(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) The strong growth of the Vietnamese economy over the last two decades has brought about sweeping economic and social changes. In particular, there has been a sharp downturn in poverty along with an upturn in social inequalities (albeit not as sharp as in China). This makes the question...

(english) Labour market segmentation is usually defined as the division of the labour markets into separate submarkets or segments, distinguished by different characteristics and behavioural rules (incomes, contracts, etc.). The economic debate on the segmentation issue has been focusing in...

(english) The success of export processing zones in Madagascar, or Zone Franche, since 1990 is an isolated case in Africa, apart from Mauritius. This paper explains that Zone Franche has had a very significant macro-economic impact in terms of exports and jobs. Thanks to Zone Franche, before the...

(english) The World Bank’s World Development Report 2006 addresses Equity and Development. It defines equity as respect for equal opportunities combined with the avoidance of absolute deprivation. Even though justice theories have long been interested in equity (given that equality of...

(english) This article sets out to investigate the reasons why some household businesses decide to register and become formal (while others do not) in order to shed light on the origins of informality. We use qualitative as well as quantitative data on household businesses (HB) derived from...

(english) Vietnam is a very important country for the World Bank. It is the first recipient of IDA credits. It is also presented by the Bank as a model country for development success, especially in terms of poverty reduction. At the same time, the Bank is very active in Vietnam: it is the first...

In spite of rapid economic growth for the last decades, the informal economy still has a predominant weight in Vietnam, and its share is not likely to decrease in the short term. Moreover, the international crisis started in 2009 had a negative impact on the informal sector. However, the...

(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,...