Informality is ubiquitous in most developing countries. Understanding the informal economy is therefore of utmost importance from a political, economic and social point of view. Paradoxically, despite its economic importance, knowledge is extremely limited regarding the informal economy. It...

In a concern to go further than a simple static report and to address poverty in its immense complexity, this study analyses its evolution over a period of time in relation to the macro-economic and social dynamics at work in Africa. On the basis of a certain number of elements of analysis,...

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 first-hand...

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 redistribution...

Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization in January 2007. The fast economic growth observed for the last decades has resulted in a strong reduction of poverty and increasing inequalities. This paper evaluates the potential distributive impact of the WTO accession using a macro-micro model....

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 of the...