In this paper we examine the mathematical relationship between growth and distributional change on absolute (i.e. percentage point) changes in FGT poverty measures assuming a log-normal income distribution, which we argue to be a conceptually superior and more policy-relevant measure than the...

Pro Poor Growth has become a central concern to achieve sustainable poverty reduction in developing countries. Despite being widely used, the term is not well-defined nor has there been a clear policy document that would summarize the determinants and policy implications of pro poor growth. This...

We use several well-being measures that combine average income with a measure of inequality to undertake international, intertemporal, and global comparisons of well-being. The conclusions emerging from the analysis are that our well-being measures drastically change our impression of levels of...

We use several well-being measures that combine average income with a measure of inequality to undertake intertemporal and global comparisons of well-being. The conclusions emerging from the intertemporal analysis are that the impact of these measures on temporal trends in well-being is...

Regardless of the importance of growth, there are still some reasons to have a closer look at the “equity-growth-relation”. This will be shown in section 2. In some cases the issue of inequality might be neglected because it does not hinder but rather stimulate economic growth. The poor...

In this paper we contrast the impact of the income gap between formal and informal sector on Mexico's income inequality to alternative explanations. Unlike previous studies we take a time series approach to analyze the determinants of income inequality for the period 1987-1999. We find that an...

This paper presents a way to explore how macroeconomic shifts cause inequality changes. It is based on the backwardness observed in the agricultural sector in rural areas. It shows why highly dualistic economies tend to be more unequal than economies with flexible and integrated labour markets....

This paper discusses the rationale as well as the challenges involved when constructing gender-related indicators of well-being. It argues that such indicators are critically important but that their construction involved a number of conceptual and measurement problems. Among the conceptual...

This paper proposes a method to decompose earnings inequality into a component due to unequal opportunities and a residual term. Drawing on the distinction between 'circumstance' and 'effort' variables in John Roemer's work on equality of opportunity, we associate inequality of opportunities...