Women’s Empowerment and Economic Development

By: Duflo, Esther

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8734&r=ltv

Women’s empowerment and economic development are closely related: in one direction, development alone can play a major role in driving down inequality between men and women; in the other direction, empowering women may benefit development. Does this imply that pushing just one of these two levers would set a virtuous circle in motion? This paper reviews the literature on both sides of the empowerment-development nexus, and argues that the inter-relationships are probably too weak to be self-sustaining, and that continuous policy commitment to equality for its own sake may be needed to bring about equality between men and women.
Keywords: gender equality; women’s empowerment
JEL: D1

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The Rise and Fall of Income Inequality in Mexico, 1989-2010

By: Campos, Raymundo
Lustig, Nora

URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2012-10&r=ltv

Inequality in Mexico rose between 1989 and 1994 and declined between 1994 and 2010. We examine the role of market forces (demand and supply of labour by skill), institutional factors (minimum wages and unionization rate), and public policy (cash transfers) in explaining changes in inequality. We apply the â..re-centred influence functionâ.. method to decompose changes in hourly wages into characteristics and returns. The main driver is changes in returns. Returns rose (1989-94) due to institutional factors and labour demand. Returns declined (1994-2006) due to changes in supply and, to a lesser extent, in demand; institutional factors were not relevant. Government transfers contributed to the decline in inequality, especially after 2000.
Keywords: inequality, wages, disposable income, labour markets, Mexico

Big ideas: wellbeing and public policy

By:Richard Layard

URL:http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepcnp:355&r=ltv

Richard Layard outlines the development of CEP research on what makes people happy and how society might best be organised to promote happiness.
Keywords:Wellbeing, happiness, public policy