Headcount measures of poverty are by far the most common tools for evaluating poverty and gauging progress in global development goals. The headcount ratio, or the prevalence of poverty, and the headcount, or the number of the poor, both convey tangible information about poverty. But both ignore...

The evaluation of development processes and of public policies often involves comparisons of social states that differ in income distributions, population sizes and life longevity. This may require social evaluation principles to be sensitive to the quality, the quantity and the duration of...

The Philippines is now one of the best-performing economies in the world. The country's macroeconomic environment is characterized by strong growth, low and stable inflation, a steady fiscal position, healthy current account surpluses, strong foreign direct investment, and abundant international...

The paper argues that household budgets are the best starting point for investigating a number of big questions related to the evolution of the living standards during the last two-three centuries. If one knows where to look, historical family budgets are more abundant than might be suspected....

Recent welfare reform legislation mandates that aid recipients become employed and economically self-sufficient. The allowable interval of continuous assistance is limited to 24 months for current recipients and 18 months for new recipients, with a lifetime limit of five years on welfare. At...

The family needs survey was conducted over a three-week period from April 25 through May 15, 2002, at 230 different events in 124 different locations throughout Los Angeles County. Nearly 60 percent of the surveys were completed in welfare offices, the rest in adult education classes and...

This report examines why more welfare parents did not become economically self-sufficient after participating in the LA County Welfare to Work Program, GAIN (Greater Avenue for Independence). It provided information about what happened to these parents when they entered the labor market after...

The loss of a welfare safety net for most adults for most of their lives makes the quality of jobs available to the working poor and their success in finding and keeping jobs increasingly important. The economic and civic life of the Los Angeles region will be shaped by connections that are...

Unemployment and under-employment represented $25.8 billion in annual wages not earned in Los Angeles County, $28.2 billion in lost private sector economic activity and $4 billion in tax revenue not generated. In 2012, over a fifth of Los Angeles County's labor force was unemployed or...

The most concrete characteristic of a recession is that demand disappears for some of the commodities produced by workers and unwanted unemployment is imposed on a large segment of the labor force. With growing job losses in the current recession it is important to know, whose boat falls when...