The theoretical literature on pro-poor growth as well as its applications have not paid sufficient attention to the issue of varying inflation rates across the income distribution. Ignoring inflation inequality in pro-poor growth measurements can however severely bias assessments of pro-poor...

Previous poverty assessments for Burkina Faso were biased due to the neglect of some important methodological issues. This led to the so-called ‘Burkinabè Growth-Poverty-Paradox’, i.e. relatively sustained macro-economic growth, but almost constant poverty. We estimate that poverty...

The empirical evidence shows that in developing countries illness shocks can have a severe impact on household income. Few studies have so fare examined the effects of mortality. The major difference between illness and mortality shocks is that a death of a household member does not only induce...

(english) Since the 1994 devaluation, growth has been quite strong in Mali (about 5% p.a. on average), but much weaker in terms of GDP per person (about 2.6% p.a.) due to a very high index of fecundity. Growth is still very unstable, due to a large share of agriculture in GDP and very sensitive...

(english) Most longitudinal surveys recontact households only if they are still living in the same dwelling, producing very high attrition rates, especially in developing countries where rural-urban migration is prevalent. In this paper, we discuss the implications of the various follow-up rules...

(english) This paper investigates the dynamics of the informal sector in Madagascar during a period of fragile growth. Overall, the behavior of informal firms in terms of earnings, employment and capital accumulation points to a degree of heterogeneity which goes beyond a simple dualistic model...

(english) The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of education on labor market entry, particularly on earnings in the two largest cities of the Republic of Congo. We examine firsthand data from the 2009 Congo's Employment and Informal Sector Survey (Enquête sur l’emploi et le secteur...

In Africa, boundaries delineated during the colonial era now divide young independent states. By applying regression discontinuity designs to a large set of surveys covering the 1986-2001 period, this paper identifies many large and significant jumps in welfare at the borders between five...

(english) Fiscal constraints and policy changes to improve the effectiveness of programmes in reducing poverty have gradually led the international community to use tools to reach the poor. Poverty reduction policy targeting is one of them. This paper reviews targeted poverty alleviation...