Rural Development Strategy

Rural Development Strategy PDF

Author: Csaba Csáki

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13: 9780821348093

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With the larger role that the agricultural sector plays in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian (ECA) region, emphasis must be placed on the sector's sustained growth and prosperity. The Bank strategy for rural development in the ECA region during the early phase of transition emphasized the reform of agricultural policies and assistance in privatizing, restructuring, and rebuilding agriculture and agro-industrial complexes. In retrospect, it can be seen that the ECA countries concerned made the right choice when they set their objective to transform their socialized agriculture into a private-ownership and market-based system. Given the developments of the past decade, it is clear, however, that the initial expectations for the outcomes of such reforms were overly optimistic. The transition process in agriculture is far more complex than originally envisaged by both the countries themselves and the international community, including the Bank. Increased social problems and alarming growth of poverty have added a new, unexpected, dimension to the transition process. As the analysis indicates, the region's rural economy is still struggling to adjust to new economic realities, and this will require further refinement and adjustment of the Bank's approach as well. This volume, based on an overview of recent regional developments, summarizes the revised World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region.

Agricultural Trade and Rural Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Recent Developments and Prospects

Agricultural Trade and Rural Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Recent Developments and Prospects PDF

Author: A. Dean DeRosa

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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February 1997 More robust, dynamic growth could significantly boost sustainable economic growth and rural development in countries in the Middle East and North Africa with a comparative advantage in agriculture. But high levels of protection in many of those countries contribute to overvalued exchange rates and a significant bias against agriculture. The proposed solution: trade liberalization, especially open regionalism. Despite petroleum's prominence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), agriculture remains important to most of the region's economies. And more robust and more dynamic agricultural growth could significantly boost sustainable economic growth and rural development in those countries. An appropriate avenue for improving agricultural growth is to expand agricultural exports in MENA countries with appreciable-to-large agricultural sectors and comparative advantage in cereal grains, agricultural raw materials, fruits and vegetables, and many categories of livestock and dairy products. But high levels of protection in many MENA countries, especially for manufactures and some food products, contribute to overvalued exchange rates and a significant bias against agriculture. Trade liberalization and other economic reforms to promote agriculture and improve rural welfare in MENA might be pursued through regional economic cooperation, but should be guided as much as possible by the principles of open regionalism - under which trade concessions negotiated between regional trading partners would be extended unconditionally to all trading partners, including trading partners outside the region. This paper - a product of the International Trade Division, International Economics Department - was presented to the Fourth Annual World Bank Conference on Environmentally Sustainable Development, Rural Well-Being: From Vision to Action, September 25-27, 1996, Washington, DC.

The Middle Eastern Village

The Middle Eastern Village PDF

Author: Richard Lawless

Publisher:

Published: 2016-11

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9781138820227

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Rapid and uneven change to the fabric of rural life is widespread in modern Middle Eastern countries. Modernisation, usually in the Western model, has often brought major improvements in agricultural technology, education and public health but has also had the effect of weakening the traditional rural economy of many villages and encouraging their growing dependence on external sources of income, most notably oil remittances. This collection of research on the Middle Eastern village looks at the impact on rural life and environment of such factors as the mass exodus of labour to urban centres, emigration, immigration, environmental change and the changing role of women in rural communities - particularly the wives of migrant workers who have to fill a new role in the family structure. State-sponsored agrarian policies have weakened the power of traditional landed interests and together with labour migration have provoked new tension and inequalities in rural society. The book makes clear that the pattern of change has been highly uneven and has served to heterogenise the countryside. As the oil states enter a period of recession and the likelihood of substantial return migration increases, rural communities will need to make further major adjustments and the book examines the tensions this new development is likely to produce. First published in 1987.

The Middle Eastern Village (RLE Economy of Middle East)

The Middle Eastern Village (RLE Economy of Middle East) PDF

Author: Richard Lawless

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-11

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781138811836

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Rapid and uneven change to the fabric of rural life is widespread in modern Middle Eastern countries. Modernisation, usually in the Western model, has often brought major improvements in agricultural technology, education and public health but has also had the effect of weakening the traditional rural economy of many villages and encouraging their growing dependence on external sources of income, most notably oil remittances. This collection of research on the Middle Eastern village looks at the impact on rural life and environment of such factors as the mass exodus of labour to urban centres, emigration, immigration, environmental change and the changing role of women in rural communities - particularly the wives of migrant workers who have to fill a new role in the family structure. State-sponsored agrarian policies have weakened the power of traditional landed interests and together with labour migration have provoked new tension and inequalities in rural society. The book makes clear that the pattern of change has been highly uneven and has served to heterogenise the countryside. As the oil states enter a period of recession and the likelihood of substantial return migration increases, rural communities will need to make further major adjustments and the book examines the tensions this new development is likely to produce. First published in 1987.

Diversified Development

Diversified Development PDF

Author: Indermit S. Gill

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2014-02-26

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 1464801207

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Eurasian economies have to become efficient more productive, job-creating, and stable. But efficiency is not the same as diversification. Governments need to worry less about the composition of exports and production and more about asset portfolios natural resources, built capital, and economic institutions.

The Economics of Abundance

The Economics of Abundance PDF

Author: Dr Wolfgang Hoeschele

Publisher: Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2012-08-28

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1409459543

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No matter how many resources we consume we never seem to have enough. The Economics of Abundance is a balanced book in which Wolfgang Hoeschele challenges why this is so. He claims that our current capitalist economy can exist only on the basis of manufactured scarcity created by 'scarcity-generating institutions', and these institutions manipulate both demand and supply of commodities. Therefore demand consistently exceeds supply, and profits and economic growth can continue – at the cost of individual freedom, social equity, and ecological sustainability. The fact that continual increases in demand are so vital to our economy leads to an impasse: many people see no alternative to the generation of ever more demand, but at the same time recognize that it is clearly unsustainable ecologically and socially. So, can demand only be reduced by curtailing freedom and is this acceptable? This book argues that, by analyzing how scarcity-generating institutions work and then reforming or dismantling them, we can enhance individual freedom and support entrepreneurial initiative, and at the same time make progress toward social justice and environmental sustainability by reducing demands on vital resources. This vision would enable activists in many fields (social justice, civil liberties, and environmental protection), as well as many entrepreneurs and other members of civil society to work together much more effectively, make it more difficult to portray all these groups as contradictory special interests, and thereby help generate momentum for positive change. Meanwhile, for academics in many fields of study, the concept of the creation of scarcity or abundance may be a highly useful analytical tool.