Berlin Workshop Series 2009 : Spatial Disparities and Development Policy
The Berlin workshop series 2009 presents a selection of papers from meetings held on September 30-October 2, 2007, at the tenth annual Berlin workshop, jointly organized by InWent-Capacity Building International, Germany, and the World Bank in prep...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank
2012
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| Online Access: | http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=64187510&pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&siteName=WDS&entityID=000333037_20090708005155 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2650 |
| Summary: | The Berlin workshop series 2009 presents
a selection of papers from meetings held on September
30-October 2, 2007, at the tenth annual Berlin workshop,
jointly organized by InWent-Capacity Building International,
Germany, and the World Bank in preparation for the World
Bank's World Development Report (WDR) 2009. The
workshop brings diverse perspectives from outside the World
Bank, providing a forum in which to exchange ideas and
engage in debate relevant to development of the WDR. The
report will accordingly have three parts, each describing,
explaining, or drawing lessons from the spatial
transformations that have been observed in both developed
and developing countries. The first section of the report
will be factual and present the stylized facts on economic
concentration and welfare disparities, for both developing
and developed countries, over the last two centuries. The
second part of the report will identify the main drivers of
these changes, distilling the insights provided by the
advances in economic thought over the last two decades. The
third section of the report will discuss the policy
implications, in essence identifying the public policy
priorities that help countries to realize the immediate
economic benefits of greater concentration and the social
and long-term economic benefits of moderate spatial
disparities. In essence, the report will emphasize that
neighborhoods are important for development. This is true
for cities, for regions, and for countries: it is difficult
for a city to prosper in the middle of a squalid
countryside, it is difficult for a province to prosper
rapidly when other provinces in the country are squalid, and
it is difficult for a country to prosper for long when the
countries around it are mired in squalor. The report will
propose that the solution for cities, regions, and countries
is to invest in neighborhoods. The principle is to deepen
integration and not to attempt isolation. |
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