Released on March 28, 2001, this new World Bank report investigates the impact of development aid on economic policy in ten African countries. Among the findings is the discovery that in nations where political leaders are not committed to reform, aid can actually hinder development by insulating these countries from the need to adopt reforms. The report also concludes that using "conditionality"...

Established in 1998 by the Harvard Institute for International Development and the Kennedy School of Government, the Center for International Development (CID) is Harvard's primary center for research on sustainable international development. The CID is currently headed by Professor Dani Rodrik, who provides oversight and direction for the Center. On the site, visitors can learn about upcoming...

A research center within the Institute of Economics and Statistics, University of Oxford, the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) applies macroeconomic and microeconomic methods to African sociological, demographic, and political contexts. Selected abstracts and working papers from 1993 to present are available on topics ranging from central bank policy to health, crop choice, wages,...

The US Agency for International Development's Development Experience Clearinghouse has recently made its Development Experience System (DEXS) available via the web. DEXS "is a family of bibliographic databases that contains records for about 100,000 Agency technical and program documents" from 1942 to the present. The database is split into two parts, 1942-86, and 1987-present. Information can be...

BBC Online presents this six-part special on sustainable development. Created in anticipation of the now concluded Johannesburg Summit, this Web site provides a valuable resource for viewers wishing to learn more about sustainable development and related issues. The Web site consists of an overview and six sections: Population, Food, Cities, Waste, Tourism, and Energy. The sections offer an...

Economic Issues is the IMF's attempt to reach an audience of nonspecialists. The August 2000 issue consists of the article "Promoting Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Learning What Works."

This project, from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), studies "the causes of currency crises in emerging market countries as well as the policies that can reduce the risk of future crises and the adverse effects when such crises occur." Along with a extensive collection of downloadable NBER research papers on this subject, the site also lists upcoming conferences on emerging markets...

Authored by Monica Das Gupta, Helene Grandvoinnet, and Mattia Romani, this compelling 31-page report is part of the World Bank's Policy Research Working Paper Series. The report, released in January 2003, begins by asking the question that has perplexed many policymakers on the national and international level: How can poor developing countries make their institutional settings more conducive to...

As part of the upcoming 2002 Johannesburg Summit, the United Nations report "Global Challenge, Global Opportunity: Trends in Sustainable Development" was issued on August 13, 2002. The report, in part, tells that "if current patterns of development continue, nearly half of the world's people will suffer from water shortages within the next 25 years, the use of fossil fuels, along with greenhouse...

This annual publication from the World Bank predicts growth patterns in developing countries. It reports that "recovery from the financial crisis is 'fragile and uneven,' with some regions recovering much faster than others." According to this year's report, growth in Asia will be strong through 2000, as the countries slowly pull themselves out of recession. The average per capita income of Third...