A country's economic policies significantly affect the performance of investment projects in the social sectors, especially education.

A country's economic policies significantly affect the performance of investment projects in the social sectors, especially education.

This paper provides new evidence of the macroeconomic effects of public investment in advanced economies. Using public investment forecast errors to identify the causal effect of government investment in a sample of 17 OECD economies since 1985 and model simulations, the paper finds that increased public investment raises output, both in the short term and in the long term, crowds in private investment, and reduces unemployment. Several factors shape the macroeconomic effects of public investment. When there is economic slack and monetary accommodation, demand effects are stronger, and the public-debt-to-GDP ratio may actually decline. Public investment is also more effective in boosting output in countries with higher public investment efficiency and when it is financed by issuing debt.

The 1998 Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics, the tenth anniversary, was held at the Bank on April 20-21, 1998. The discussions focused on four areas of inquiry:1) the role of geography in countries'success, 2) the role of effective competition and regulatory policies, 3) the causes of financial crises and ways to prevent them, and 4) the effects of ethnic diversity on democracy and growth. The welcoming address by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn, the opening remarks by chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, and the tenth anniversary address by the International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer all focused both on the role of the conference and on the changing perspectives for development.

For more than three decades, the impact of aid on the global environment has been the subject of vigorous protest and debate. With billions spent on environmental aid each year, this groundbreaking text seeks to understand why aid is given, how effective it is, and whether aid is actually going to the places with the greatest environmental need.

A simple model that stimulates the spread of AIDS is used to generate estimates of deaths from AIDS.

A universal case cannot be made for national carbon taxes. Nevertheless, such taxes make eminent sense for many developing countries - on the grounds of equity, efficiency, ease of tax administration, and an improved local environment, even ignoring the potential benefits from controlling global carbon emissions.

Given Turkey's already extensive trade liberalization, a move to uniform external incentives would bring most of the benefits of full trade liberalization. Moreover, it is not enough to have piecemeal reform of tariffs or export susidies alone. Harmonizing Turkey's already low tariffs to the European Community's tariff structure will improve Turkey's welfare only if Turkey at the same time removes or reduces its export subsidies.

Changes in pricing policies are not enough to encourage poor farmers to reduce resource degradation. Other approaches are also needed, such as providing better research and extension advice, improving property rights and management, and establishing more secure tenure or access rights. Just because we do not always understand the economic and social factors determining incentive effects does not mean they do not exist.