Strategies based on growth and inequality reduction require a long-run horizon, and this paper therefore argues that those strategies need to be complemented by poverty alleviation programs. With regards to such programs, informality in Latin America and the Caribbean is a primary obstacle to...

Developing countries spend vast sums on subsidies. Beneficiaries are typically selected via either a proxy-means test (PMT) or through a decentralized identification process led by local leaders. A decentralized allocation may offer informational or accountability advantages, but may be prone to...

For policy purposes, it is important to understand the relative efficacy of various methods to target the poor. Recently, participatory methods have received particular attention. We examine the effectiveness of a hybrid two-step process that combines a participatory wealth ranking and a...

At an annual cost of roughly $7 billion nationally, remedial coursework is one of the single largest interventions intended to improve outcomes for underprepared college students. But like a costly medical treatment with non-trivial side effects, the value of remediation overall depends upon...

We compare risk sharing in response to demand and supply shocks in four types of currency unions: segmented markets; a banking union; a capital market union; and complete financial markets. We show that a banking union is efficient at sharing all domestic demand shocks (deleveraging, fiscal...

Die deutsche Wirtschaft wird im laufenden Jahr trotz der Dämpfung aufgrund der restriktiven Finanzpolitik, des drastischen Anstiegs des Ölpreises sowie der Turbulenzen an den Finanzmärkten und der Aufwertung des Euro um 2,6 % wachsen. Nach dem Urteil der Institute sind die endogenen...

Am 18. Oktober 2007 stellten die Wirtschaftsforschungsinstitute der Projektgruppe Gemeinschaftsdiagnose in Berlin ihr Herbstgutachten der Presse vor. Ihrer Ansicht nach wird die Weltwirtschaft im Herbst 2007 immer noch kräftig expandieren, doch die konjunkturellen Risiken haben sich erhöht.