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From The Editor's Desk (October 2012)Tony Addison UNU-WIDER is having a very active and successful autumn. Our climate change and development policy conference at the end of September...
Tony Addison UNU-WIDER is having a very active and successful autumn. Our climate change and development policy conference at the end of September...
Tony Addison January saw the snow arrive in Helsinki. As I look out across the harbour, the scene is one of various shades of white and grey. The...
Tony Addison With our temperatures now well above zero, we head for the official end of the Finnish winter on 1st May (the ‘Vappu’ holiday). As...
The presence of European colonial powers in Africa has left a long-lasting legacy that has severely impacted their development trajectories. But what are the lingering effects of colonization on economic performance, in particular with regard to...
9 December 2013 S. Subramanian 1 Introduction It appears that the World Bank is planning to maintain and disseminate systematic information on a...
Carl-Gustav Lindén The research project ReCom-Research and Communication on foreign aid, which is co-ordinated by UNU-WIDER with funding from the...
Amelia U. Santos-Paulino and Guanghua Wan China and India have become global economic powers. Even at the market exchange rate, China overtook Japan...
Wim Naudé, Amelia U. Santos-Paulino and Mark McGillivray The global economic crisis, which erupted about one year ago with the US sub-prime mortgage...
South Africa is considering introducing a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Following a discussion of the motivations for considering a carbon tax, we evaluate potential impacts using a dynamic economywide model linked to an energy...
Nigeria has recorded impressive growth in the last decade, yet the impact of this growth on poverty reduction remains unclear. This paper appraises spatial and temporal non-monetary multidimensional poverty in Nigeria using the first-order dominance...
Since 1994, a great deal has been accomplished. We argue that poverty reduction was temporarily sidelined in the 2000s. A series of shocks, especially the fuel and food price crisis of 2008, combined with poor productivity growth in agriculture and a...
This paper evaluates fairness in educational achievements through the ordered pair (WEEOp, IEOp) whose components provide: (i) A measure of social welfare which accounts for the achievement of less-advantaged pupils and (ii) a synthetic index of...
This Policy Brief focuses on links between the developing countries of Brazil, India, China and South Africa and the global economy, with a special emphasis on the implications of China’s spectacular growth on developing economies and the rest of the...
The Egyptian food system has been affected by both global food markets and domestic factors. During the recent global food price crisis, an estimated 30–40 percent of the price fluctuations in the global food market were transmitted to Egypt’s food...
This paper performs a multidimensional first order dominance analysis of child wellbeing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This methodology allows the ordinal ranking of the 11 provinces of the DRC in terms of their wellbeing based upon the...
The hypothesis that ethnic diversity has a negative impact on public goods provision is widely accepted. Notably, most work on this issue fails to distinguish adequately between national versus subnational governance. We find that subnational...
The effects of social transfers on growth are still unclear. The limitations of aggregated data at sub-national levels have confined the analysis to the use of simulation models and household surveys. As an alternative, this paper contributes to the...
This paper performs a multidimensional first order dominance (FOD) analysis of child wellbeing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This methodology allows the ordinal ranking of the 11 provinces of the DRC in terms of their wellbeing based...
In the first two or three decades of independence, Nigeria, like the rest of Africa. placed heavy emphasis on expanding educational opportunities from primary school through university. This has resulted in a very impressive increase in the number of...
The study examines welfare changes in China during the reform period (1978- ) by analysing various welfare indicators, the causes of change, and the shifting models. It provides an empirical case to the general debate over the relationship between...
A cash transfer programme ‘Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty’ has been implemented with the aim of addressing poverty and vulnerability in Ghana. This study looks at the impact of this conditional cash transfer programme on households’ supply of...
It is widely accepted in recent work in economics and political science that ethnic diversity has a negative impact on the provision of public goods...
In this paper, we apply the first-order dominance (FOD) approach to assessing multidimensional welfare to analyse multidimensional poverty in Zambia in 1996, 2006, and 2010. In addition to evaluating welfare across time and space, we extend the...
After years of economic decline, conflict, and instability, the Democratic Republic of Congo achieved rapid economic growth in the 2000s along with a reduction in rural consumption poverty. This paper evaluates the extent to which recent growth has...
We explore the relationship between connections and public transfers in decentralized poverty-targeting programmes. Using panel data from Vietnam we find evidence that households with connections to local government are more likely to be classified...
We develop an approach for making welfare comparisons between populations with multidimensional discrete well-being indicators observed at the micro level. The approach is rooted in the concept of multidimensional first order dominance. It assumes...
In examining the welfare situation, this paper explores the relationship between economic changes and social development in Asian transition economies. Under the central planning system, achievements in human development in these countries were...
This paper is part of a larger UNUIWIDER research project which examines the problems of the provision of basic social goods, such as health care, education, maternal care and safe water, in the developing countries. These services have...
This paper examines the impact of the transition to a market economy on health and education outcomes in transitional Asia, with particular focus on the case of Vietnam. After examining a variety of empirical evidence, several lessons emerge. First...
This paper analyses the long-term growth and welfare impact of the transition to the market economy in the countries of Eastern Europe. We define welfare as the average real net wage after payments of social security contributions to fund a paygo...
The privatization trend affecting the state involvement in productive sectors is also challenging the role of the state in the provision of social services. And, as private participation in social sectors increases, a regulatory framework is needed...
This paper discusses the theoretical concepts underlying recent developments in the regulation of telecommunications in Europe, the USA and developing countries with respect to efficiency and welfare. It focuses on analysing standardization problems...
This article examines the policy responses of Western countries in the realm of asylum. We begin by explaining the reasons why the asylum issue has made its way up the political agendas of liberal democratic countries in recent years. While...
In recent years churches, NGOs and community associations, commonly referred to as civic organizations, have been playing an increasing role in the provision of social services in response to fiscal stress, state inefficiency and an ideological...
This paper provides a review and critical discussion of indicators, which attempt to combine the measurement of sustainability with that of well-being. It starts with some commonly agreed definitions of sustainability, showing how most well-being...
The classical transfer problem is studied in an overlapping generations framework, where the transfer is from a creditor country to a debtor country. A distinction is made between tax-financed and debt-financed transfers on the one hand, and between...
Uzbekistan is typically seen as one of the slowest reformers among the countries in transition from central planning to a market-oriented economy. This paper evaluates the welfare impact of gradual transition in Uzbekistan, asking whether it has...
Statistical and sociological evidence is gathered to display changes in social structure of the Czech society before and after 1989, with a special focus on economic inequalities. In the first part, frozen landscape of the communist regime is...
We contribute to the literature on trends in living standards in Tanzania by analysing child welfare using two multi-dimensional approaches, first-order dominance (FOD) and Alkire-Foster (AF). Between 1991/92 and 2010, remarkably similar area...
In April 2001 the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) approached the Supreme Court of India arguing that the government has a duty to provide greater relief in the context of mass hunger. The litigation has now become the best known precedent...
by Manuel Montes Active social protection policies that address issues of the health, education, safety, and security of the general population are...
by Tony Addison and Giovanni Andrea Cornia Asia's crisis has halted social progress The human development indicators of East Asia and South-East Asia...
During the 2000s, El Salvador experienced slow economic growth for Latin American standards. The country underwent a recession during the international crisis of 2008, but returned to pre-recession output level in 2011. Changes in labour market...
During the 2000s Honduras grew less than the average Latin American country and labour market indicators moved, in general, in a worsening direction. The only exceptions were the reduction in the unemployment rate and the improvements in the mix of...
During the 2000s Mexico grew less than the average for Latin America. Labour market indicators exhibited mixed changes, with improvements over the period for some of them and deterioration for others. The country was severely hurt by the...
Between 2000 and 2012, Panama boasted the strongest economic growth in Latin America. The growth experience was not uniform: the 2000–02 period was marked by slow or negative growth rates, after which growth was exceptionally rapid. Although the...
During the 2000s Paraguay experienced slow economic growth but improved all labour market indicators. The growth process was erratic. Paraguay underwent a macroeconomic crisis at the beginning of the period, a recession as a consequence of the...
The Peruvian economy performed exceptionally well between 2000 and 2012, with a growth performance that placed the country well above the regional average and an improvement in all labour market indicators. The economy suffered a slowdown as a...
The Uruguayan story was one of declines in the early years of the 2000s in most indicators, followed by improvements in all of them. Economic growth was negative in the early years due to a severe economic crisis, positive and rapid thereafter except...
Venezuela experienced slow economic growth during the 2000s. The economy suffered a recession in the early years of the period and during the international crisis of 2008, but most labour market indicators improved and moved along with the business...
Notwithstanding the unprecedented attention devoted to reducing poverty and fostering human development via scaling up social sector spending, there is surprisingly little rigorous empirical work on the question of whether social spending is...
In the more than two decades since democratic elections signalled a new era in Mozambique, a great deal has been accomplished. Nearly all development...
This article is part of UNU’s “17 Days, 17 Goals” series, featuring research and commentary in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development...
UNU-WIDER had a busy September. We celebrated our 30th birthday with some 600 people at our three-day conference on ‘Mapping the Future of Development...
Argentina experienced a decline in the early years of the 2000s, from 2000 to 2002, in GDP and in most labour market indicators, followed by improvements in nearly all of them, tracing out a U-shaped pattern. The international crisis of 2008 impacted...
During the 2000s Bolivia experienced moderate economic growth and improved all labour market indicators. The economy suffered a slowdown as a consequence of the international crisis of 2008, but Bolivia sustained positive growth rates during that...
During the 2000s, Brazil experienced slow economic growth and a substantial improvement in labour market indicators. From 2001 to 2012, Brazil grew less than the Latin American average. However, the unemployment rate decreased, the employment...
During the 2000s Chile achieved rapid economic growth and improved most labour market indicators: the unemployment rate fell; the mix of employment by occupational position and sector improved; the educational level of the employed population, the...
Between 2000 and 2013, Colombia experienced rapid economic growth. The country suffered a slowdown at the beginning of the period and during the international crisis of 2008, but during both slowdowns, the growth rate never turned negative. Most...
In the 2000s, Costa Rica experienced moderate economic growth and a general improvement in labour market conditions. From 2000 to 2012, Costa Rica grew at the Latin American average. Most labour market indicators improved during 2001–09 and 2010–12...
In the run up to the announcement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) in September every development issue is clamouring for attention. The...
During the 2000s, the Dominican Republic experienced above-average economic growth along with mixed results in labour market indicators. GDP per capita stagnated through 2004 and, for the most part, grew rapidly from 2005 through 2012. Comparing 2000...
Ecuador experienced moderate economic growth during the 2000s. The economy suffered a mild recession during the international crisis of 2008, but returned to pre-recession GDP per capita level in 2010. Most labour market indicators improved over the...
This paper reviews what has been learned over many decades of foreign aid to education. It discusses what works and what does not and in this discussion draws attention to the fact that even a simple assessment requires more than providing a uniform...
Various development objectives are worthy, but to my mind, one objective dominates all others: reducing the scourge of absolute economic misery in the world. In this paper, I focus on an important but relatively underemphasized approach to poverty...
This paper describes changes over the past 15-20 years in non-income measures of wellbeing—education and health—in Africa. We expected to find, as we did in Latin America, that progress in the provision of public services and the focus of public...
The paper reflects on the potential of the OECD-DAC creditor reporting system to systematically capture flows of official development assistance (ODA) in support of realizing children’s rights. The growth in modalities for delivering aid, including...
During the 1990s, inequality in Ecuador increased because of a natural disaster and deep economic and financial crisis, as well as the impact of liberalization of the trade and financial sectors on labour markets Falling income equality in Ecuador...
More than a billion people live in extreme poverty. Many face the risk of never escaping from poverty. These risks are exacerbated by natural hazards, ill-health, and macroeconomic volatility. Consequently, vulnerability has become the defining...
This paper examines inter-country inequality in indicators of human well-being. It is primarily concerned with inequality in two gender-related, composite indicators of development levels proposed: the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and the...
The rise of China and India is rapidly reshaping the world economy, with far-reaching implication for every national and regional government, business community, and individual citizen. Arising from the UNU-WIDER research project 'Southern Engines of...
Part of Journal Special Issue Well-being Achievements in Pacific Asia
The term "social security" has a very different meaning in underdeveloped countries -- whose populations live in great insecurity -- and is best understood as poverty alleviation. This book attempts to define social security in the Third World and to...
Part of Book Poverty, Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia during the Transition
This book provides cutting edge analytical insights into if and how the MDGs are likely to be achieved. The volume presents empirical analyses of key determinants of the MDG target variables, which recognise that most of the MDG targets are...
China, India, Brazil, and South Africa are reshaping the world economy. These Southern Engines countries have experienced a dramatic transformation in their productive and trade capabilities, consequently turning into global super powers. The current...
Food insecurity and hunger have traditionally been measured by aggregate food supplies or by variables correlated with food insecurity. Because these measures often poorly reflect individuals’ true deprivation, economists have turned to surveys with...
India accounts for 16.7 per cent of the world’s food consumers. With the exception of China, India’s size in terms of food consumers is many times larger than the average size of the rest of the countries. At the time of independence in 1947, India...
The current consensus objective of development aid in the international community is to reduce poverty in general and to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in particular. In addition, the dominant view identifies economic growth as the...
This paper proposes to organize thinking about the opportunities for improving and extending financial markets and safety nets for the poor, by focusing on factors that may explain why the linkage of local financial networks and safety nets with the...
In this paper we explore what impact, if any, government debts have on achieving the Millennium Development Goals for the Indian states. To fulfill the goals, national governments, especially in the developing world, have to undertake major...
We envisage a logical framework to explain why some trade negotiations are delayed because parties differ on who should ‘go first’. In our model, there are substantive welfare implications depending on which party sets tariff rates (or subsidies)...
Traditionally, the difference between income and expenditure reported in household surveys is used for estimation of savings at the household level. However, persistent deviation in consumption–income ratios by household income brackets raises...
Food insecurity at the household level has become unacceptable in India where the economy is growing at high rates and food sufficiency is already achieved at the macro-level. Food security has always been an important issue in the Indian political...
In Peru, a country with an astonishing variety of different ecological areas, with 84 different climate zones and landscapes, with rainforests, high mountain ranges and dry deserts, the geographical context may not be all that matters, but it could...
Absolute poverty lines are often derived from the cost of obtaining sufficient calories. Where staples vary across regions, such poverty lines may differ depending on whether they are set using national or regional food baskets. Regional poverty...
This study examines the rise and fall in income inequality in Ecuador over the past two decades. Falling income equality during the 2000s partly coincides with the rise to power of a ‘new leftist’ government, but the trend was already set early in...
Using data from the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) 2005, we examine intergenerational occupational mobility in India, an issue on which very few systematic and rigorous studies exist. We group individuals into classes and document patterns of...
This study provides the first set of empirical evidence on the determinants of social benefits received by urban families in China and the impact on income inequality using the China Household Income Project (CHIP) 1988 and 2002 data. It finds that...
Part of Journal Special Issue Developing Countries in the WTO Regime
by Vladimir Mikhalev The transition to a market economy in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union (FSU) has been associated with increased...
by Germano Mwabu, Cecilia Ugaz and Gordon White Human development indicators have improved considerably over the last thirty years. Nevertheless...
by John Micklewright and Kitty Stewart The accession of up to 13 new members in the next decade is the most important development now facing the...
Part of Book Understanding Inequality and Poverty in China
Part of Book Advancing Development
Part of Book Insurance Against Poverty
Part of Book Food Insecurity, Vulnerability and Human Rights Failure
Part of Book Food Insecurity, Vulnerability and Human Rights Failure
Part of Book Spatial Inequality and Development
Part of Book Poverty, Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia during the Transition
Part of Book Resource Abundance and Economic Development
Part of Book Inequality, Poverty and Well-being
Part of Book Understanding Human Well-being
Part of Book Food Price Policy in an Era of Market Instability
Part of Journal Special Issue Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality in Latin America
Part of Book Falling Inequality in Latin America
Part of Book Vulnerability in Developing Countries
Part of Book Vulnerability in Developing Countries
Part of Book Vulnerability in Developing Countries
Part of Journal Special Issue Health and Development
Part of Journal Special Issue Health and Development
Part of Journal Special Issue Entrepreneurship, Developing Countries and Development Economics
Part of Book The Poor under Globalization in Asia, Latin America, and Africa
Part of Book Foreign Aid for Development
Part of Book Foreign Aid for Development
Part of Journal Special Issue South-South and North-South Trade Agreements
This paper focuses on measuring the extent to which publicly subsidized transfers in Latin America and the Caribbean redistribute income. The redistributive power of 56 transfers in eight countries is measured by their simulated impacts on poverty...
A natural way of viewing an inequality or a poverty measure is in terms of the vector distance between an actual (empirical) distribution of incomes and some appropriately normative distribution (reflecting a perfectly equal distribution of incomes...
India addressed the requirement for pro-poor service delivery in rural regions by introducing decentralization and affirmative action policies. In order to measure the social preferences of local decision makers, we conducted field experiments which...
South Africa is considering introducing carbon taxes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We evaluate potential impacts using a dynamic economy-wide model linked to an energy sector model. Simulation results indicate that a phased-in carbon tax that...
We develop an approach for making welfare comparisons between populations with multidimensional discrete well-being indicators observed at the micro level. The approach is rooted in the concept of multidimensional first order dominance. It assumes...
The paper examines the main issues involved in translating domestic bankruptcy procedures to the sovereign context. It considers some of the principles by which domestic bankruptcy procedures operate, and the extent to which they apply to...
This paper argues that the effects of the food price crisis of 2007–08 put pressure on two variables that are of central importance to the Brazilian government: inflation and social inclusion. We describe how political institutions in Brazil in the...
A propitiously timed household survey carried out in Mozambique over the period 2008-09 permits us to evaluate the short-to-medium run relationship between sudden shocks to food prices and child nutrition status. We link local price inflation with...
The promotion of human welfare is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of economic development. To achieve this, many developing countries adopted trade liberalisation in the late 1980s, premised on the theoretical evidence based on the...
Tajikistan’s rural sector has witnessed substantial development since the country began to emerge from civil conflict in 1999. Gross agricultural output increased 64 per cent from 1999 to 2003, and there were significant developments in the...
Presenting gifts at funerals, weddings, and other ceremonies held by fellow villagers have been regarded as social norms in Chinese villages for thousands of years. However, it is more burdensome for the poor to take part in these social occasions...
We develop a theoretical model of foreign aid to analyse a method of disbursement of aid which induces the recipient government to follow a more pro-poor policy than it otherwise would do. In our two-period model, aid is given in the second period...
We examine returns to entrepreneurship using a standard measure of welfare, the per capita consumption expenditure. Using quantile regressions, we find welfare hierarchy in occupations. The results suggest that, across the welfare distribution...
Part of Book Utility Privatization and Regulation
Part of Book The Environment and Emerging Development Issues
Part of Journal Special Issue Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being
Part of Book The Political Economy of Hunger
Part of Book Poverty, Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia during the Transition
Part of Book Poverty, Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia during the Transition
Part of Book Poverty, Income Distribution and Well-Being in Asia during the Transition
Part of Book Social Provision in Low-Income Countries