This paper is an attempt to understand the factors underlying the low take up and contract renewal rates frequently observed in insurance programs in poor countries. This is done on the basis of the experience of a microinsurance health program in India. We show that deficient information about...

This paper is an attempt to understand the factors behind low contract renewal rates frequently observed in insurance programs in poor countries. This is done on the basis of the experience of a microinsurance health program in India. We show that deficient information about the insurance...

This paper is a query about the determinants of individuals contribution to the production of local public goods subject to important indivisibilities. It is based on an econometric study of factors accounting for variations in individual participation in the construction of a central drainage...

This book questions what enduring lessons have been learnt about the interdependence of international trade and economic development during the last 50 years. Since the end of the Cold War and the advent of the WTO, developing countries have been forced to face the choice of whether, and to what...

In Senegal, we encountered a situation in which a minority group of migrant fishermen had completely different sets of expectations regarding a collective action depending on the location where they operated. In one village expectations were pessimistic, while in the other village they were...

Summary The empirical literature has established a strong link between being a Muslim country and indicators of political performance and democracy. The idea of the "clash of civilizations" put forward by Samuel Huntington and applied to Islam by Bernard Lewis and others points to unique aspects...

This paper aims at a better understanding of the conditions under which unequal rank or power positions may get permanently established through asymmetric gift exchange when a gift brings pride to the donor and shame to the recipient. Such a framework matches numerous observations reported in...

The empirical literature has established a strong link between the fact of being a Muslim-dominated country and indicators of political performance and democracy. This suggests the possible existence of a relation between religion, Islam in this instance, and societal characteristics. Bernard...

[eng] Malthus and the problem of underdevelopment : one or two theories ?. Jean-Philippe Platteau. The present paper purports to deal with Malthus's ideas about underdeveloped countries. It will examine these ideas as they have been developed by Malthus in the context of his two most famous...

This wide-ranging book, based on a report to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, bridges the gap between the enormous amount of empirical literature documenting efforts at managing local-level resources and the quickly growing body of theoretical knowledge dealing with...