The authors provide evidence that women's non-farm activities help reduce poverty in two economically and culturally different countries, Ghana and Uganda. In both countries rural poverty rates were lowest - and fell most rapidly - for female heads of household engaged in non-farm activities....

Public sector restructuring, including labor downsizing, has been one of the main areas of policy activism in developing countries, and transition economies. But little is known about its actual effects. The authors use panel data on Colombian enterprises spanning more than one decade, to assess...