Hydro resources are provided by nature. The exploitation of such resources can generate significant economic rent to the owners. In the past, governments have usually claimed ownership of hydroelectric resources and passed on the rents to their state-owned utilities, which have used them to expand their systems or provide lower tariffs to their consumers. With the restructuring of the electric power sector in many countries, a more explicit consideration of hydroelectric rents is required. Moreover, hydropower resources are often owned by more than one party, or at least require cooperation between parties to develop them. In this context, the measurement and apportionment of hydropower rents between cooperating parties becomes important. This paper addresses some of the issues involved in cooperative development of water resources, especially for hydroelectric generation. It promotes a better understanding of the sources of the benefits and attempts to derive an analytical basis for discussions between cooperating parties. This volume will be of interest to hydropower resource earning countries, hydropower developers, and Bank staff.

This book compares the recent evolution of the structure of inputs and expenditure in Armenia's general education with international norms and practice. In the context of the government's sectoral reform strategy, it also outlines various proposals for restructuring the system. The purpose of this study is to clarify what the inefficiencies might mean for future costs and performance of the system, highlight the trade-offs involved, and identify measures needed to overcome constraints to rationalization.

Since 1985, national economies have become increasingly integrated into a global network. At the same time, both population and production in developing countries are becoming concentrated in urban regions. This, in turn, has generated demands for more local autonomy, shifting more decision making to sub-national levels. Globalization is expected to continue leading to greater openness and international mobility of capital and people. There are few reasons to believe that these trends will abate—if anything, they are likely to intensify the focus on cities and sharpen competition among these for international and local resources. This volume underscores the transformative role of globalization and urbanization and shows the interplay between the two forces.

Technological developments in electronic finance have changed the nature and delivery of financial services in recent years, especially through the use of online banking, online trading and brokerage services. This report reviews the developments in e-finance and analyses the implications for consumers, financial service providers and governments. Issues discussed include: the impact on competition within the financial services industry; how financial sector policies in emerging markets are affected; public policy and regulatory requirements.

This volume provides two recent analyses of government responses to financial crises; they have been developed in the light of the recent East Asian crisis, but also draw on experiences from other regions. Issues discussed relate to: the tradeoffs involved in public policies for systemic financial and corporate sector restructuring; and the use of cross-country evidence to determine whether specific crisis containment and resolution policies effect the fiscal costs of resolving a crisis. The book also presents information on 113 systemic banking crises that have occurred in 93 countries since the 1970s, as well as 50 borderline or non-systemic banking crises in 44 countries during the same period.

This study presents the results of the multi-country study for farm debt in five Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries - Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, and the Ukraine. It offers a comparative analysis of the level and composition of farm debt in these countries and reviews the major reasons for farm debt accumulation in the 1990s.

Aunque la reforma a las telecomunicaciones en Chile condujeron al desarrollo rapido en los anos 90 manejadas por el sector privado, las areas rurales seguian excluidas en gran parte debido al alto costo para proporcionar el servicio. En 1994, el gobierno establecio el Fondo para el Desarrollo de las Telecomunicaciones, financiado por presupuesto nacional para catalizar la inversion privada adicional y ponerla al servicio de las telecomunicaciones rurales.