Should Swedish used-clothes exports continue to be subsidized as development aid? Theoretical analysis and review of empirical evidence regarding effects of both commercial and charitable (subsidized) used-clothes imports in LDCs. Includes statistics on the world used-clothes trade, including...

This paper reviews the recent literature dealing with the relationships between economic growth, income distribution, and poverty. This generally fails to find any systematic pattern of change in income distribution during recent decades. Neither does it find any systematic link from fast growth...

Globalisation or market integration in Sub-Saharan Africa is closely linked to the structural adjustment programmes. In this paper we focus on their dependence on politics and institutional characteristics of the countries concerned. In particular, we argue that one important explanation for the...

Zambia’s experience in the 1990s illustrates that, on their own, policy changes will not redress decades of mismanagement, especially when the degree of commitment of the elite remains unaltered. In 1991, the Movement for Multiparty Democracy won the elections on a reform platform, promising...

The use of institutional measures in empirical work is widespread, but the question of what these measures actually capture and how they are constructed is something that is not given enough attention. Institutions and their measures are therefore like a “black box of goodies”: Something...

This paper examines the economic and political conditions that influence people’s attitudes regarding a municipality break-up. The theoretical model predicts intra-municipal differences in tax bases, political preferences, and population size to affect the expected gain from secession. The...

Unless people pay the taxes they are obliged to pay, a general welfare state will eventually collapse. Thus, for the welfare state to survive in the long run, tax compliance is of utmost importance. Using Swedish individual survey data we analyze which factors affect the perception of tax...

The paper investigates the poverty impact of growth in Ethiopia by analysing panel data covering the period 1994 to 1997, a period of economic recovery driven by good weather, peace, and much improved macro economic management. Unlike mostdeveloping countries, urban and rural poverty in Ethiopia...

The most important event in human economic history before the Industrial Revolution was the Neolithic transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to sedentary agriculture, beginning about 10,000 years ago. The transition made possible the human population explosion, the rise of...

The Zambian economy has grown relatively fast over the last decade up to the current global financial crisis. This paper discusses the challenge of using these growing resources effectively to improve the welfare of the population and to reduce poverty. The poverty head count index is found to...