Progress in public policy and regulatory frameworks towards international climate governance has become increasingly more complex due to the plurality of political positions and statutory schemes in various countries. The creation of national and subnational policies on climate change can play a...

Government transfers to individuals and families play a central role in the Brazilian social protection system, accounting for almost 14 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2009. While their fiscal and redistributive impacts have been widely studied, the macroeconomic effects of...

It is often assumed that the mere implementation of a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) policy model, with its emphasis on altering recipients? behaviour or preferences via co-responsibilities, can bring about a desired new social order. However, this assumption obscures relatively autonomous...

Research into multidimensional poverty has gathered momentum in the last half decade, most notably in the aftermath of the global food and financial crises of 2007?2008. It has gained further momentum since the UNDP-OPHI launched the 2010 Human Development Report and more recently as part of the...

This study assesses the impact of the conditional cash transfer programme, Programa Bolsa Família (PBF), on the occupational composition of the Brazilian labour market. In particular, the goal is to analyse to what extent the PBF distorts the occupational choice of beneficiaries in the sense of...

The economic, political and social transition of Namibia over the past two decades has been remarkable. From being mired in a protracted guerrilla war and after a century of colonial rule? until 1990 as a de facto annex to the South African Apartheid state?the country is now widely regarded as...

The economics profession has long debated whether there is a trade-off between growth and equity. Countries that pursued inequality-reducing strategies have been warned that growth will be affected, and hence that poverty increases. The harbingers of doom advocated a growth-focused strategy....

The recently announced Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) programme of the Government of India is being hailed as a ?game changer?. Many in the media and social commentators have been quick to compare it with the Brazilian Bolsa Familia. Unfortunately both the critics of cash transfers as well as...

The Benefício de Prestação Continuada (BPC ? Continuous Cash Benefit) programme grants a non-contributory benefit of the amount of one minimum wage to elderly people (65 or older) and those with disabilities that make them unfit to live and work independently. To qualify, there must be...

Mumbai, the capital city of the state of Maharashtra in India, is in fact the financial capital of India. With a population of 13.4 million (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, 2010), it is the most populous city in India. It is also the most prosperous city in India, with the highest...