Using quadratic Engel curves with measurement errors, we identify the proportion of urban households in Ethiopia for whom food exhibits the characteristics of a luxury commodity. The threshold welfare level beyond which food ceases to be a luxury is found to lie between the 35th and 47th...

Much of the existing literature on the use of informal credit arrangements such as ROSCAs (Rotating and Credit Saving Associations) theorises the use of such institutions as arising from market failures in the development of formal saving and credit mechanisms. As economic development proceeds,...

Accurate price and quantity data are fundamental in order to estimate price elasticities, construct cost of living indices, standard of living measures and poverty indices. In the absence of prices, unit values are often used as substitutes. This is a common practice in LDCs, where the shortage...

This paper is a contribution to the literature on aid and growth. Despite an extensive existing empirical literature in this area, studies have not paid much attention to the importance of transmission mechanisms in determining the influence of aid inflows on growth rates. In other words,...