Working Paper

In 1991 the Ethiopian Revolution Democratic Front (EPRDF) toppled the old ‘socialist’ regime that had ruled the country for seventeen years. In contrast to the previous policy regime of hard control, EPRDF initiated a wide range of reforms that...

• Fiscal policy
• Income distribution
• Macroeconomics

Working Paper

If uncertainty exists over the exact location of the poverty line or over which measure to use to compare poverty between distributions, one may want to check whether poverty dominance holds. We develop a consistent statistical test to test the null...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Income distribution
• Poverty measurement

Working Paper

This paper illustrates how the use of microeconometric techniques can be used to uncover the micro dynamics behind macro shocks. Using Mexican micro data we find out that—controlling for everything else—between 1994 and 1998 returns to personal...

• Equality and inequality
• Income distribution
• Labour demand

Working Paper

This note points to certain similarities of orientation and outcome between Derek Parfit’s quest for a theory of beneficence and Amartya Sen’s quest for a suitable real-valued representation of poverty. It suggests that both projects, in a certain...

• Equality and inequality
• Index numbers (Economics)
• Poverty

Working Paper

In a heterogeneous population which can be partitioned into well-defined subgroups, it is plausible that the extent of measured aggregate poverty should depend upon the distribution of poverty across the subgroups. A judgment in favour of an equal...

• Equality and inequality
• Index numbers (Economics)
• Poverty

Working Paper

‘Globalization’ implies change, and uncertainty over future change may affect household welfare. We use data on Lorenz curves over the last fifty years for a sample of 53 (mostly developing) countries. Treating each country-quintile-year as an...

• Consumption
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Globalization

Working Paper

This paper proposes a semi-parametric method for poverty decomposition, which combines the data-generating procedure of Shorrocks and Wan (2004) with the Shapley value framework of Shorrocks (1999). Compared with the popular method of Datt and...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Poverty
• Regional economics

Working Paper

Mexico’s low-carbon technology perspectives show lack of coherence with the rising ambition in climate change commitments, for which Mexico is internationally praised. The comparison of two recent energy reforms, corresponding to two administrations...

• Gas utilities
• Natural resources
• Power resources

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

This paper discusses the emergence of two new middles since the Cold War, namely middle-income countries and people living above absolute poverty but below a security-from poverty-line. The paper sets out what has happened. It is argued that although...

• Economic growth
• Equality and inequality
• Income distribution

Working Paper

In this paper we study the effects of various tax schedule discontinuities on the behavior of small firms using high-quality and population-wide tax register data from South Africa. We use the bunching method to analyse how these discontinuities...

• Corporate governance
• Small business
• Taxation

Working Paper

This paper surveys 50 years of empirical research on the macroeconomic impact of aid, looking mainly at studies examining the link between aid and growth. It argues that studies dating until the late 1990s produced either contradictory or...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Macroeconomics

Working Paper

In this paper, worker and job flows are estimated using the IRP5 data from the South African Revenue Services. The data used in this paper is from the 2011–14 tax years and contains information on more than 12 million individuals and nearly 300,000...

• Job satisfaction
• Labour
• Labour economics

Policy Brief

• Economic growth
• Poverty

Working Paper

The paper focuses on the non-linearity of the transmission of the impact of globalization on poverty and the existence of threshold effects. Institutions constitute a critical factor for the creation of threshold effects in the impact of...

• Globalization
• Institutional economics
• Poverty

Working Paper

African regional organizations’ increasing activity in security policy is usually approached through the concept of a ‘security community’, which can only partially clarify their difficult situation. A multilevel governance model is suggested as a...

• International economic relations
• Regional economics
• International security

Working Paper

Over 1975-2003 nearly 200 new constitutions were drawn up in countries at risk of conflict, as part of peace processes and the adoption of multiparty political systems. The process of writing constitutions is considered to be very important to the...

• Democracy
• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Social conflict

Working Paper

‘In a very real sense, the conditions that spawned the war and inflicted gruesome casualties on Sierra Leone’s citizens have not disappeared’, warned the International Crisis Group. In this paper we argue that many of those conditions are being...

• Democratization
• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Corruption

Working Paper

This article examines the external and internal dimensions of post-conflict reconstruction in Sierra Leone. The United Nations, bilateral donors such as the United Kingdom, and transnational non-governmental organizations and aid agencies have been...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Corruption
• Natural resources

Working Paper

Peace can generate an economic dividend, which can be further increased by appropriate economic reform. This dividend can in turn be used to raise popular support for conflict resolution measures along the road to achieving a final political...

• Economic assistance and foreign aid
• Public expenditures
• Social conflict

Working Paper

One account of spatial concentration focuses on productivity advantages arising from market size. We investigate this for 40 regions of Japan. Our results identify important effects of a region’s own size, as well as cost linkages between producers...

• Gross national product
• Productivity
• Regional economics

Working Paper

The long-running conflict in northern Uganda has led to major violations of human rights against civilians, destruction of infrastructure, reduced access to social services, and paralysed economic activity. Creating peace and fostering reconciliation...

• Public expenditures
• Local government
• Poverty

Working Paper

We analyze the relation between inequality, corruption and competition in a developing economy context where markets are imperfect. We consider an economy where different types of households (efficient and inefficient) choose to undertake production...

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

Working Paper

This paper examines the causes of conflict in Burundi and discusses strategies for building peace. The analysis of the complex relationships between distribution and group dynamics reveals that these relationships are reciprocal, implying that...

• Distribution
• Education
• Equality and inequality

Working Paper

This paper studies the postwar economic and political reconstruction in Lebanon. The paper shows that the ‘reconstruction boom’ was short-lived. The economy experienced a growth trap early in the reconstruction period, and entered a cyclical crisis...

• Distribution
• Public expenditures
• Fiscal policy

Working Paper

The rate of fertility decline has been slow in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using the Demographic and Health Surveys for 21 SSA countries between 1990 and 2014, we examine the within-country fertility patterns by wealth, applying the Bongaarts (2015)...

• Families
• Human fertility
• Population

Working Paper

This paper offers a substantive contribution to the debate on the role of international trade on the development of emerging countries. The aim is to detect empirically the phenomenon of vulnerability induced by trade openness. The methodology adopts...

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

Blog

The recovery and acceleration of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa since about 1995 has been widely recognised. But less is known about the extent...

• Economic growth
• Poverty

Working Paper

In this paper, an attempt is made to identify some key challenges for infrastructure sectors in post-conflict reconstruction. In spite of the Hague and Geneva Conventions, infrastructure can be damaged in conflicts, and reconstructing infrastructure...

• Infrastructure (Economics)
• Public goods
• Social conflict

Working Paper

An important channel through which globalization affects poverty is introducing new technologies to developing countries. Adoption of new technologies can be hindered by uncertainties about their efficiency. This paper studies the role of information...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Globalization
• Information technology

Working Paper

The impact of globalization on poverty is a matter of keen debate but empirical work in this area has been dominated by cross-country regressions. This paper attempts to link the more macro impacts of globalization, particularly as manifested through...

• Globalization
• Labour market
• Macroeconomics

Working Paper

Using a CGE model, PRCGEM, with an updated 2002 I/O table, this paper explores how earnings will be affected in each of 40 separate industries across 31 regions (or 8 regional blocks) of China for the period 2002–07. Labour movement between regions...

• Equality and inequality
• Labour market
• Regional economics

Working Paper

This study explores the effects of macroeconomic factors on total factor productivity (TFP) in 34 sub-Saharan African countries for the period 1980-2002. The econometric analysis shows that external debt is negatively and significantly related to TFP...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Macroeconomics
• Productivity

Working Paper

This paper introduces two composite indices of globalization. The first is based on the Kearney/Foreign Policy magazine and the second is obtained from principal component analysis. They indicate the level of globalization and show how globalization...

• Econometric models (Economic development)
• Globalization
• Income distribution

Working Paper

The impact of globalization on global and local inequality is hotly debated in the recent literature. This study considers the separate issue of the impact of globalization on poverty through quantifying explicitly the responsiveness of poverty to...

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

Research Brief

• Wages
• Income inequality
• Wage growth

Blog

At the beginning of this decade, large offshore natural gas fields were discovered in north-east Mozambique. Investment is now flowing into the...

• Extractives
• Mozambique
• Revenues

Policy Brief

Since 1989, inequality in Mexico has risen, declined, and risen again. The evolution of labour income inequality is at the core of this pattern. To reverse the current trend of rising inequality, access to secondary and tertiary education should...

• Labour income
• Inequality
• Top incomes

Working Paper

This paper uses trade theory to examine the effects of trade liberalization on countries that do not participate in it. These include both countries that fail to participate in multilateral trade negotiations, and also countries that lie outside of...

• Globalization
• International trade
• Macroeconomics

Policy Brief

Following the introduction of economic reforms in the early 1990s, India today is achieving unprecedented per capita growth rates. Poverty reduction has also accelerated and is justly celebrated. There is great concern, however, that this growth is...

• Inequality
• Decomposition
• Welfare dynamics

Journal Article

We consider the interplay of climate change impacts, global mitigation policies, and the economic interests of developing countries to 2050. Focusing on Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, we employ a structural approach to biophysical and economic...

Research Brief

• Economic inequality
• Poverty
• Social cash transfers

Working Paper

Using administrative tax records from South Africa for the period 2011–14, I find that firm wage premia explain 25 per cent of the total wage variance, 60 per cent of the gender wage gap, and 40 per cent of the gap between workers in the middle and...

• Discrimination
• Firm effects
• Income inequality

Working Paper

We employ a micro-founded and stock-and-flow-consistent model to study the impact of a higher leverage ratio on the South African economy. The model provides a rich representation of institutional balance sheets. The relationship between bank capital...

• Computable general equilibrium
• Financial dynamics
• Leverage ratio

Working Paper

This paper investigates whether Southern African Development Community countries that are vulnerable to changes in oil prices could instead substitute oil and petroleum products with biofuels and gas from within the region. A pooled mean group...

• Economic growth
• Oil prices
• Panel data analysis

Working Paper

Services are the fastest growing portion of world trade and now account for nearly a quarter of global exports. This presents opportunities for emerging economies to adapt and enter new markets. Many countries in southern Africa have struggled to...

• Tradable sectors
• Services
• International trade

Working Paper

This paper provides an overview of the structure, key functions, and characteristics of the motorcycle parts and aftermarket industries in Southern Africa in order to identify challenges to and opportunities for growth in these industries. The...

• Aftermarket
• Industrialization
• Motorcycles

Journal Special Issue

Social protection has attracted increasing interest in developing countries in recent decades and policies have been initiated in all developing regions. Cash transfer policies are already in place in many African countries, but their coverage is...

• SOUTHMOD
• Microsimulation modelling
• Tax-benefit microsimulation