The authors use a Gini index to measure inequality in educational attainment. They present two methods (direct and indirect) for calculating an education Gini index, and generate a quinquennial data set on education Gini indexes for the over-15-population in 85 countries (1960-90). Preliminary...

Evidence-based economic policies — pragmatic policies that work — played a major role in Asia's success in raising its living standards in the last half century. However, growth prospects are now threatened by rising income inequality and environmental degradation if Asia continues on its...

This paper reviews recent empirical studies linking the nature of public expenditures and taxes with the quality aspects of growth – its impact on poverty, income distribution, and the environment. The studies reviewed confirm that more spending on public goods and concomitantly less spending...

Human, natural, and physical capital assets are a country's main resources for growth and welfare improvements. Their distribution, growth and productivity largely determine people's income and welfare. The poor rely on human and natural capital in addition to physical capital, so the...

Intense climate-related disasters — floods, storms, droughts, and heat waves — have been on the rise worldwide. At the same time and coupled with an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, temperatures, on average, have been rising, and are becoming more variable and...

Equal access to education is a basic human right. But in many countries gaps in education between various groups are staggering. An education Gini index - a new indicator for the distribution of human capital and welfare - facilitates comparison of education inequality across countries and over...