The new millennium has seen a huge increase in the use of direct interventions against poverty in the developing world. Payments in cash or in kind are targeted in ways to identified poor families. There is much hope for these interventions, but also much frustration; their performance in reality has often fallen short of policy makers' expectations.

During the lecture Professor Martin Ravallion will review the economic and political issues that arise, and the evidence on both the successes and failures, based on the many impact evaluations that have been done over the last 15 years. Lessons will be drawn for making these programmes more effective, and challenges will be identified for future research aiming to better inform policy choices. The lecture will draw in part on Ravallion's new book, The Economics of Poverty: History, Measurement and Policy.

Professor Martin Ravallion is a leading economist in the research of poverty and policies for fighting it. Ravallion is best known for his proposal of the '$1 per day' poverty line, which resulted as the universal measurement for monitoring progress against global poverty. He has done extensive research on poverty, linking economic policies to the welfare of poor people, and the evaluation of anti-poverty programmes. Ravallion is the Edmond D. Villani Chair of Economics at Georgetown University. Previously he was the Director of the World Bank's Development Research Group and has advised numerous governments and international agencies on poverty reduction policies. Currently, he is the President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, a Senior Fellow of the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development, a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, USA, and a non-resident Fellow of the Center for Global Development.

More information about WIDER Annual Lecture 20 is available on UNU-WIDER website here. 

To register for the event, please fill the registration form here.