This paper discusses the role of social, institutional, and psychological factors in the consumption and borrowing behavior of low-income households, and makes arguments in favor of policy interventions to alleviate some of the challenges of these households. Focus group evidence and findings on...

The Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI) was adopted in the 20th anniversary edition of the <italic>Human Development Reports</italic>, in 2010. In using a penalty set-up for the calculations of the IHDI, however, the results overestimated the adjustments. This article suggests a revision to the...

We live in a capitalist world characterized by economic inequality. Inequality is a real curse, but it does not have to always increase. In different phases of capitalism, it may be increasing, constant, or decreasing, depending on the dominant type of technical progress (capital-using,...

The main changes of new capitalism concern mainly two spheres: the new technological paradigm and valorization process and the importance of finance. The main feature of the prevailing finance-led growth regime during the first decade of new millennium is then presented. In this perspective,...

How damaging is the Sunni/Shia split to the economies of Islamic countries? Is it better to be one or the other? Or is it better to have an even balance between the two? Answering these questions is complicated by the fact that the data are often missing or imprecisely measured. We employ the...