The idea of communal tenure has formed a key plank in the rural governance of Zimbabwe since independence, but its retention following the Fast Track land reforms of 2000-2002 perpetuates a distinction between ‘commercial’ land governed by a land market and ‘communal’ land on which...

Global financial markets are subject to a complex web of soft law rules and standards called International Financial Regulation. The main rationales/objectives of International Financial Regulation revolve around the protection of investors and depositors and the safeguarding of financial system...

This paper empirically investigates the determinants of fertility, drawing upon large nationwide household data sets in India constructed by the National Sample Surveys (NSS) and National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) over the period 1992-2006. First, we find a negative and significant...

This paper describes the findings of case studies-based research on how poor and marginalised people in post-apartheid migrant networks seek to ameliorate poverty and manage their vulnerability. It argues that the ways in which people make decisions regarding formal social grants and cash...

Millennium Development Goals, increasing attention is being given to the poverty impacts of trade liberalisation. The high level of public interest has stimulated renewed research activity aimed at expanding the evidence-base available to trade negotiators and policymakers. Within this context,...

It is well established in the literature that, on average, economic growth is associated with reductions in income poverty. However, evidence suggests that some countries see a much faster decline in poverty with the same level of growth in income. The objective of this paper is to analyse the...

This overview essay on policy responses to global poverty and inequality over the last ten years is structured around four themes. First, drawing on the most recent empirical data, it provides some stylised facts on recent trends in poverty and inequality in developing countries. Second, it...

This paper reviews the main lessons from existing social protection programmes in low-income countries for the development of social protection in these countries. It is taken for granted that introducing social protection in low income countries is that much harder due to constraints arising...

There has long been broad agreement on the importance of building—and enhancing access to—“rule of law” systems in developing countries, but efforts to do either of these things have a long and unhappy history. These disappointments, we contend, stem largely from a prevailing theory that...

This paper aims to understand the role of micro-insurance as an element of social protection. It outlines the current status of micro-insurance provision in Ghana and Sri Lanka, two countries with very different socio-cultural backgrounds. It concludes that both countries are unlikely to extend...