Policy Brief
Measuring Human Well-being
This Policy Brief is an outcome of the UNU-WIDER research project 'Social Development Indicators'. The overall aim of the project was to provide insights into how human well-being might be better conceptualized and, in particular, measured, by...
Working Paper
Consolidating behavioural economics and rational choice theory
Using illustrations from research on inequality, this paper offers evidence on the strengths of ‘behavioural synthesis’, i.e. the reconciliation between neoclassical and behavioural economics.We compare how theoretical models of absolute and relative...
Working Paper
Using Case Studies to Explore the External Validity of ‘Complex’ Development Interventions
Rising standards for accurately inferring the impact of development projects has not been matched by equivalently rigorous procedures for guiding decisions about whether and how similar results might be expected elsewhere. These ‘external validity’...
Book
Advancing Development
Leading scholars and policymakers reflect on current thinking in development economics and on what may happen during the next two decades. Covering the major themes in development in an accessible way, this original and authoritative contribution...
Working Paper
Reflections on the Ethics of Social Experimentation
Social scientists are increasingly engaging in experimental research projects of importance for public policy in developing areas. While this research holds the possibility of producing major social benefits, it may also involve manipulating...
Journal Article
Using Case Studies to Explore the External Validity of ‘Complex’ Development Interventions
Rising standards for accurately inferring the impact of development projects has not been matched by equivalently rigorous procedures for guiding decisions about whether and how similar results might be expected elsewhere. These ‘external validity’...
Working Paper
Measuring Economic Insecurity
We provide an axiomatic treatment of the measurement of economic insecurity, assuming that individual insecurity depends on the current wealth level and its variations experienced in the past. The first component plays the role of a buffer stock to...
Working Paper
Parsing the Urban Poverty Puzzle
This paper describes the methodology of a longitudinal multi-generational study in the favelas (shantytowns) of Rio de Janeiro from 1968 to 2008. Major political transformations took place in Brazil during this interval: from dictatorship to ‘opening...