This notes summarizes the chronology of the Brazil state debt crisis and the efforts by the Brazilian government to resolve it. It also describes the World Bank's efforts to assist in this process through...
The objectives of this report are to: (i) provide a diagnostic assessment of post-privatization regulation in the telecommunications, electricity, and gas sectors of Argentina; (ii) identify the major...
The Southern Common Market (Mercado Commun del Sur, MERCOSUR) is one of the most important examples of renewed world-wide interest in regional trade agreements. It may be seen as a consolidation of unilateral...
The objectives of this survey are to assess the current state of the sector, and evaluate the performance of highways and rural roads, waterways, ports, railways, and airports and air services. The criteria...
Profound political and economic reforms in Brazil were necessitated by debt crisis of the 1980s. Many of these reforms have already been undertaken, and have helped to set the stage for rapid growth in...
This paper attempts to answer the following questions: What is the composition of employment in Brazilian public sector? How difficult would it be for a worker displaced from the public sector to find...
The government of Brazil is concerned about personnel expenditures, which has been long identified as an important source of over-spending. But the 1988 Constitution disallows layoffs of public servants...
This note presents, in summary form, the main points of an international seminar on social security held in Brasilia in April 1997. Following an introduction (Section I), Section II consists of an overview...
During the 1990s private sector development in Paraguay has been hindered by legacies of the Stroessner regime. In order to identify the primary obstacles to its growth from October to December of 1995...
The main topic of this paper is the need for an integrated regulatory framework due to the acceleration of privatization. The specific purpose is two fold: a) it reviews the main issues embedded in the...
This note describes the current state of the transport sector in Uruguay, focusing on the activities of MTOP (Ministry of Transport and Public Works) and of the main state enterprises in the sector, as...
The purpose of this paper is to review the status of industrial policies in Argentina and Brazil, draw lessons from the experience of the European Union (EU), and indicate future policy issues which Mercosur...
This note presents an alternative to the traditional fiscal analysis of pay as you go (PAYG) pension systems. The alternative proposed has drastic implications when assessing the cost of switching from...
This economic note accomplishes three objectives: (1) it describes the current state of the water and sanitation sector in Uruguay, focusing on the activities of OSE (Obras Sanitarias del Estado); (2)...
This note describes how the Bank should assess state creditworthiness in Brazil. The Bank is assessing creditworthiness in response to the federal government's request that we cease lending to states that...
The purpose of this note is to provide a framework for thinking about the important connections between decentralization and regulation, with a specific emphasis on the implementation of regulatory arrangements...
This note draws on recent international experience to illustrate some of the main issues and options associated with funding independent infrastructure regulators. Section 1 provides a background to the...
The purpose of this note is to provide a framework for thinking about the important connections between decentralization and regulation, with a specific emphasis on the implementation of regulatory arrangements...
This paper relates the story of how Chile's capital market was built. The paper analyzes the main policy measures, the key policy dilemmas and both the successes and failures of the reform process. The...
This report looks at the water situation in Brazil. It is divided into two parts. The first discusses the background and present situation of the water supply. It touches on several areas including: the...