Dialogues économiques

Going beyond the battle against income inequalities, some look to equal opportunities as a way of offering everyone the same chances and enabling deprived people to escape the poverty trap. Social mobility gives everyone the chance to move upwards. Economists Cowell and Flachaire present a mobility index to add to the existing inequality measures.

Conditional Cash Transfers grant money to poor households with children provided that their members meet certain conditions. A common feature of many CCT programs in Latin America is that payments are targeted to the mother. Could this policy be a way for women to gain autonomy? Marcelo Bergolo and Estefanía Galván find that a CCT program in Uruguay results in women gaining greater responsibility for decisions in specific spheres of household expenditure. On the negative side, however, it has discouraging effects on their formal employment.

While depression continues to grow in developed countries, a new paradigm is emerging: not wealth-creation, but the creation of well-being. Isn’t that every government’s main goal? Meeting this objective means investigating what determines fulfilment. In “The Origins of Happiness” Andrew Clark, Sarah Fleche, Richard Layard, Nattavudh Powdthavee and George Ward conclude that mental health makes us happier than money.

When is a mother « the mother of all evils »? According to the book « the origin of happiness », written by A. Clark, S. Flèche, R. Layard, N. Powdthavee et G. Ward, a child’s happiness relies on the mother’s mental health. Misery crosses generations and the consequences last into adulthood. To address this issue, the authors call for more attention to mental well-being and recommend preventing depression from an early age.

Econdialog interviewed Ben Kiernan, professor of History at Yale University, about Cambodian history. He explains how its natural resources are a key to understanding the glory of the Angkor Empire. Cambodia was a land of plenty.