Income distribution is extremely important for development, since it influences the cohesion of society, determines the extent of poverty for any given average per capita income and the poverty-reducing effects of growth, and even affects people's health. The paper reviews the connections...

Leading management thinker C.K. Prahalad argues that selling consumer goods to four billion poor people at the bottom of the economic pyramid (BoP) both generates sizeable profits for large businesses and eliminates poverty. A welcome, innovative and influential perspective, but an opportunity...

In this paper the economic, social and political dimensions of destitution are analysed. Economic destitution is seen as a contradiction in terms since destitute people survive without assets and income. Social destitution is a process of expulsion and of the denial of dependent status. The...

Politics in the Fiji Islands is characterised by competitive processes that draw on and reshape ethnic cleavages. Indigenous Fijians and Indian indentured labourers were incorporated separately into the colonial state and political economy under British rule. Institutionalised ethnic divisions...

The feasibility of operationalisation of the 'social exclusion' concept in developing countries is investigated in this paper. The origins of the approach in relation to the welfare state and unemployment status and its spread in Western Europe and developing countries are discussed briefly....

he gender sensitivity of indicators of health, nutrition, education, and composite indices, relevant to developing countries is assessed within the analytical framework of 'functionings'. A disaggregated under-10 female-male ratio (0-4 years and 5-9 years) appears to be a suitable indicator,...

This note has three objectives: first, it aims to take stock of the nature of the evidence available and on the links between uninsured risk and shocks on the one hand, and growth and poverty on the other, both at a macro and micro level. Secondly, it makes a number of suggestions of the type of...

This paper explores China's competitive threat to Latin America in trade in manufactures. The direct threat in exports to third country markets appears small: LAC's trade structure is largely complementary to that of China. In bilateral trade, several LAC countries are increasing primary and...

Ever since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), children – and the condition of child poverty in particular – have been increasingly pushed to the forefront of development agendas. However, the rhetorical commitment in ‘putting children first’ has not always...

This paper explores the links between economic growth and human development, identifying two chains, one from economic growth to human development, and the other, conversely, from human development to economic growth. The various links in each chain are explored, together with a review of some...