World Bank Technical Paper No. 304. Reviews the status and availability in developing countries of photovoltaic (PV) technology and looks at the prospects for using this technology in light of current energy use and costs of other energy sources. The report provides the necessary background information and highlights the questions raised and the calculations that must be made whenever PV applications are being considered in the developing world

FIAS Occasional Paper No. 6. Examines and compares the recent experiences of a number of developing countries in encouraging backward linkages, the purchasing of goods and services from locally owned suppliers by companies controlled by foreign firms. The authors argue that economic liberalization helps rather than hurts domestic suppliers, that institutional support focusing on upgrading the capabilities of domestic suppliers is critical, and that promotional programs combining public and private resources can accelerate linkage development.

This booklet examines the efforts of Bangladesh, Malawi, and Pakistan to increase the number of girls in school. These three countries have severe problems of access to education, ranking in the bottom third of developing countries on UNESCO's Basic Education Index. The document addresses several issues, including how governments grapple with the deep-seated cultural, institutional, and political factors that underlie the gender disparity in access to school, how parents and communities feel about these attempts, and what impact the reform efforts have on the people involved in managing and running the school system. It also follows the lives of some of the girls who have benefited from the reforms.

Spanish edition (Pobreza, Desigualdad y FormaciÃ[3]n del Capital Humano en América Latina, 1950-2025) Latin America is marked by wide inequality in income and entrenched poverty. This paper argues that the main reason these conditions persist is the lack of adequate education for new generations. The author cites several factors--economic growth and structural transformation of the economy, the convergence of regional per capita income, and the diminishing rates of return on education--that have combined to lower the region's areas of inequality. To bring the region quickly out of poverty, the report recommends that universal basic education be given to all young people in the next two decades. See also the English edition: Stock No. 13630 (ISBN 0-8213-3630-4).

The purpose of the measurement of the social cost of subsidised development finance institutions (DFIs) is to see if the social benefit exceeds the social cost. In most cases, it is so expensive to measure social benefits that a full-blown social cost-benefit analysis cannot be done. The measurement of social costs, however, is not as expensive, and it can inform choices of how to spend public funds. This paper presents two measures of social cost. The first is the Subsidy Dependence Index (SDI) that can measure social cost in short time frames. The second measure is the net present cost of society (NPCS), which can measure social cost in any time frame. Both the SDI and the NPCS model shift the emphasis from prices paid to opportunity costs.

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 326.Draws on the successful experiences of five East Asian economies--Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (China), and Hong Kong--to show how they have exploited the opportunities made possible by the information technology revolution and built sustainable competitive advantages in many high-value-added industries and services. The study examines the role of government in unleashing private-sector response, promoting the information technology industry, diffusing technology, and focusing resources on strategic elements of the national information infrastructure. It also explores the role of the private sector in influencing the development and use of the new technologies.