European Enlightenment thinkers were right in stressing the political dimension of inequality, rather than referring to "natural differences" as some others did after them in the 19th or 20th centuries. Drawing from recent theoretical and empirical contributions in social sciences and in...

This paper argues against a natural resource curse for human development. We find evidence that changes in human development from 1970 to 2005, proxied by changes in the Human Development Index, are positively and significantly correlated with natural resource abundance. While our results are...

Most small fragile states have their own unique circumstances that predispose them to social conflict or frequent economic disruptions. These disruptions end up imposing a large cost on regional neighbours and on the international community more broadly. Therefore the development community is in...

As often argued, a negative perception of immigration, or even emigration, prevails public opinions and governments in most countries. It is argued that caused by economic hardship or political hardship or political unrest in countries of origin, it would threaten well-being and identity in...

Poverty is often regarded as the "root cause" of trafficking, but the linkages between poverty, lack of development and trafficking are complex. For example, there is some evidence to suggest that victims of cross-border trafficking are more likely to originate from middle-income rather than...

This paper reviews the relationship between international migration and human development. First, it reviews what we know about the factors that drive migration from developing to developed countries. Second, it reviews existing knowledge about the impact of international migration and...

This paper assesses recent migration trends in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Within the last decade (1999-2009) the Russian Federation became the world’s second largest recipient of migrants after the United States, while the Ukraine became the fourth largest and Kazakhstan...