Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the sheepskin effects in the returns to education in the Sri Lankan labor market by ethnicity. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the latest Sri Lankan Consumer Finance and Socio-economic Survey. The study employs...

The study applied recent advances in propensity score matching methods to assess the impact of microfinance on household income and savings. Results suggest that overall programme participants’ benefit incidence is indeed pro-poor. With respect to both household per capita income and...

We explore the nexus between poverty, inequality, and economic growth in Indonesia between 2002 and 2012, using several pro-poor growth concepts and indices to determine whether growth in this period benefited the poor. Our regression-based decompositions of poverty into growth and...

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to construct a poverty profile for Sri Lanka, and examine the micro-level determinants and correlates of poverty. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the latest Sri Lanka Integrated Survey commissioned by the World Bank. The...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to decompose inequality in Sri Lanka by population subgroups and income sources. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the latest Sri Lankan Household Income and Expenditure Survey. The study firstly sketches an inequality profile for Sri...

In this paper we investigate how the receipt of educational transfers, scholarships and related assistance programmes affects the labour supply of children and the marginal spending behaviour of households on children’s educational goods. We use a nationally representative household survey of...