We utilize household-level consumption expenditure data from India to examine the evolution of inequality during 1983-2004. Various measures of inequality show that inequality levels were relatively stable during 1983-93, but increased during 1993-2004. The increases in inequality have not...

Microfinance supports mainly informal activities that often have a low return and low market demand. It may therefore be hypothesized that the aggregate poverty impact of microfinance is modest or even nonexistent. If true, the poverty impact of microfinance observed at the participant level...

In pursuit of status : the rising consumerism of China's middle class -- Mao's children are wearing fashion! -- Learning to consume Tibet -- Dolce & Banana, a Shanzhai creator's manual : production and consumption of fake in contemporary Chinese art practices -- Thriving medical consumerism in...

This paper employs Swedish data containing security level information on households' stock holdings to investigate how consumption responds to changes in stock market returns. We exploit households' portfolio weights in previous years as an instrument for actual capital gains and dividends...