In a data set for developing, and transition economies, the author finds that private consumption per capita, based on national accounts, deviates on average from mean household income,or expenditure based on national sample surveys. Growth rates also differ systematically, so that the ratio of...

While substantial research finds that financial development boosts overall economic growth, the authors study whether financial development is pro-poor: Does financial development disproportionately raise the income of the poor? Using a broad cross-country sample, the authors find that the...

When average income rises, the average incomes of the poorest fifth of society rise proportionately. This is a consequence of the strong empirical regularity that the share of income accruing to the bottom quintile does not vary systematically with average income. The authors document this...

With the recent resurgence of interest in equity, inequality, and growth, the possibility of a negative relationship between inequality and economic growth, has received renewed interest in the literature. Faced with the prospect that high levels of inequality may persist, and give rise to...

Small states have attracted a good deal of research. The authors test whether micro-states are any different from other states in income, growth, and volatility. They find that, controlling for location, smaller states are actually richer than other states in per capita GDP. This income...

The rural nonfarm economy accounts for one-quarter of all full-time employment in rural India and for nearly one-third of rural income, and is also intimately linked to agriculture. This paper examines the importance of rural-urban growth linkages in India, and aims to assess the impact of...

What drives growth at the microeconomic level? The authors divide the factors that determine a location's growth performance into two groups,"1st advantage"and"2nd advantage."The term 1st advantage refers to the conditions that provide the environment in which new activities can be profitably...

The experience of countries in transition from a planned to a market-oriented economy has varied greatly. The clearest differences are between the East Asian countries, China and Vietnam, and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU). China and Vietnam...

Modern political economy stresses"society's polarization"as a determinant of development outcomes. Among the most common dorms of social conflict are class polarization, and ethnic polarization. A middle class consensus is defined as a high share of income for the middle class and a low degree...

Two approaches took the lead in the negotiations to dismantle the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA): (a) a phaseout with the framework of the MFA, proposed by developing countries, the European Community, Japan, and the Nordic countries; and (b) a new transitional structure relying on global quotas...