Using data on per capita income of Japan's 47 prefectures between 1955 and 1997, this paper shows that one of the most popular measurements of convergence, σ-convergence, is not invariant with both transformation and definition of dispersion. Measured by the standard deviation, the actual per...

This article evaluates whether the Philippines will be able to halve the incidence of poverty between 1990 and 2015. Using the concept of exit time and household‐level data, we find that the Philippines as a whole will not be able to comply with Target 1 of the Millennium Development Goals...

This article examines the empirical validity of immiserizing growth by using the revealed preference framework, together with macroeconomic growth data. We identify 26 episodes of immiserizing growth in the post-war world economy, mostly in Africa and Latin America. We also test statistically...