This paper has been prepared as part of a major ODI project on the income distribution effects of stabilisation policies in less developed countries. The research, which is funded by IDRC (Canada) and

ODA (UK), is conducted in collaboration with researchers in five countries (India, Jamaica, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe), in which case-studies are being conducted. It is a working paper, therefore,

in two senses. In the first place, the paper is to be read as a working draft, as a report of research which is still in progress. But it is also a working paper in another sense, as an input into the case-study work of DDI's collaborators. The literature review that the paper undertakes is therefore directed at providing some guidance for empirical research into the subject.