Finance & Development articles from December 1992

Finance & Development archives from December 1992

Reducing poverty: spreading the word. (World Bank policies for reducing poverty)(includes related article)
December 1, 1992... In keeping with its renewed emphasis on helping the poor escape from poverty, the World Bank has recently issued two publications aimed at disseminating information about policies and practices that work best. The message is clear: Countries...

Family planning: the unfinished revolution.
December 1, 1992... Voluntary family planning programs in the developing world help reduce population growth and contribute to better maternal and child health and to poverty alleviation. Despite the notable success of family planning programs in a number of...

Unorthodox adjustment and poverty in Peru.
December 1, 1992... Faced with economic stagnation and decline during the 1980s, many developing countries adopted macroeconomic and structural adjustment programs that were recommended and partially financed by the World Bank and the IMF. A few countries that were...

Women's employment and pay in Latin America.
December 1, 1992... Why are women not fully participating in the work force? Why are they paid less than men? Understanding the reasons why can lead to policies that will increase women's welfare and improve efficiency. Over the past decade, increasing recognition...

Poverty and water supply: how to move forward. (includes related articles)
December 1, 1992... Nearly 1 billion people in the developing world are still without access to clean water for drinking and bathing, and 1.7 billion must contend with inadequate sanitation facilities. World Bank experience shows that new approaches are urgently...

Combatting the "greenhouse effect."
December 1, 1992... As countries worldwide debate how strongly to respond to the threat of global warming, cutting energy subsidies and levying carbon taxes rank high on the list of possible tools. Recent World Bank studies show that getting energy prices right...

The business of sustainable development.
December 1, 1992... Protecting the environment and pursuing profits are normally perceived as being at odds with each other. But Stephan Schmidheiny, a Swiss industrialist, has long disputed this view. In the summer of 1990, he was asked by Maurice Strong, the...

Attacking air pollution in Mexico City. (includes related article)
December 1, 1992... As Mexico City steps up its battle against air pollution, the city is trying to economize on polluting trips, as well as make cars and fuels cleaner. A carefully crafted program combines pricing and regulatory measures to stimulate these changes....

Crisis, recovery, and transformation in India.
December 1, 1992... Judged against the rigidities of its previous economic regime, India has come a long distance in its economic thinking since July 1991 when, faced with a severe balance of payments crisis, the Government launched a series of IMF-supported...

The CFA Franc: zone of fragile stability in Africa.
December 1, 1992... The CFA franc zone is a currency union linked to the French franc. If viewed as a monetary union alone, it does not appear to be close to an optimal currency area. When viewed as part of a wider franc zone, however, its viability and its benefits...

The new regionalism. (includes related articles)
December 1, 1992... With a new wave of regional trading arrangements on the rise, the World Bank and the Centre for Economic and Policy Research decided to hold a conference in April 1992 on the "new regionalism" and its likely effects on the multilateral trading...

Liberalizing the capital account. (includes related article)
December 1, 1992... The reduced effectiveness of capital controls since the 1980s led some industrial and developing countries to liberalize their restrictions on external financial transactions. Their experience suggests that sustaining an open capital...

Striving for currency convertibility in North Africa.
December 1, 1992... Currency convertibility is central to the mandate of the IMF, in that the IMF's Articles of Agreement call for "the elimination of foreign exchange restrictions which hamper the growth of world trade." Members accepting the obligations of Article...