We analyse income inequality in Great Britain over the period 1968-2009 in order to understand why income inequality rose very rapidly over the period 1978-91 and then stopped rising. We find that earnings inequality has risen fairly steadily since 1978, but other factors that caused inequality...

 Average real UK household income has almost doubled over the past forty years. With four decades of micro-data on household incomes, and relatively simple decomposition methods, we document the contribution to this growth in the mean net household income of working-age households from...

Those at risk from natural disasters are typically under-protected, possibly because they expect benefactors such as governments and donors to come to their aid. Yet when relief comes, it is often insufficient, delayed or misallocated. Benefactors may wish to commit to provide an efficient...

This paper investigates the interaction between corruption and governance at the sector level. A simple model illustrates how both an increase in regulatory autonomy and privatization may influence the effect of corruption. The interaction is analyzed empirically using a fixed-effects estimator...

This article develops a theoretical framework to analyze options for financing infrastructurein developing countries. We build a basic model that gives motivations for usinga combination of public finance, private debt and private equity. The model is thenextended in a number of ways to examine...

This paper investigates the interaction between corruption and infrastructure policy reforms. I construct a simple model to illustrate how both an increase in regulatory autonomy and privatisation may in uence the effect of corruption. This interaction is then analysed empirically using a panel...

Investment in land administration projects is often considered key for agricultural productivity and rural development. The evidence on such interventions is however remarkably mixed. This paper discusses a number of challenges and derives related guidelines for the impact evaluation of land...

This paper builds a dynamic model of utility regulation where a government cannot commit to a time-inconsistent policy of not expropriating investment. By allowing the government’s type to change over time, I explore how reputation concerns may generate partial commitment. Restricting...