Two decades ago, 93% of the world’s poor lived in countries officially classified as Low Income (LICs). Now, 72% of the world’s poor live in Middle Income Countries (MICs). The dramatic shift has been brought about by fast growth in a number of countries with large populations. On present...

How does concern for consumption relative to others (”relativity”) affect the progressivity of the optimal income tax structure? In this paper we revisit this literature and present a more detailed analysis of the solution to the non-linear income tax problem with consumption interdependence...

In this note we approach the question of relative poverty from a different angle. Fixing the poverty line, we ask: What is the extent of poverty relative to the resources available in the society to eradicate it? We argue that the same level of poverty is “worse” if the resources available...

Crises are likely to be new normal for developing and transition economies. In designing programs to protect the poor against crises, governments face two uncertainties— uncertainty of crisis type and uncertainty of crisis timing. In the face of these uncertainties, I propose three lines of...

This is an overview of poverty and well-being in the first decade of post-apartheid South Africa. It is an introduction to a volume that brings together some of the most prominent academic research done on this topic for the 10-year review process in South Africa. This overview highlights three...

What explains the spectacular increases in inequality of disposable income in transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe? There are at least two possible explanations. First, the pre-tax distribution of income became more unequal because of the shift to a market economy. Second, the...

In this paper I give an account of development debates of the past two decades, focusing on the Washington Consensus and on the broader economic development discourse in historical context. Section 2 gives a basic account of the Washington consensus and how its meaning changed from the original...