This paper takes a new look at the determinants of cognitive ability. Using the results of the 2006 PISA survey for five Latin American countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay) it adopts an efficiency analysis perspective. Rather than selecting as inputs a few variables, it...

This paper investigates the relation between advances in technology and trends in the gender wage gaps in the US service industry. Using quarterly US Current Population Survey data on employment and wages by four major occupations between 1979 and 2001, the paper estimates a constant elasticity...

This paper proposes new measures and graphical representations of the change in bi-polarization and in the relative importance of the middle class that took place in a given country during a given period. These tools extend, in fact, the concepts of inter-distribution income inequality and...

This paper takes a close look at material deprivation in 27 European Union countries. Its main goal is to explore which expenditures individuals/households curtail first when facing economic difficulties. Two methodologies are applied: item response theory, a psychometric method also known as...