Analysing the effects of state-business relations on economic performance at both the macro and micro levels, this book explores state-business relations and economic development. Dirk Willem te Velde contributed to chapters investigating state-business relations in Sub-Saharan Africa and Zambia.

Corruption is widely viewed as a major obstacle to economic growth, investment and poverty reduction in developing countries, yet there have been relatively few detailed and open studies of the problem across sectors. In a chapter in the World Bank's 'Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia: Perceptions, Realities and the Way Forward for Key Sectors' Roger Calow explores corruption risk in the delivery of rural water supplies.

The way humanitarian aid workers are perceived has recently attracted increased attention.The aim of this work is to develop the debate on the role of humanitarian action in crisis contexts through an evaluation of how Médecins Sans Frontière's work is perceived in volatile environments.

In this book, Arnaldo Pellini explores social capital as a required ingredient in the development recipe and how to use community-based interventions to achieve it.