The portion of the South known as the Black Belt lies at the heart of what was once the cotton-and-tobacco plantation region and retains a large black population. Despite the Black Belt's high poverty rates and relatively slow economic growth, its large net loss of blacks to urban areas over the...

A "poverty trap" can be understood as a set of self-reinforcing mechanisms whereby countries start poor and remain poor: poverty begets poverty, so that current poverty is itself a direct cause of poverty in the future. The idea of a poverty trap has this striking implication for policy: much...

Does predicted global warming imply more hunger in the future of Latin America? Climate projections prepared by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are briefly presented, along with an analysis of existing estimates of their probable impact on agriculture and food...

Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States' economy. The widespread belief is that illegal aliens cost more in government services than they contribute to the economy. This belief is undeniably false. [E]very empirical study of illegals' economic impact...

This paper presents the main concepts used in measuring segregation. First it shows that the cardinal as well as the ordinal approach to the measurement of occupational segregation, when only two groups are considered (generally men and women), borrowed many ideas from the income inequality...

This paper explains how to build Lorenz Curves for income distributions and discusses their use for inequality measurement. A short conceptual background, a step-by-step procedure and a simple numerical example illustrate how to calculate and draw Lorenz Curves. A discussion on the use of Lorenz...

This paper illustrates how Lorenz Curves can be used to identify the best income distribution on social welfare grounds, within a set of alternative income distributions generated by different policy options. After highlighting some drawbacks of using specific functional forms of the Social...

This paper illustrates how Crossing Generalised Lorenz (GL) curves can be used to identify the best income distribution on social welfare grounds within a set of alternative income distributions generated by different policy options. It starts by illustrating two alternative income distributions...

In a given society, those who are least advantaged would allegedly benefit the most from receiving a basic income. However, the merits of such a policy are generally debated according to the effects on society as a whole, not specifically on the most marginalized; thus, the potential benefits of a...

Little is known about the effectiveness of means-tested benefits in Bulgaria. Using individual and household level data, I analyse the performance of two social assistance and two means-tested child benefits. I find that the programmes reach a very small proportion of the households with incomes...