective of the Enhancing Shared Prosperity through Equitable Services Project for Ethiopia is to improve equitable access to basic services and strengthen accountability systems at the decentralized level.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: (1) strengthen skill and knowledge of experts and the leadership; enhance capacity of woreda by hiring more professionals; consider incentives (remuneration, housing, professional development) to abate high staff turnover; (2) development of laws and regulation to preserve natural habitats and cultural resources; (3) awareness creation should refocus on the public and leadership and include all sectors; (4) strengthen grievance redress mechanism (GRM) to extend its coverage into issues related to land; (5) strengthen awareness on the benefit of women’s involvement in development; and (6) create opportunities for ethnic groups to communicate and reduce tensions.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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The objective of the Social Investment and Local Development Project for Armenia is to improve the quality and use of and access to community and intercommunity infrastructure.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: the local construction and environment inspectorates and communities have been notified of upcoming activities; the public has been notified of the works through appropriate notification in the media and/or at publicly accessible sites (including the site of the works); waste collection and disposal pathways and sites will be identified for all major waste types expected from demolition and construction activities; mineral construction and demolition wastes will be separated from general refuse, organic, liquid and chemical wastes by on-site sorting and stored in appropriate containers; the approach to handling sanitary wastes and wastewater from building sites must be approved by the local authorities; before being discharged into receiving waters, effluents from individual wastewater systems must be treated in order to meet the minimal quality criteria set out by national guidelines on effluent quality and wastewater treatment; monitoring of new wastewater systems (before/after) will be carried out; construction vehicles and machinery will be washed only in designated areas where runoff will not pollute natural surface water bodies; and if the building is a designated historic structure, very close to such a structure, or located in a designated historic district, notification shall be made and approvals/permits be obtained from local authorities and all construction activities planned and carried out in line with local and national legislation.
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This paper presents findings from a large scale multi-arm randomized control trial implemented in 2014-2015 across 236 poor settlements across Bulgaria with the aim to improve full-day kindergarten participation of poor children, especially Roma and Turkish.
... See More + It finds that removing the costs of kindergarten reduced the share of children aged 3-6 not registered in kindergarten by half – while also significantly increasing attendance by about 20 percent. Additional financial incentives of either BGN7 or BGN20 monthly conditional on attendance had no clear impact on registration and attendance. Organizing community meetings to provide information about the importance of kindergarten also did not impact participation in kindergarten, although it slightly improved parental perceptions of the benefit of kindergarten and raised parental aspirations for their children – especially girls. Overall, removing kindergarten costs was thus the most cost-effective strategy to increase kindergarten participation. However, the effect on short-term child development – emergent literacy, numeracy, motor and socio-emotional skills – is mixed: slightly positive for Bulgarian children, while negative for Roma and Turkish children. These results suggest that all children may not immediately benefit from kindergarten, especially minority children who may need additional support to successfully transition to, and benefit from, kindergarten.
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Ratings for the Emergency Urban Infrastructure Rehabilitation Maintenance Project for Central African Republic were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, risk to development outcome was substantial, Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately satisfactory.
... See More + Some lessons learned included: Flexible design and adaptive implementation in a fragile and conflict-affected environment can lead to satisfactory outcomes. The flexible reallocation of resources to feasible and impactful investments was made possible due to the multi-sector nature of the project and targeting of several neighborhoods within the same city, without increasing the level of project complexity inordinately. Using a performing contract management agency can contribute to mitigating capacity constraints and achieve results. This should be coupled with flexibility on the Bank’s side to accommodate the needs arising from an evolving context and attention to rebuilding capacity following crisis situations; Incremental approaches to improving access to services and designing services to be financially sustainable and affordable, building on preexisting operational organization, can enhance the prospects of sustainability; Intervening in SWM in a post-conflict situation can deliver immediate returns but is also a high risk proposition given the complex nature of sector organization and risks of popular discontent if the service breaks down. Simple tools and activities can be used to improve M&E in a fragile and conflict-affected environment. As shown by the light beneficiary satisfaction and results survey carried out after the closing of the project (a month of work by an individual consultant), useful information can be generated to verify or correct indicator values and to inform on the beneficiaries’ perception of project outputs. Designing outreach and communication activities in a conflict or post-conflict environment marked by low levels of social capital is an important element in assuring ownership by stakeholders.
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Implementation Completion and Results Report ICR3981 JUN 01, 2017
Data deficiencies contribute to state fragility and exacerbate fragile states’ already limited capacity to provide basic services, public security and rule of law.
... See More + The lack of robust, good quality data can also have a disabling effect on government efforts to manage political conflict, and indeed can worsen conflict, since violent settings pose substantial challenges to knowledge generation, capture and application. In short, in fragile contexts the need for reliable evidence at all levels is perhaps greater than anywhere else. The development of sustainable and professional ‘data-literate’ stakeholders who are able to produce and increase the quality and accessibility of official statistics can contribute to improved development outcomes. Good quality and reliable statistics are also required to track the progress of development policies through the monitoring of performance indicators and targets and to ensure that public resources are achieving results. While data alone cannot have a transformative effect without the right contextual incentives it is an essential and necessary prerequisite for greater accountability and more efficient decision-making. This volume explores methods and insights for data collection and use in fragile contexts, with a focus on Sudan. It begins by posing several questions on the political economy of data, and then sets out a framework for assessing the validity, reliability, and potential impact of data on decision-making in a fragile country. It also sets out insights on challenges associated with fragile states, derived from recent data collected in Sudan: the 2014/2015 DFID Sudan household survey. This includes data-driven analysis of topics including female genital mutilation, public service delivery, and the interplay of governance, service quality, and state legitimacy.
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This paper examines the effect of energy costs on industry export competitiveness. Most studies in the literature use direct energy consumption (energy consumption at the final stage of production) and domestic energy prices to compute energy costs faced by domestic industries.
... See More + Using multi-country input-output information, this study measures the effect of aggregate energy costs on export performance, where aggregate energy costs include not only direct energy costs, but also indirect energy costs passed on through the upstream supply chain. This study develops a theoretical trade model that incorporates tradable intermediate goods to inform its empirical strategy. It then estimates a reduced-form model using a panel data for 10 manufacturing sectors in 43 countries from 1991 to 2012. The analysis finds that ignoring input-output relationships can lead to significant over- or underestimates of the effect of energy price shocks on exports, depending on intermediate factor intensities and trade relationships. Using estimated trade elasticities, the study simulates the economic consequences of energy cross-subsidies and carbon taxes. The results show that energy cross-subsidies that raise energy tariffs on industry to support lower rates for households and farmers in India could reduce the country's net manufacturing exports by $6.1 billion a year. Similarly, a carbon tax that unilaterally increases energy prices by 10 percent in the European Union could reduce European Union-wide net manufacturing exports by 1.9 percent annually.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8076 MAY 30, 2017
Chan,H. Ron; Manderson,Edward John Matlock; Zhang,FanDisclosed
The objective of the Additional Financing for the Secondary Education Improvement Project is to increase access to senior secondary education in underserved districts and improve quality in low-performing senior high schools in Ghana.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: Vegetation will be done only when construction is ready to begin; Regular maintenance of machinery and equipment. Restriction of construction activity to daylight hours; Restriction of delivery of materiel to site to off-peak traffic hours. Use of traffic wardens to coordinate traffic flow, Drivers re-trained to respect traffic regulations and other road users; Zero-tolerance policy towards child labor and child sexual exploitation. HIV/AIDS awareness sessions will be organized for construction workers; Equipment washout will be discharged away from water courses; mobile or temporary KVIP toilets will be provided for construction workers; and waste skips will be provided for waste collection, to be evacuated by DA waste management facilities periodically.
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