The Impact of MacroEconomic Policies on Poverty and Income Distribution: Macro-Micro Evaluation Techniques and Tools (Equity and development) - Hardcover

UK, Palgrave Macmillan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821372688 ISBN 13: 9780821372685

Publisher: World Bank Publications, 2008

Synopsis

A companion to the bestseller, The Impact of Economic Policies on Poverty and Income Distribution, this title deals with theoretical challenges and cutting-edge macro-micro linkage models. The authors compare the predictive and analytical power of various macro-micro linkage techniques using the traditional RHG approach as a benchmark to evaluate standard policies, such as, a typical stabilization package and a typical structural reform policy.

About this title

About the Author

FRANCOIS BOURGUIGNON is Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, USA. He is a specialist in the economics of development, public policy, economic growth, income distribution and inequality. As the World Bank's Senior Vice-President for Development Economics and Chief Economist since October 2003, he provides intellectual leadership and direction to the Bank's overall development strategy and economic research agenda, at global, regional and country levels. As a member of the Bank's senior management team he advises the President and Bank's management on economic issues. LUIZ PEREIRA DA SILVA has been working for the government of Brazil since 2004, as Secretary of State for International Affairs in the Ministry of Finance, and as Chief Economist in the Ministry of Budget and Planning. Before that, he held a lead economist position in the Research Department of the World Bank, and his areas of work are macroeconomic modelling of financial crises and poverty. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Paris-I (Sorbonne). He has worked for the French central statistical office (INSEE) and the governments of South Africa, Brazil and Japan, and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. MAURIZIO BUSSOLO is a Senior Economist in the Global Trends team of the Development Prospects Group of the World Bank, USA.

Review

Macro-level policies, whatever their impact on macro-level aggregates, can have significant distributional consequences. Polities and policy makers are well aware of this, but their economic advisers, especially those in international agencies, seemed in the past to have been less well attuned to these realities. This volume shows that the landscape is changing. The chapters were written by the leaders in their field and showcase techniques and applications that allow the distributional consequences of policy reform to be analyzed systematically. There can no longer be any technical excuse for totally ignoring the distributional impacts of macro-level policy instruments. --Ravi Kanbur, T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs and Professor of Economics, Cornell University

This book uses a single modeling framework a macro model linked with a household-level micro model to examine the consequences on poverty and income distribution of changes to the trade regime, tariffs and nontariff barriers, the exchange rate, interest rates, the mix of fiscal and monetary policies, the composition of public spending, and labor market regulation. It also examines the macroeconomic consequences of scaling up micro-level programs, such as a conditional cash transfer program. The book represents the state of the art in using models to understand the impact of policies on poverty alleviation, and is a must-read for both policy makers and students interested in poverty, income distribution, and growth. --Raghuram G. Rajan, Eric Gleacher Distinguished Service Professor of Finance, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago

This book represents a significant advance in development policy analysis. It demonstrates how macro-economic modeling can be married to micro data sets to produce more meaningful analyses of economy-wide shocks or policy changes. It has important lessons to offer to both macro and micro development economists: it shows the former how to use better data and the latter how to broaden their analyses. --Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Edition details

• Publisher: World Bank Publications
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0821372688
• ISBN 13: 9780821372685
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 440
• Editor: Pereira Da Silva Luiz A., Bourguignon François, Bussolo Maurizio