Empirical evidence suggests that the natural-resource curse operates through the behaviorof the political elite, yet there are few models that convincingly illustrate the mechanismat work. I present a model where natural-resource abundance generates power struggles,thereby increasing the...

The High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth came together to provide policy analysis and practical proposals for actions that could help countries secure a strong recovery from the pandemic and a successful green transition. This report pulls together...

[...]This research takes Iliffe’s suggestion seriously. For the student of Sub-Saharan Africa who has decided to explore a plausible route of causationbetween nutrition and poverty, the most urgent task is to disregard the initialdiscouragement triggered by the scarcity of references. The lack...

This paper examines pre-colonial interaction among polities along the Konkan coast, from Surat to Goa, during the long half-century c.1680-1756. Specifically it uses the dynasty of the Angrias, who were deemed pirates by the European powers but were actually an integral part of the Maratha...

This article, based on two books (Barr and Diamond 2008, forthcoming), sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best...

This Report is about Reforming pensions in China, Chile and elsewhere.

This report is the first policy study of the China Economic Research and AdvisoryProgramme, in which eminent economists from China and abroad have participated. Thereport focuses on the problems faced by China in the reform of its social security system.On the basis of economic principles and...

This paper discusses the contribution made by American social scientists to thestudy of poverty in the past twenty five years. It has three parts. The firstconcentrates on the measurement of poverty and the fact that the US povertyline remained unchanged in that period despite its increasingly...