Blog

Luc Christiaensen and Lorraine Telfer-Taivainen If a person suddenly becomes poor, for example, due to an unexpected death or illness in the family...

• Children
• Consumption
• Poverty measurement

Working Paper

This paper explores the hypothesis that the phenomenon of child labour is explicable in terms of poverty that compels a household to keep its children out of school and put them to work in the cause of the household’s survival. In exploring the link...

• Children
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Labour economics

Working Paper

The literature on the economics of happiness in the developed economies finds discrepancies between reported measures of wellbeing and income measures. The ‘Easterlin paradox’, for example, shows that average happiness levels do not increase as...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Globalization

Working Paper

The human development index (HDI) developed by the United Nations Development Programme is computed as the average of three equally weighted outcome measures: life expectancy (LI), educational attainment (EI) and income (WI). However, this...

• Economies of scale
• Index numbers (Economics)
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

This paper attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of interrelationships among the determinants of the quality of life (QOL). We show that various measures of well-being are highly sensitive to domains of QOL that are considered in the...

• Equality and inequality
• Public expenditure
• Index numbers (Economics)

Working Paper

This study, relying on an economic-theoretical approach to index numbers, proposes a framework for incorporating environmental indicators to the measurement of human well-being. Furthermore this study also proposes an improvement index which...

• Environmental economics
• Index numbers (Economics)
• Poverty

Working Paper

Typical welfare and inequality measures are required to be Lorenz consistent which guarantees that inequality decreases and welfare increases as a result of a progressive transfer. We explore the implications for welfare and inequality measurement of...

• Equality and inequality
• Income distribution
• Poverty measurement

Working Paper

An AGE model with detailed farm supply and substitution relationships is used to analyze impacts of OECD domestic support reform on developing economy welfare. Stylized simulations indicate reforms best suited for reducing trade distortions with...

• Agriculture
• Food industry and trade
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

There has been much debate about how much poor people in developing countries gain from trade openness, as one aspect of ‘globalization’. The paper views the issue through both ‘macro’ and ‘micro’ empirical lenses. The macro lens uses cross-country...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Globalization
• International trade

Working Paper

Determining whether well-being has improved is an important multidisciplinary task. It is important therefore to develop a multidimensional measure of well-being that reflects a wide spectrum of human needs. A new approach is presented in this paper...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Public goods
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

The paper tracks recent changes in the components of social protection in Latin America, the reforms to social insurance in the 1990s and the growth of social assistance in the 2000s, and assesses their effects on poverty and inequality and...

• Economic policy
• Equality and inequality
• Social security

Working Paper

Economic measures of income have ignored large areas of human well-being and are poor measures of well-being in the areas to which they attend. Despite increased recognition of those distortions, ‘GNP per capita continues to be regarded as the...

• Economic development
• Poverty measurement
• Welfare economics

Journal Special Issue

• Economic development
• Human capital
• Poverty

Working Paper

In this paper, we convey the concept of first-order dominance (FOD) with particular focus on applications to multidimensional population welfare comparisons. We give an account of the fundamental equivalent definitions of FOD, illustrated with simple...

• Welfare economics

Working Paper

This study appraises non-monetary multidimensional poverty in Nigeria using the novel first order dominance approach developed by Arndt et al. (2012). It examines five dimensions of deprivation: education, water, sanitation, shelter, and energy-using...

• Game theory
• Microeconomics
• Poverty

Working Paper

This study focuses on growth, poverty and inequality in Rwanda. We take a broad perspective, in two respects. First, we consider a long time period so as to compare the current situation with the pre-war situation, allowing us to assess whether the...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Working Paper

In this paper we make welfare comparisons among districts of Zambia using multidimensional well-being indicators observed at the household level using the first order dominance approach developed by Arndt et al. in 2012. This approach allows welfare...

• Game theory
• Poverty
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

The objective of this paper is to analyse the welfare effects of food price volatility on Cameroonian consumers. Using data from the third Cameroonian Household Consumption Surveys, the price elasticities are obtained from a Quadratic Almost Ideal...

• Food supply
• Households
• Prices

Working Paper

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...

• Economic growth
• Poverty
• Public welfare

Policy Brief

In simple language and with numerous concrete examples, this policy brief analyses the impact - among others - of key ex-ante factors such as acute 'horizontal inequality' between social groups in the distribution of assets, state jobs, social...

• Equality and inequality
• International relations
• Social conflict

Policy Brief

The objective of this research and policy brief is to analyse different mechanisms of access to land for the rural poor in an era when redistribution through expropriative land reform is largely inconsistent with the forces of the political economy...

• Land reform
• Land tenure
• Land use

Working Paper

South Africa has exhibited tepid economic growth over the past twenty years as well as high levels of income inequality characteristic of a middle income country growth trap. This paper compares and contrasts South Africa’s growth trap relative to...

• Economic growth
• Structural adjustment (Economic policy)
• Industrial policy

Working Paper

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the growth performance of the Cameroonian economy from independence in 1960 to date, and then to use this as a background for the analysis of poverty, inequality, and non-monetary outcomes. The analysis of...

• Economic growth
• Equality and inequality
• Microeconomics

Working Paper

This paper aims at measuring and analysing for the first time inequality in the distribution of expenditures among households in Togo according to the characteristics of household heads. The study is based on the most recent survey (QUIBB 2006) and...

• Equality and inequality
• Income distribution
• Index numbers (Economics)

Working Paper

Official poverty figures in Uganda are flawed by the fact that the underlying poverty lines are based on a single national food basket that was constructed in the early 1990s. In this paper, we estimate a new set of poverty lines that accounts for...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Game theory
• Health

Working Paper

As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania has attained rapid economic growth accompanied by only marginal reductions in poverty. Is this mismatch between high economic growth and less significant poverty reduction due to how growth and poverty are...

• Economic growth
• Game theory
• Poverty measurement

Working Paper

This paper, using a new set of social development indices, explores the measurement of social development across Africa, and how this relates to broader development patterns and measurement. Development practitioners worldwide increasingly recognize...

• Economic development
• Economic growth
• Equality and inequality

Policy Brief

This Policy Brief is an outcome of the UNU-WIDER research project 'Social Development Indicators'. The overall aim of the project was to provide insights into how human well-being might be better conceptualized and, in particular, measured, by...

• Economic development
• Methodology (Economics)
• Equality and inequality

Working Paper

In this paper we argue that the recent evidence on individuals’ decision making is of high relevance for the measurement of poverty when switching from a static and certain to a dynamic and uncertain framework. The numerous proposed measures of multi...

• Microeconomics
• Poverty measurement
• Uncertainty

Working Paper

We use Arndt and Simler’s (2010) utility-consistent approach to calculating poverty lines to analyse poverty in Madagascar in 2001, 2005 and 2010. Because two major political crises occurred between the survey periods, the snapshots of national...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Working Paper

We use Arndt and Simler’s utility-consistent approach to calculating poverty lines to analyse poverty in Ethiopia in 2000, 2005, and 2011. Poverty reduction was steady but uneven, with gains greatest in urban areas in the first half of the decade...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Working Paper

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...

• Children
• Poverty
• Public welfare

Working Paper

Understanding the relationship between food insecurity and subjective evaluation of well-being is critical in designing social welfare policies, especially in developing countries. Surprisingly, literature on the topic is scarce. This study adopted...

• Food security
• Quality of life
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

At the end of the 1980s, Côte d’Ivoire entered a deep macroeconomic crisis that put an end to the often-praised ‘Ivorian miracle’. After the death of the founding father Houphouet-Boigny, unrestrained political competition added to bad economic...

• Household survey
• Poverty measurement
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

Climate variability poses a major risk to agricultural incomes in Africa. In Ghana, most of the country’s poor people live in the north and households find it difficult to hold back their productive assets during the lean season. This study...

• Agriculture
• Welfare economics
• Climate change

Working Paper

With the overthrow of the Derg in 1991, some 500,000 ex-soldiers needed to be demobilized and reintegrated back into their communities. Successfully integrating such a large number of ex-soldiers is clearly important to social stability. While...

• Labour mobility
• Land tenure
• Poverty

Journal Article

The impact of commercial farms on smallholders in developing countries remains highly controversial. This study draws on four periods of investments in commercial farming in Mozambique to frame an empirical analysis of their contemporary economic...

• Agriculture
• Farm produce
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

• Economics
• Equality and inequality
• Quality of life

Working Paper

Several studies have indicated an increase in men's mortality in East Germany between 1989 and 1991 in the wake of the reunification of 1990. For some age-groups, death rates soared by up to thirty per cent. This study investigates the evolution and...

• Panel analysis
• Population
• Post-communism

Working Paper

A plethora of what are loosely described as social and political indicators of well-being exist. Both the range and country coverage of these indicators has increased appreciably in recent years. In this paper we ask what contribution these...

• Equality and inequality
• Population
• Poverty measurement

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Game theory
• Poverty
• Welfare economics

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Economic growth
• Equality and inequality
• Microeconomics

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Household survey
• Poverty measurement
• Welfare economics

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Blog

by Tony Addison August 2012

Tony Addison With this issue, Angle returns refreshed from its Nordic summer break. The sun continues to shine on the Baltic, although it is getting...

• Environment
• Children
• Climate change

Blog

by Tony Addison December 2011

Tony Addison With the end of the year fast approaching, we bring you the last Angle of 2011. Here in Helsinki, the shortest day of the year is nearly...

• Finance
• Climate change
• Right of property

Working Paper

The recent history of Zaire presents a unique opportunity to understand and explain humanitarian emergencies. This monograph follows an inductive approach in analysing the trajectory of state-building in Zaire as a significant explanatory variable of...

• Humanitarian assistance
• Political science
• Poverty

Working Paper

The transition from plan to market has fundamentally transformed the social structure in Central and Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. The small Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan exemplifies these changes.Using data from nationally...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Post-communism

Working Paper

• History of economists
• Public welfare
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

Already in the 1950s it became clear that, in spite of its widespread use, the per capita gross national product is an insufficient measure of the well-being of citizens. Thus, in 1954, an expert group within the United Nations suggested that one...

• Equality and inequality
• Poverty
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

A one-good, representative consumer model of the pre-reform consumer sector of transition economies is developed. An equation is derived that permits empirical estimation of the welfare effect of price liberalization. Empirical estimates are...

• Deregulation
• Economic policy
• Prices

Working Paper

This paper examines the measurement of social welfare, poverty and inequality taking into account features that have been found to be important welfare determinants in behavioural economics. Most notably, we incorporate reference-dependence, loss...

• Equality and inequality
• Poverty
• Welfare economics

Journal Article

This paper studies some empirical implications of models with limited risk sharing due to the imperfect enforceability of contracts. We test whether the amount by which public transfers reduce private transfers is affected by features of the economy...

• Education
• Health
• Households

Journal Article

Poor rural and urban households in developing countries face substantial risks, which they handle with risk-management and risk-coping strategies, including self-insurance through savings and informal insurance mechanisms. Despite these mechanisms...

• Banking
• Financial crisis
• Financial institutions

Blog

27 August 2014 Jukka Pirttilä and Tony Addison The last few months have seen major research activity in the area of inequality at UNU-WIDER. An update...

• Equality and inequality
• Methodology (Poverty)
• Quantitative research methodology

Blog

by Tony Addison June 2013

29 June 2013 Tony Addison The June-July summer issue of Angle comes to you amid the 19 hours daylight of the Finnish mid-summer. Last week UNU-WIDER’s...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Agriculture
• Children

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Book Chapter

Part of Book Growth and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Econometric models
• Equality and inequality
• Poverty

Working Paper

Conflict depletes all forms of human and social capital, as well as supporting institutions. The scale of the human damage can overwhelm public action, as there are many competing priorities and resources are often insufficient. What then should be...

• Economic development
• Education
• National security

Blog

by Roger Williamson September 2015

The celebration of the 30th Anniversary of UNU-WIDER presented the ideal opportunity to look back, take stock, and plan ahead. Where else can a group...

• Economic development
• Structural adjustment (Economic policy)
• Gross national product

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Aid, Social Policy and Development

• Government policy (Poor)
• Poverty measurement
• Methodology (Poverty)

Working Paper

In fragile states, social protection programmes are often a kaleidoscope of projects financed and implemented by a variety of donors, government agencies and NGOs. Such an environment does not foster a strong sense of ownership by beneficiaries...

• Labour unions
• Social movement
• Social security

Research Brief

Social insurance has not succeeded in reducing fiscal deficits and expanding coverage to more beneficiaries in Latin America Social assistance has had a greater impact on poverty and inequality than social insurance In lower-middle-income countries...

• Economic policy
• Equality and inequality
• Social security

Book Chapter

Part of Book Access to Land, Rural Poverty, and Public Action

• Land reform
• Land tenure
• Land use

Working Paper

The impact of large commercial farms on neighbouring smallholders in low-income sub-Saharan Africa remains controversial. Bringing evidence to a largely anecdotal debate, we deploy a dataset covering all commercial farms in Mozambique, linking them...

• Agriculture
• Farm produce
• Welfare economics

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue A Collection of UNU-WIDER articles in Chinese

• Economic development
• Poverty measurement
• Welfare economics

Book Chapter

Part of Book The Political Economy of Hunger

• Equality and inequality
• Food security
• Welfare economics

Book Chapter

Part of Book Utility Privatization and Regulation

• Industrial productivity
• Macroeconomics
• Privatization

Book Chapter

Part of Book Utility Privatization and Regulation

• Distribution
• Econometric models
• Privatization

Book Chapter

Part of Book The WTO, Developing Countries and the Doha Development Agenda

• Agriculture
• Food industry and trade
• Welfare economics

Book Chapter

Part of Book Human Well-being

• Equality and inequality
• Population
• Poverty measurement

Book Chapter

Part of Book Human Well-being

• Economic development
• Poverty measurement
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

Structural transformation in rural Vietnam has led to rising incomes and a diversification of livelihoods away from agriculture. Using panel data on children in 2,181 rural households surveyed over the 2008-14 period, we examine how the welfare of...

• Children
• Education
• Ethnic relations

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being

• Economic development
• Income distribution
• Public health

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being

• Economic development
• Poverty measurement
• Quality of life

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being

• Economic development
• Public welfare
• Welfare economics

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Inequality and Multidimensional Well-being

• Equality and inequality
• Welfare economics

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Well-being Achievements in Pacific Asia

• Income
• Index numbers (Economics)
• Poverty measurement

Book Chapter

Part of Book From Conflict to Recovery in Africa

• Labour mobility
• Land tenure
• Poverty

Book Chapter

Part of Book The Quality of Life

• History of economists
• Public welfare
• Welfare economics

Working Paper

Safety nets have often been controversial instruments, condemned in some circles as short-term palliatives or even a waste of money. Much recent evidence shows that safety nets not only support poverty reduction but also economic growth. The...

• Economic development
• Food security
• Poverty

Working Paper

This study assesses the evolution of inequality in Uruguay during 1981-2010, considered as subperiods built on the basis of the main policy regimes observed: extreme right (1981-84), centre-right (1985-89), right (1990-2004), and centre-left (2005-10...

• Education
• Income distribution
• Decision making (Public administration)

Working Paper

This paper examines the impacts of the financial, food and fuel crises on the livelihoods of low-income households Nigeria. It uses primary household level data from Nigeria to analyse the impacts of induced price variability on household welfare...

• Children
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Poverty

Working Paper

The poverty mapping methodology for estimating welfare rankings from small areas has proven to be useful in guiding allocation of government funds, regional planning, and general policy formulation. Nevertheless, poverty mapping also suffers from a...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Public expenditure
• Methodology (Poverty)

Working Paper

Relying on a general equilibrium model of Argentina’s economy calibrated for 1993 and internalizing all productivity and scale gains achieved up to 1999, this paper isolates the distributional effects of utilities reform from the impact of other...

• Industrial productivity
• Macroeconomics
• Privatization

Working Paper

This paper analyses the privatization of utilities in Bolivia, detailing the particularities of the capitalization mechanism which was used for this purpose. The analysis suggests that capitalization and regulation, and the liberalization of the...

• Foreign investments
• Poverty
• Privatization

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Poverty, Development, and Behavioral Economics

• Equality and inequality
• Poverty
• Poverty measurement

Journal Article

Part of Journal Special Issue Poverty, Development, and Behavioral Economics

• Poverty
• Risk management
• Uncertainty

Book Chapter

Part of Book Falling Inequality in Latin America

• Economic policy
• Equality and inequality
• Social security

Book Chapter

Part of Book Falling Inequality in Latin America

• Education
• Income distribution
• Decision making (Public administration)

Working Paper

The privatization of the national public utilities that took place almost a decade ago in Argentina seem to be explained by the persisting deficits of the enterprises, a general dissatisfaction with their performance and the difficulties government...

• Distribution
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Privatization

Working Paper

Tanzania has during the past years made substantial progress in stabilising the economy. One of the major issues has been to cut down on government activities and there has been a remarkable contraction. Although tax reform has been an important...

• Fiscal policy
• Households
• Taxation

Working Paper

This study evaluates the impact of the over seventy Social Funds (SFs) which were introduced since the mid-1980s to offset the surge in poverty spurred by adjustment. SFs benefited from greater visibility and financial support by the donor community...

• Public expenditure
• Fiscal policy
• Public investments

Working Paper

Privatization has been one of the primary factors generating changes in the Chilean economy over the last decade. Privatization has faced some opposition due part to its uncertain effect on employment and prices. Despite the importance of the topic...

• Poverty
• Privatization
• Public utilities

Working Paper

This paper investigates the correlates of household welfare in urban Ethiopia with an emphasis on the impact of education. We use household panel data collected between 1994 and 1997. Welfare is approximated by household income. Although non-educated...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Education
• Households

Working Paper

Almost five years after privatization took place in electricity and telecommunications, and major reforms had been carried out in the administration of water, the results is not clear a priori. In order to elucidate the panorama, this research tries...

• Privatization
• Public utilities
• Welfare economics