Although the world has seen a strong increase in global incomes in the last two decades and consequently a decline in global poverty rates, the number of persons living in absolute poverty remains on unacceptably high levels. Besides rising incomes can not distract from the fact that resources...

Poverty and inequality persist in many dimensions in the developing world. In order to understand the determinants of poverty and its distribution between and within countries, it is necessary to know its dimensions and the channels through which poverty and inequality affect human well-being....

The causes and consequences of high inequality in incomes, assets, and many aspects of well-being in Latin America have recently (re-)emerged as a central research and policy issue. However, many open questions remain that will be dealt with in the contributions to this volume. First, the...