Suchergebnisse

The East African Community has long recognised that regional economic integration can yield significant welfare gains to its member states. To that end, the community has been making steady progress towards the removal of tariffs and quantitative restrictions to trade. Moreover, in recent years, there has been an increasing recognition that (a) even greater welfare gains could be realised through deeper forms of regional integration which entail harmonisation of legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks; and (b) reforms that reduce cross-border transaction costs and improve the performance of 'backbone' infrastructure services are arguably even more important for the creation of an open, unified regional economic space than trade policy reforms narrowly defined. Disparities of regulatory treatment across borders can introduce distortions that hinder both cross-border trade and the aggregate flows of investment on a regional basis. Regulatory harmonisation and infrastructure regionalisation could make a significant contribution to the region's economic development by promoting a more efficient utilisation of its human and physical resources, enhancing connectivity, reducing the costs of trade and facilitating the integration of the continent with the global economy.

Infrastructure is crucial for generating growth, alleviating poverty, and increasing international competitiveness. For much of the twentieth century and in most countries, the network utilities that delivered infrastructure services such as electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railroads, and water supply were vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. But this approach often resulted in extremely weak services, especially in developing and transition economies and especially for poor people. Common problems included low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and shortfalls in investment. Over the past two decades many countries have implemented far-reaching institutional reforms restructuring, privatizing, and establishing new approaches to regulation. This article identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection within the historical, economic, and institutional context of developing and transition economies. It also reviews the outcomes of these policy changes, including their distributional consequences especially for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. Drawing on a range of international experiences and empirical studies, it recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance.

Faced with changing economic circumstances and a reorientation of trade toward Europe and Asia, will Eurasia's cities be able to adjust? Will some cities be granted the flexible regulations and supportive policies necessary for growth? And will some others be allowed to dwindle with policies put in place to assist their people in finding prosperity elsewhere in the region?Eurasian Cities: New Realities along the Silk Road responds to pressing questions for policy makers in Eurasian cities and national governments in the region. Building on the insights of the World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography, it provides an economic and policy framework to unleash the growth potential of these cities through a process of rethinking, planning, connecting, greening, and financing these changes in the right way. While Eurasian cities diverge in some respects, they also face similar challenges. Policy makers have a key role to play in assisting spatial restructuring, particularly in addressing imperfect information and coordination failures. Eurasian cities will also have to find the right balance between markets and institutions to become sustainable. For Eurasia to grow sustainably, securing accessibility to leading regional markets such as China, the European Union, India, and the Russian Federation is critical. This process will require key institutions to be developed to unite the countries, key connective infrastructures to be established between domestic and regional markets, and targeted interventions to be undertaken to compensate countries for short-term losses from this deepened economic cooperation. This book will be of interest to policy makers, economists, and government officials interested in growing Eurasian cities.