Working Paper
A new inequality estimate for urban India?
This paper applies a novel inequality estimation method to household consumption expenditure in Mumbai, India. Since the richest households may be missing in survey data, this re-estimated inequality figure takes them into account by combining survey...
Working Paper
What are the main drivers of Brazilian income distribution changes in the new millennium?
After three decades of persistently high income inequality, from 2001 Brazil experienced a downward inequality trend followed by rising household income growth. Both movements lasted until 2015. This work synthesizes the results of six papers...
Policy Brief
Inequality in Brazil
After three decades of persistently high inequality, Brazil has been experiencing a downward trend since 2001, accompanied by a rise in household incomes. These trends lasted until 2014 when a major reversal took place on both fronts. Since the 1970s...
Working Paper
The welfare impact of Vietnam’s national target programme ‘building a new countryside’
We evaluate the impact on household income of Vietnam’s national target programme to build a new countryside for the period from 2010 to 2015. The purpose of the programme is to modernize rural Vietnam. Given the universal implementation of the...
Working Paper
Mobile Internet and income improvement
New developments of existing technologies over time have led to emergent patterns of technology adoption and, accordingly, changing impacts on economy and society. Focusing on the arrival of mobile internet in the early 2010s in developing countries...
Working Paper
Long-run rural livelihood diversification in Kagera, Tanzania
What drives livelihood diversification among predominantly rural households in developing countries and how can welfare-enhancing patterns be established and sustained in the long run? A large literature has focused on whether income diversification...
Working Paper
Taxation and income distribution in Myanmar
Despite major public finance reform efforts over the last decade, Myanmarese public finances continue to be characterized by relative weakness in revenue collection, budget execution, and long-term sustainability. Myanmar is therefore in need of...
Working Paper
Labour market projections and time allocation in Myanmar
Myanmar has, in recent years, strengthened its focus on human capital as a development pillar, and introduced legislation and adopted conventions on child labour. But child exploitation continues, including use of forced labour by the military and...
Working Paper
Income inequality and household debt
How does income inequality impact the propensity for and levels of formal and informal household debt? This paper assesses this question using the two most recent waves of the South African Living Conditions Survey. A range of linear models as well...
Background Note
Introducing PITMOD – a microsimulation model of South Africa’s personal income tax rules
Over 60 years ago, Guy Orcutt and colleagues pioneered the use of microsimulation models in the social sciences to analyse the impact of social and economic policies. Although computational and data constraints initially hampered progress, these...