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As happened in West Africa in 2008, in an imported inflation context, it is common for the governments to take short-term tax action to protect the poor: VAT or trade tariffs exemptions. As part of the tax-tariff transition, the comparison between Trade tariffs and VAT has already been the subject of much works. The introduction of VAT, as a tax on final consumption, is supposed to be optimal, due to its economically neutral aspect for production decisions. However, some authors show that in developing countries, a large informal sector affects this result. In this paper, we use a CGE model and a micro-simulation model to compare the effects of VAT and Trade tariffs exemptions to combat rising agricultural food prices. The approach is innovative because it integrates how VAT works in developing countries (VAT increases production costs for some producers), in a context of imperfect competition for the service of marketing products. Results show that VAT exemptions are more effective than Trade tariffs exemptions in limiting the effects of the rise in world prices on poverty in Niger. In the context of the current increase in food prices linked to the Covid-19 crisis (FAO, 2020), this issues may one again be in the limelight for the African governments.

As happened in West Africa in 2008, in an imported inflation context, it is common for the governments to take short-term tax action to protect the poor: VAT or trade tariffs exemptions. As part of the tax-tariff transition, the comparison between Trade tariffs and VAT has already been the subject of much works. The introduction of VAT, as a tax on final consumption, is supposed to be optimal, due to its economically neutral aspect for production decisions. However, some authors show that in developing countries, a large informal sector affects this result. In this paper, we use a CGE model and a micro-simulation model to compare the effects of VAT and Trade tariffs exemptions to combat rising agricultural food prices. The approach is innovative because it integrates how VAT works in developing countries (VAT increases production costs for some producers), in a context of imperfect competition for the service of marketing products. Results show that VAT exemptions are more effective than Trade tariffs exemptions in limiting the effects of the rise in world prices on poverty in Niger. In the context of the current increase in food prices linked to the Covid-19 crisis (FAO, 2020), this issues may one again be in the limelight for the African governments.

Climate change is affecting infrastructure investments worldwide, leading to asset value losses, higher operating costs, and reduced economic benefits. This technical note is a call for action to improve how climate-related financial risks are considered in infrastructure, including for the planning, delivery, and management of national infrastructure plans. The Asian Development Bank and the Global Center on Adaptation jointly developed this technical note as an input to the Global Commission on Adaptation's Climate Adaptation Summit 2021.

Infrastructure investment is a key factor for economic development and job creation. Water supply, electricity, road, railways, and airports, among others, will bring in business to the Central Asia and Caucasus region and enhance the welfare of the people. Quality infrastructure refers not only to fiscal quality but also to the new business activities and accompanying employment created along each infrastructure system. In order to increase the economic impact of infrastructure investment, financing for small businesses must accompany infrastructure development. Otherwise, the economic impact only reaches large businesses. Restaurants, small shops, and the agricultural sector gain benefits from the development of infrastructure by making use of the roads and railways to sell their products. Through a diverse collection of studies on seven Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries, this book discusses the impacts of infrastructure investments.

This publication provides an analysis of key challenges and opportunities for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) to realize its development goals by 2030 and beyond. While the six member countries have made impressive gains in recent decades, much remains to be done to close the gap with the world's most advanced economies. The GMS needs to further integrate into the global economy, significantly upgrade production and exports, enable cities to be engines of growth, and improve the quality of road infrastructure and connectivity.

Co-design of water-sensitive settlement upgrading, provides more detailed information and guidance on how to design and deliver a community-based, participatory process for project implementation. This Part equips the reader with an understanding of the tools and techniques that can foster meaningful participation of settlement residents, as well as government, industry and service provider stakeholders, into the design and delivery of WSC upgrading projects.

This paper estimates the effects of transport (road and rail) & energy and ICT infrastructure (telephone, mobile, and broadband) on GDP growths in neighboring countries as well as own countries. We confirm positive direct contributions of infrastructure, access to Internet, and human capital on economic growth. The spatial panel regression models indicate that there exist positive externalities of the broadband infrastructure and human capital, and these results are robust regardless of the choice of spatial weight matrices. Our findings on spillover effects of infrastructure suggest the key role of neighboring countries' infrastructure on own country's economic growth.

This report explains how the quality of infrastructure investments in developing Asia can be enhanced and why this is vital for the region's sustainable recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. It emphasizes the need to balance urgent demand for infrastructure financing with governance approaches that focus on boosting efficiency and integrating infrastructure systems. The report also explores how the Asian Development Bank can strengthen its support for quality infrastructure in the region through its financing instruments, programs, and projects.

International audience We investigate the containment of epidemic spreading in networks from a normative point of view. We consider a susceptible/infected model in which agents can invest in order to reduce the contagiousness of network links. In this setting, we study the relationships between social efficiency, individual behaviours and network structure. First, we characterise individual and socially efficient behaviour using the notions of communicability and exponential centrality. Second, we show, by computing the Price of Anarchy, that the level of inefficiency can scale up to linearly with the number of agents. Third, we prove that policies of uniform reduction of interactions satisfy some optimality conditions in a vast range of networks. In setting where no central authority can enforce such stringent policies, we consider as a type of second-best policy the implementation of cooperation frameworks that allow agents to subsidise prophylactic investments in the global rather than in the local network. We then characterise the scope for Pareto improvement opened by such policies through a notion of Price of Autarky, measuring the ratio between social welfare at a global and a local equilibrium. Overall, our results show that individual behaviours can be extremely inefficient in the face of epidemic propagation but that policy can take advantage of the network structure to design welfare improving containment policies.

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi's correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners' mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high inmate populations which are disproportionate to that of staff. This conflicting reality is a result of improper funding by the Mississippi legislature, failure of legislators to prioritize the issue of correctional reform on the agenda, and general disinterest from the public. Several recommendations are made in the final chapter to address why the legislature should increase funding and how the funds should be used when obtained to improve the incarcerated population's quality of life and prepare them for, if eligible, a smooth transition back into society.

We build a novel computational input-output model to estimate the economic impact of lockdowns in Italy. The key advantage of our framework is to integrate the regional and sectoral dimensions of economic production in a very parsimonious numerical simulation framework. Lockdowns are treated as shocks to available labor supply and they are calibrated on regional and sectoral employment data coupled with the prescriptions of government decrees. We show that when estimated on data from the first "hard" lockdown, our model closely reproduces the observed economic dynamics during spring 2020. In addition, we show that the model delivers a good out-of-sample forecasting performance. We also analyze the effects of the second "mild" lockdown in fall of 2020 which delivered a much more moderate negative impact on production compared to both the spring 2020 lockdown and to a hypothetical second "hard" lockdown.

Execution delays in large infrastructure development projects in Nepal are fairly common. There are multiple factors that contribute to the delays such as weak contract administration, design errors, local disasters such as floods and landslides, protracted contract-related disputes, delayed payments and red tape, political instability, delayed approvals on environmental controls, and, in many instances, local level disputes around land acquisition and cultural rights. This assessment focuses on local level disputes in infrastructure projects. It examines a set of cases to document prevailing typology of disputes, dispute resolution practices, legal basis and arrangements for resolving disputes, external political influences on the dispute resolution processes, and provides some evaluative commentaries on the efficacy of these arrangements. We find that the government has limited its role in the dispute resolution processes to determination and revision of compensation rates that too limited to cases of land acquisition and damages to private property. This narrow-scope approach leaves out of its purview a variety of grievances around social, cultural, and environmental claims. Without a clear legal basis or policy guidelines, individual projects try to address these often-intangible claims by using the limited authority they have and, in most cases, fail to reach a resolution for a long time. In some instances, affected communities employ political tactics to extract higher compensation than determined by the government. The government as well tends to respond with political rather than administrative measures in some instances. The politicizing of the process most often happens when there are extended delays in settling the compensation and other claims.

Infrastructure competitiveness plays a central role in attracting investment and promoting economic growth. However, Vietnam is lagging behind some regional countries in this regard. For example, the World Economic Forum's 2019 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Vietnam 67th out of 141 economies for national competitiveness and 77th for infrastructure quality. Only 20 per cent of the country's national roads are paved, much lower than neighbouring countries such as Malaysia (80.9%), India (63.24%), and Indonesia (89.7%). Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment estimates that the country will need approximately US$480 billion in infrastructure investment from 2017 to 2030, while the 2019 Global Infrastructure Investor Survey report ranked Vietnam, together with India, China, Brazil, and Indonesia, among the top five developing countries with the largest infrastructure markets in the next five years. Comprehensive infrastructure development has been highlighted as one of the three strategic breakthroughs for Vietnam's 2021-2030 Socio-Economic Development Plan. The need to upgrade physical infrastructure and logistics services has become even more urgent due to increasing competition among regional countries to attract investors who wish to diversify their manufacturing base away from China. Post-pandemic economic recovery has also underscored the importance of infrastructure development as one of the most effective measures to stimulate economic growth. The Vietnamese government has targeted a growth rate of at least 6 per cent for 2021, with public spending on infrastructure development identified as one of the key measures to achieve this target.

As a rival to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the G7's "Build Back Better World" (B3W) will face significant challenges. As a complement, however, both the B3W and BRI together could help build a more inter-connected world and drive global economic growth in the post-COVID-19 era.

We build a novel computational input-output model to estimate the economic impact of lockdowns in Italy. The key advantage of our framework is to integrate the regional and sectoral dimensions of economic production in a very parsimonious numerical simulation framework. Lockdowns are treated as shocks to available labor supply and they are calibrated on regional and sectoral employment data coupled with the prescriptions of government decrees. We show that when estimated on data from the first "hard" lockdown, our model closely reproduces the observed economic dynamics during spring 2020. In addition, we show that the model delivers a good out-of-sample forecasting performance. We also analyze the effects of the second "mild" lockdown in fall of 2020 which delivered a much more moderate negative impact on production compared to both the spring 2020 lockdown and to a hypothetical second "hard" lockdown.