Assessing whether distributional changes are pro-poor has become increasingly widespread in academic and policy circles. Starting from relatively general ethical axioms, this paper proposes simple graphical methods to test whether distributional changes are indeed pro-poor. Pro-poor standards...

We analyze investment decisions when information is costly, with and without delegation to an agent. We use a rational-inattention model and compare it with a canonical signal-extraction model. We identify three "investment conditions". In "sour" conditions, no information is acquired and no...

Indonesia has a very good record of poverty reduction, having halved its incidence over the past two decades. Nevertheless, almost 30 million people still live below the national poverty line, mostly in rural areas and in certain provinces. In order to make further progress in lifting these...

Broadly speaking, developing Asia and Latin America are at similar income and development levels. Relative to the advanced economies, economic growth and development are much more urgent priorities for both, yet Latin America has significantly more experience in using fiscal policy to tackle...

Broadly speaking, developing Asia and Latin America are at similar income and development levels. Relative to the advanced economies, economic growth and development are much more urgent priorities for both, yet Latin America has significantly more experience in using fiscal policy to tackle...

Over the past forty years the economic fortunes of Australian households have fallen into two fairly distinct periods. In the “disappointing decades” of the 1970s and 1980s, real wages stagnated, unemployment increased fourfold and male full-time employment as a proportion of the population...

The role of the state within the neoliberal system is discussed in the approaches developed for social expenditures. Accordingly, the question of whether the state should stand back or provide the support needed by individuals has shaped the literaturę on social expenditures. It is thought that...