[...]This paper begins by discussing poverty trends on a global scale -- where the poor are located in the world and how their numbers have been changing over time. It then discusses the relationship of economic growth and income distribution to poverty reduction. Finally, it suggests an...

We show that for many classes of symmetric two-player games, the simple decision rule \imitate-the-best" can hardly be beaten by any other decision rule. Weprovide necessary and sufficient conditions for imitation to be unbeatable and showthat it can only be beaten by much in games that are of...

The substantial aim of this paper is to integrate the main idea of 'Pygmalion' orself-fullling prophecy research (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968; Jussim and Har-ber, 2005) into the general subjective expected utility framework about inequalityin educational opportunities (Breen and Goldthorpe, 1997;...

We study the effects of random assignment to coeducational andsingle-sex classes on the academic performance of female highschool students. Our estimation results show that single-sexschooling improves the performance of female students inmathematics. This positive effect increases if the...

We present a joint study of the U.S. structural transformation (thedecline of agriculture as the dominating sector) and regional convergence(of southern to northern average wages).We find empiricallythat most of the regional convergence is attributable to the structuraltransformation: the...

The provision of outsourcing services creates relationships between knowledge vested with thesupplier and the viability of outsourcing arrangements. Knowledge accumulation by theoutsourcee can reach a level where it poses a market entry or takeover risk to the outsourcer.Knowledge translates...

The tendency to underestimate the future value of a variable growing at a constant rate, anexample of exponential growth bias, has been linked to household financial decision making.We show that exponential growth bias and standard measures of financial literacy arenegatively correlated in a...

There is plenty of evidence across the EU to suggest that young people from poorerbackgrounds are less likely to attend tertiary education than their better-off peers. Thiscorrelation is often used to justify monetary transfers to families with students. It isnot clear, however, that these...

We exploit a universe dataset of state school students in England with linkedtest score records to document the evolution of attainment through school fordifferent ethnic groups. The analysis yields a number of striking findings. First,we show that, controlling for personal characteristics, all...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced bychildren across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices ofdissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nineethnic...