Several earlier studies have observed that the size structure of Indian manufacturing is characterized by the ‘missing middle’ phenomenon – a relatively low appearance/occurrence of middle-size industrial enterprises among industrial enterprises of different size classes. The authors of...

The post-1991 pro-market reforms in India are expected to reduce price-cost margins in industries, lower inter-firm productivity dispersion, increase export intensity of firms, and cause changes in the size structure and industrial composition. But, barring the increase in export intensity, the...

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...

This paper develops a micro-econometric method to account for differences across distributions of household income. Going beyond the determination of earnings in labor markets, we also estimate statistical models for occupational choice and for the conditional distributions of education,...

Cash transfers targeted to poor people, but conditional on some behavior on their part, such as school attendance or regular visits to health care facilities, are being adopted in a growing number of developing countries. Even where ex-post impact evaluations have been conducted, a number of...

This paper departs from John Roemer's formulation of the theory of equality of opportunities. It seeks to determine what part of observed outcome inequality may be attributed to differences in observed 'circumstances', including family background, and what part is due to 'personal efforts'. We...

Using nationally representative, economy-wide data, this paper investigates the relative importance of trade-mandated effects on industry wage premiums; industry and economy-wide skill premiums; and employment flows in accounting for changes in the wage distribution in Brazil during the 1988-95...