My main professional interests, as indicated by my work experience, publications, and papers, are in:

• helping countries formulate effective strategies for achieving their rural development objectives. Such objectives are quite similar across countries: some combination of rural growth with equity, targeted poverty reduction, sustainable natural resources management, and food security. The problem is how to select strategies with good prospects of success in particular country circumstances. I find a four-step approach to diagnosis and problem-solving to be helpful: incentives, innovations, institutions, and investments, and in that order of priority, with the first priority under incentives being the behavior of factor markets.

• helping countries (and donor institutions) draw the right lessons from painfully acquired experiences in trying to promote rural development. There have been far too many failures, although the success rate has much improved in the last decade. I keep abreast of recent changes by consulting with the World Bank's Quality Assurance Group, in reviews of quality at entry of new projects, quality of supervision, and quality of analytical and advisory activities.