Nathan Associates identified constraints and opportunities for USAID/Bangladesh programming during a three-week field study in the following areas: macroeconomics and trade, financial sector, private sector, and economic governance. The field assessment followed a desk study provided to the mission through the Country Analytic Support (CAS) project implemented by Nathan Associates. The impetus for this work was to provide USAID/Bangladesh’s Economic Growth office guidance on programmatic areas to consider during development of its five-year strategy for 2011–2015.

EGAT/EG and Nathan Associates have developed the Postconflict Analytical Template to assess how economic growth projects can be incorporated early in the rebuilding of countries when conflict ends. The reports that use the Postconflict Analytical Template are known as economic recovery assessments. This template retains certain indicators from the Country Analytical Template and adds indicators that are helpful in measuring recovery from conflict or in providing early warning if a country is moving toward conflict. It also explains the criteria used to select the indicators and a description of each indicator.

Do postconflict countries share attributes that differ markedly from those of normal developing countries? If so, how should those attributes figure in the design of policies and programs? To answer these questions this study examines empirical patterns of postconflict experience in a sample consisting of every developing country that (a)Ended a major conflict between 1986 and 2006, based on University of Maryland classifications used by the State Department and (b)For which there exists at least some data on key indicators, preferably for five years before and after the end of the latest conflict.

National and global economic changes—inflationary oil prices and skyrocketing food prices—and national political uncertainty, compounded by deterioration in law and order present serious challenges for Pakistan’s economy and its agricultural sector in particular. Growth has slowed, inflation has increased, and the trade deficit has widened. Stagnant wheat production and an unprecedented level of informal wheat trade to neighboring countries have made the food supply insecure. Pakistan’s traditional, subsistence agriculture is becoming commercial, albeit slowly. In this context, how can Pakistan raise the value of its production of food staples and remove impediments to food marketing and market access systems? Here we offer answers to these questions by recommending possible solutions to specific problems and systematic issues, as well as recommendations for USAID interventions.

The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research into the causes and consequences of civil wars, belatedly bringing the topic into the economics mainstream. This article critically reviews this interdisciplinary literature and charts productive paths forward.