The Health, Inequalities and Social Breakdown (SIRS) survey carried out in Antananarivo in April 2003 on a representative sample of 2,807 people, is part of an international research programme designed to compare the relationships between health, inequalities and social breakdowns in different...

(english) In spite of its predominant economic weight in developing countries, little is known about informal sector income dynamics vis-à-vis the formal sector. The few works using household surveys to tackle this issue, mainly consider some emerging countries. As a matter of consequence,...

(english) In this study, we address the issue of gender differences in labour market performances for Madagascar using data from two national household surveys carried out in 2001 and 2005. The data collected in these surveys allow us to measure the gender pay gap at two points in time, and to...

(english) The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of education on urban labour market participation and earnings in seven major West African cities. Our results show that although education does not always guard against unemployment, it does increase individual earnings in Abidjan,...

(English) The lack of success of past strategies in reducing poverty has raised doubts as to whether these strategies were really an appropriate response to the needs of impoverished populations. Bearing in mind the aims of the new generation of development programmes to "empower" the poor,...

(english) New factors such as governance, ownership and citizen’s participation are now a central focus of development programmes, especially in the scope of the new international poverty reduction strategies (PRSP and HIPC initiatives). To gain a better understanding of countries’...

(english) This paper contributes to the current debate on pro-poor growth. It discusses the respective impacts of macro-economic growth and the reduction of income inequality on monetary poverty. Our results emphasise the potential importance of the latter factor and suggest putting forward...

(English) The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund launched a joint initiative in September 1999, setting the fight against poverty at the heart of development policies. Under this initiative, developing countries wishing to apply for financial aid from either of the organizations, or...

(english) This study aims at assessing the impact of a microfinance institution serving micro-entrepreneurs in Antananarivo (Madagascar). It starts by reviewing the recent literature on the socioeconomic impact of microfinance, then moves on to describe the current state of supply and demand of...

Whether EPZs are beneficial for development remains a subject to controversy. This paper analyzes part of the question, the labor market impacts, using unique time-series labor force survey data from a unique (for Africa) environment: urban Madagascar, in which EPZs grew very rapidly during the...