First published in 1973, this book presents a systematic treatment of the conceptual framework as well as the practical problems of measurement of inequality. Alternative approaches are evaluated in terms of their philosophical assumptions, economic content, and statistical requirements. In a...

This book addresses issues of defining and measuring the quality of life. Recent developments in the philosophical definition of well-being are discussed and linked to practical issues such as the delivery of health care, and the assessment of women's quality of life. Leading philosophers and...

On July 7, 2005, the Faculty of Economics of the University of Göttingen awarded Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen with an honorary doctorate in economics in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the fields of welfare and development economics. On the occasion of the award,...

Commodity taxes have three distinct roles: (1) revenue collection, (2) interpersonal redistribution, and (3) resource allocation. The paper presents an integrated treatment of these three concerns in a second-best general equilibrium framework, which leads to the 'generalised Ramsey rule' for...

This paper presents a case study of credit transactions in Palanpur, a north Indian village. Drawing on detailed informtion from all borrowers and lenders in the village, we examine a number of issues related to the functioning of rural credit markets. These include the segmentation of the...

During the last few years, there has been a devastating wave of forced evictions of tribal communities from forest land around the country, which needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Unfortunately, recent reports suggest that forced evictions continue in many places, with unrelenting...