This paper provides an explanation for the observed persistence in income inequality across households in terms limited parental altruism. It is postulated that the degree of parental altruism is ‘limited’ by the financial status of the parent. [CDE WP 101].

The paper examines child labour, lower schooling attendance and attainment, and significantly elevated fertility in families vulnerable to debt bondage.

Boosting women’s relative control of income and other economic resources has so many consequences that positively enhance both gender equality and development that female economic empowerment may be close to being a “magic potion.†[Paper presented at the 100th Annual Meeting of...