Following a slowdown during the global financial crisis in 2009, the Philippine economy roared back in 2010, with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates not seen in over 30 years. On the demand side, private consumption, investment, and net exports were the main drivers of growth. On the...

All children should be able to read by age 10. Reading is a gateway for learning as the child progresses through school - and conversely, an inability to read constrains opportunities for further learning. Reading proficiency is also critical for foundational learning in other subjects. In low-...

"Theories of poverty traps stand in sharp contrast to the view that anybody can make it through hard work and thrift. However, empirical detection of poverty traps is complicated by the lack of long panels, measurement error, and attrition. This paper shows how dynamic pseudo-panel methods can...

"Minimum wages are generally thought to be unenforceable in developing rural economies. But there is one solution - a workfare scheme in which the government acts as the employer of last resort. Is this a cost-effective policy against poverty? Using a microeconometric model of the casual labor...

"The authors examine the empirical evidence in support of the poverty trap view of underdevelopment. They calibrate simple aggregate growth models in which poverty traps can arise due to either low saving or low technology at low levels of development. They then use these models to assess the...

"Bourguignon, Goh, and Kim present an original method to study individual earning dynamics using repeated cross-sectional data. Because panel data of individuals are seldom available in developing countries, it is difficult to study individual earning dynamics and related issues such as the...