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This paper includes an overall introduction to the uses (and abuses) of business licenses, and to the way business licensing reforms can be organized. It also provides a broad overview and framework for licensing reforms. This paper is supported by more detailed case studies of licensing reform in particular sectors, and other guidance for facilities and field operations. This includes a detailed manual on 'how to' review and reform licenses and also information about how to apply effective and insightful Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) to licensing reviews and reforms. Part one of this paper provides a contextual overview of key issues associated with government regulation. The rationale for government regulation (including licensing) is discussed, along with a description of the benefits and features of good regulatory design. Part two discusses the features of business licenses, the potential advantages and disadvantages of licensing and a discussion of the use of licensing fees and charges. Part three provides an overview of 'how to' reform business licenses and licensing systems. It summarizes broad approaches to reform, such as using a comprehensive 'top-down' approach to reviewing the stock of existing licenses, or where appropriate using a more targeted approach which focuses on particular types or categories of licenses. Part four of this paper focuses on M&E of licensing reform and simplification programs. This includes developing an M&E framework and measuring the significance and effects (e.g., the frequency and administrative burdens) generated by different types of licenses.

Accounting --- Administrative & Regulatory Law --- Administrative Costs --- Advisory Services --- Auctions --- Audits --- Business Environment --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Cost Recovery --- E-Business --- Economic Costs --- Financial Institutions --- Financial Services --- Innovation --- Law and Development --- Licensing --- Natural Resources --- Private Sector --- Private Sector Development --- Productivity --- Project Management --- Property Rights --- Public Policy --- Public Safety --- Quality Control --- Regulators --- Regulatory Agencies --- Technology Transfer --- Telecommunications

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Agriculture in Western Europe enjoys a degree of diversity that reflects a wide variety of soils and climatic conditions ranging from the arid Mediterranean regions to the Arctic Circle. Superimposed on this natural diversity is the complexity of different social, economic and political conditions in the eighteen countries that are the subject of this chapter. History has played a major part in creating this patchwork, particularly the different paths that countries took from feudalism to independent farming units and the inheritance laws that influenced the extent to which land ownership was transmitted from generation to generation. Average farm size varies considerably in the countries of Western Europe, in turn reflecting the relative political and social importance of landowners and small farmers. By the late nineteenth century, these various factors had determined a structure of farming in the Western European region that is still visible today. Productivity growth in Western Europe's agricultural sector compared favorably with that in the manufacturing sector in the immediate post-war period. Over the period 1949 to 1959, by which time the economy had largely recovered from the war-time disruptions, output per person in agriculture had increased by more than that in manufacturing in most of the countries in Western Europe. The productivity growth was a combination of output increases as a result of mechanization and modernization, and the outflow of labor as other sectors absorbed rural workers.

Agricultural Policy --- Agricultural Reform --- Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agricultural Trade --- Agricultural Workers --- Agriculture --- Animal Feed --- Arbitrage --- Climate --- Commodity Prices --- Cotton --- Crops --- Dairy Products --- Debt --- Decision Making --- Economic Costs --- Exchange Rates --- Farm Size --- Food Security --- Gdp --- Industrialization --- Inflation --- Inheritance --- Livestock --- Marketing --- Meat --- Per Capita Income --- Political Economy --- Poultry --- Sugar --- Surplus --- Trade Agreements --- Trade Barriers --- Trade Liberalization --- Trade Policy --- Traditional Farming --- Wages --- World Trade Organization

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This report addresses the fact that natural disasters have caused vast social upheaval and economic damage to Armenia. This ongoing vulnerability to natural disasters has led Armenia to appreciate the advantages of developing a comprehensive strategy to help minimize ensuing fiscal exposure because the national budget will never be adequate to mitigate, respond, and recover from these recurrent but unavoidable crises. Since the Spitak earthquake, Government has reorganized its emergency management system and established many seismic mitigation activities and created a Ministry of Emergency Situations (MoES) and established a cabinet-level Minister responsible for disaster response. Government may wish to build on these achievements. The report is also based on a study carried out in Armenia under the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) project, which analyzed disaster risks, assessed existing systems, mechanisms, and institutional capacities, and made recommendations for developing a comprehensive national disaster reduction and preparedness agenda, which could form the basis for a natural disaster reduction project.

Building Codes --- Conflict and Development --- Crime --- Dams --- Disaster Management --- Drainage --- Droughts --- Early Warning Systems --- Earthquakes --- Economic Costs --- Emergency Preparedness --- Employment --- Engineering --- Environment --- Floods --- Food Security --- Fuels --- Groundwater --- Hazard Risk Management --- Heating --- Human Capital --- Hurricanes --- Injuries --- Innovation --- Insurance --- Irrigation --- Labor Policies --- Landslides --- Natural Disaster Management --- Natural Disasters --- Natural Gas --- Pipelines --- Productivity --- Property Rights --- Public Safety --- Quality Assurance --- Reservoirs --- Risk Assessment --- Sanitation --- Savings --- Science and Technology Development --- Social Protection and Risk Management --- Social Protections and Labor --- Temperature --- Transport --- Unemployment --- Urban Development --- Water Supply

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This report responds to a request from the Government of Timor-Leste (GoTL) and Dr. Mari Alkatiri. The request was for World Bank assistance to collaborate on a range of studies relating to opportunities in the special economic zone, including community development, trade and competitiveness, and regional integration. The analysis builds on a situation analysis prepared by the Zona Especial de Economia Social de Mercado (ZEESM) authority in March 2014. The transfer of significant responsibility for Oecusse's development to the ZEESM authority, reflects a political rapprochement and collaboration between Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and Dr. Alkatiri. The report is in two volumes. Volume one presents an overview of Oecusse's current state in chapter one with analysis of living standards, economic activity including trade, and current constraints. Chapter two analyzes Oecusse's phased economic potential through a range of phase one development interventions focusing on agriculture, and considers the pre-requisites for developing an SEZ in Oecusse. Volume two contains more comprehensive background chapters with full analysis of living standards in chapter three, agriculture in chapter four, transport corridor in chapter five, and migration in chapter six.

Agriculture --- Bonds --- Capital --- Competitiveness and Competition Policy --- Consumers --- Credit --- Decision Making --- Economic Costs --- Economy --- Export Competitiveness --- Export Development and Competitiveness --- Gdp --- Grants --- Human Capital --- Human Migrations & Resettlements --- Incentives --- Infrastructure --- Living Standards --- Mobility --- Natural Resources --- Opportunity Cost --- Private Sector Development --- Productivity --- Regional Integration --- Roads --- Rural Development --- Rural Services and Infrastructure --- Sanitation --- Telecommunications --- Trade --- Trade and Integration --- Trade Facilitation and Market Access --- Transparency --- Transport --- Transport Costs --- Unemployment --- Vehicles --- Wages

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Pacific island countries continue to be among the most vulnerable in the world: they combine high exposure to frequent and damaging natural hazards with low capacity to manage the resulting risks. Their vulnerability is exacerbated by poorly planned socioeconomic development, which has increased exposure and disaster losses, and by climate change, which has increased the magnitude of cyclones, droughts, and flooding. Currently, inefficient management of risks negates development gains and incurs large costs for national and local governments. Progress in reducing vulnerability has been retarded in part because of fundamental problems with coordination and cooperation among relevant actors at all levels. 'acting today for tomorrow' provides case studies, data, and analysis from the Pacific region to make a case for climate-and disaster-resilient development as being the most appropriate way to address the above challenges. It outlines what the consequences are of not acting today to reduce risk, what important lessons have emerged from the last decade, and what must be done to move toward resilient development in Pacific island countries. The document is intended for an audience of practitioners and policymakers at all levels across all relevant sectors. Its analysis and recommendations are meant to inform disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) planning across a range of institutions. Over the last decade, some important lessons have emerged about what works, and what does not work, to reduce vulnerability. It is clear now that project-based DRR and CCA initiatives with relatively short time frames encourage fragmented efforts, inhibit carryover across initiatives, and ultimately do little to reduce underlying vulnerability in a lasting way. To achieve robust and effective political authority, leadership, and accountability for more resilient development, governments should anchor coordination of DRR and CCA in a high level central ministry/body both at national and regional levels and ensure that leaders are knowledgeable about disaster and climate risk management.

Access to Health Services --- Access to Information --- Alliances --- Building Codes --- Climate --- Climate Change Economics --- Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases --- Climate Risk Management --- Cost-Benefit analysis --- Decision Making --- Deforestation --- Desalination --- Disasters --- Discount Rate --- Droughts --- Earthquakes --- Economic Costs --- Economic Development --- Economics --- Energy Efficiency --- Environment --- Environmental Economics & Policies --- Floods --- Food Production --- Food Security --- Fuels --- Global Environment Facility --- Global Warming --- Hazard Risk Management --- Heat Waves --- Land Management --- Land-Use Change --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Natural Disasters --- Natural Resources --- Nongovernmental Organizations --- Population Growth --- Rainfall --- Risk Assessment --- Risk Management --- Science and Technology Development --- Science of Climate Change --- Tsunamis --- Urban Development --- World Health Organization