Includes bibliographical references (pages 423-430) and index.

"Understanding why so many people across the world are so poor is one of the central intellectual challenges of our time. What explains a pattern of extreme destitution for billions combined with plutocratic levels of income for a tiny minority? This book offers a novel approach to addressing those issues, not by providing answers, but seeking to provide the tools and data that will enable the student, the researcher and the professional working in this area to investigate the questions for themselves. Empirical Development Economics has been designed as a hands-on teaching tool to investigate the causes of poverty. The book begins by introducing the basics of the quantitative approach to development economics. All the topics are presented through data that addresses some important policy issue. In Part 1 the focus is on the basics of understanding why incomes differ so much. What is the role of education, technology and institutions in ensuring that where you are born is so important in determining whether you are poor? In Part 2 the focus is on techniques that allow us to address questions which include how firms invest, how households decide how much to spend on education of their children, whether microfinance does help the poor, whether food aid works, who gets private schooling and whether property rights enhance investment.A distinctive feature of the book is its presentation of a range of approaches to studying development questions. Development economics has undergone a major change in focus over the last decade with the rise of experimental methods to address development issues. One of our objectives has been to show how such methods relate to more traditional ones. "-- Provided by publisher.