This paper develops the link between poverty and inequality by focussing on a class of poverty indices (some of them well-known) which aggregate normative concerns for absolute and relative deprivation. The indices are distinguished by a parameter that captures the ethical sensitivity of poverty...

We examine the sensitivity of poverty comparisons across countries with dissimilar household needs when equivalence scale parameters are varied. We use a sample of Spanish and British households, using both absolute and relative poverty lines. We sum up these comparisons using subjective...

This paper extends the previous literature on the normative links between the measurement of poverty, social welfare and inequality. We show how, when the range of possible poverty lines is unbounded above, a robust ranking of absolute poverty may be interpreted as a robust ranking of social...

If they are to be attained, the objectives set in the Kyoto Protocol will impose fundamental changes on the structure of North America's economy. This text highlights the extent of the Kyoto challenge by clearly describing the historical inertia in terms of total market shares for different...

In this note we develop a simple heterogeneous-agent model with incomplete markets to explain the prevalence of a large, low-productivity, informal sector in developing countries. In our models, taxes levied on formal sector agents are used to finance the provision of a productive public...

This paper provides an analysis of screening contracts in a complete but imperfect information environment as opposed to the usual incomplete information (Bayesian) environment. An agent faces a hold-up situation while making a cost-reducing specific investment that is not observed by the...

We examine the effects of different sequences of work and rest on the daily productivity of workers who planted trees in the province of British Columbia, Canada, comparing the intertemporal productivity profiles of planters who were paid either fixed wages or piece rates. We find that planters...

I provide a complete characterization of Nash implementable allocations of spending in prevention by judgement-proof injurers. This characterization is used to identify the optimal rule that allows for the maximum total spending in prevention. The optimal rule amounts to apply the negligence...

In this paper, we provide another reason that may explain the adoption of the hub-and-spoke network structure in the airline industry. We show that when an airline has to decide on its capacity before the demand conditions are perfectly known, a hub-and-spoke network structure by pooling...

The last 20 years have seen a significant evolution in the literature on horizontal inequity (HI) and have led to two major and "rival" methodological strands, namely, classical HI and reranking. We propose in this paper a class of ethically flexible tools that integrate these two strands. This...