In India, Economic Reforms has been explicitly started in 1991. Even with some controversy in the initial period now it intruded in almost all the sectors. At present days economic reforms is mingled with every sphere of economic activities. But the effects of economic reforms are highly...

This study presents evidence from Indonesia on how the country’s recent periods of economic growth have contributed to poverty reduction at the regional level, with a particular emphasis on the role of decentralization. Over the past decade Indonesia has made significant progress in reducing...

Centralised targeting registries are increasingly used to allocate social assistance benefits in developing countries. This paper provides the first attempt to identify the relative importance of two key design issues for targeting accuracy: (1) which households to survey for inclusion in the...

Development of the social dimension of Europe was advanced by the Lisbon Summit in March 2000, and this paper considers the future direction of social policy. The first step towards a social agenda could take the form of benchmarking, based on national competencies in this field, with Member...

We compare the distributional effects of austerity measures that have been introduced in 6 EU countries in the period of large government budget deficits following the 2007-8 financial crisis and subsequent economic downturn. We explore the effects of policy changes presented as austerity...

As unemployment rises across the European Union (EU) it is important to understand the extent to which the incomes of the new unemployed are protected by tax-benefit systems and to assess the cost pressures on the social protection systems of this increase in unemployment. This paper uses the EU...

This paper analyses the extent to which tax-benefit systems provide an automatic stabilisation of income for those who became unemployed at the onset of the Great Recession. The focus of the analysis is on the compensation for earnings lost due to unemployment which is channelled through the...

Static microsimulation models are based on household micro-data and are designed to estimate the revenue cost and distributional and incentive effects of tax and benefit policy changes. They are invaluable for the design and evaluation of policy reforms. Static models allow us to hold constant...

This paper examines the poverty and inequality pattern, income and characteristics of households in the Program 135-II communes – the poorest areas in Vietnam. The poverty incidence decreased from 57.5 percent to 49.2 percent during the period 2007-2012. Although the poverty incidence...

As at today, it is an indisputable fact that the climate is changing and there is a scientific consensus that the world is becoming a warmer place principally attributable to human activities. Regrettably, the physical impacts of future climate change on humans and the environment will include...