Obesity has risen dramatically in the past few decades. However, the relative contribution of energy intake and energy expenditure to rising obesity is not known. Moreover, the extent to which social and economic factors tip the energy balance is not well understood. In this longitudinal...

Would investing to reduce stunting reap economic benefits that outweigh costs? We investigate this question by conducting a cost-benefit analysis for a large-scale integrated nutrition programme to reduce stunting in Indonesia, using actual rather than stylised data on costs. The gains are...

To address the growth in resultant out-of-pocket (OOP) payments and associated problems of financial barriers to access, the government issued several policies aimed at expanding coverage throughout the 1990s and 2000s, particularly for the poor and other vulnerable groups. Universal coverage...

Dracunculiasis (or Guinea worm disease) was endemic in several African countries as well as in India, Pakistan, and Yemen. The past decade, however, has seen a remarkable decline in the incidence of dracunculiasis as a result of the Global Dracunculiasis Eradication Campaign. The authors compare...

Summary We utilize household-level consumption expenditure data from India to examine the evolution of inequality during 1983-2004. Various measures of inequality show that inequality levels were relatively stable during 1983-93, but increased during 1993-2004. The increases in inequality have...

This paper studies currency substitution in an environment where agents' inflation tax-evasive demand for foreign money is balanced by the concern for the possibility that the government may impose economy-wide capital controls under which foreign currency transactions are costly. Under the...

Despite the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) remarkable economic growth, improvements in population health outcomes slowed during the reform period. Along with increasing commercialization of the health sector, urban−rural disparities in health have increased; there are large health...