We propose a new microeconomic explanation for the divergent experiences of economies in forming human capital. We suggest that the positive effect of a longer life expectancy on human capital formation arises from two separate effects: a life-expectancy effect and a prolonged intergenerational...

This Joint Staff Advisory Note reviews the first Annual Progress Report (APR) of The Gambia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The APR indicates that The Gambia’s progress in implementing the PRSP has been uneven. Slow implementation mainly reflected low capacity, a lack of...

This paper examines Pakistan’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Preparation Status Report. The formulation of the Interim PRSP (I-PRSP) was the first step in the direction of preparing a comprehensive national antipoverty strategy that encompasses the economic, structural, and...

This paper examines Congo’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP). Congo’s I-PRSP explains the features and causes of poverty in Congo. It provides a short- and medium-term vision of development as well as a strategic orientation for a return to sustainable and equitable growth....

This paper reviews Uzbekistan’s Interim Welfare Improvement Strategy Paper (I-WISP). I-WISP defines the main directions and measures aimed at improving living standards and reducing poverty among the population of Uzbekistan for 2005–10. The strategy is designed to further expand...

Using a simple model of two-sided markets, we show that, in the social optimum, platform pricing leads to an inherent cost recovery problem. This result is driven by the positive externality of participation that users on either side of the market exert on the opposite side. The contribution of...

Using urban household surveys, we constructed a panel dataset to study the effects of the Argentine macroeconomic crisis of 1999-2002 with the aim of (1) identifying the most vulnerable households, (2) investigating whether employment in the public sector and government spending served to...

When we take seriously Smiths's oft-expressed admiration for the "beauty of a systematical arrangement of different observations connected by a few common principles" (WN, V.i.f.25) and seek those"connecting principles" within his own system of thought, his "positive index of welfare" loses its...