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...

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...

The ``Palma'' is the ratio of national income shares of the top 10 percent of households to the bottom 40 percent, reflecting Gabriel Palma's observation of the stability of the ``middle'' 50 percent share of income across countries so that distribution is largely a question of the tails. In...

This paper addresses the following question: why are we still arguing about globalization? Focus is placed on the conceptual point of departure, 'globalization' and its quantification. Differentiation is made between two perspectives on global economic integration: globalization as...

This paper discusses the measurement of poverty and well-being. A historical overview is given of the last fifty years. This is followed by discussion of three groupings of indicators: those measures based primarily on economic well-being; those based on non-economic well-being and composite...

This introduction reviews some of the issues and controversies within development economics over the last half century. Particular attention is given to the status of development economics as a sub-discipline of economics and to the relationship between theoretical and empirical contributions....

This paper addresses the following question: why are we still arguing about globalisation? It analyses the recent evolution of debates relating to the impact of globalisation on poverty and economic growth in developing countries. A stock-take of selected cross-country econometric research is...

This paper is concerned with disagreements between researchers over economic policy and poverty and the implications for policy makers. It sets out to show that on three selected policy questions the 'conventional wisdom' is in fact highly contested. It then discusses why this might be and what...