Vulnerability and discrimination among women, children and ethnic minorities INTRODUCTION

Purpose - This purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on vulnerability and discrimination among women, children and ethnic minorities. Design/methodology/approach - The paper discusses the articles in the special issue which employ a variety of individual-level data, some of which are newly available, and of econometric methods for the analysis of the determinants of labour supply and wages of different vulnerable groups. Findings - The articles manifest an amazing similarity of issues, nuances and policy implications, showing that the causes and consequences of absolute and relative vulnerability are common all over the world. The first set of papers may be framed within the definition of relative vulnerability: in fact, they refer to gender discrimination in Spain and Italy; gender and ethnic wage differentials in China; discrimination against Roma in Southeastern Europe; and the gender gap in early career in Mongolia. The second set of papers deals with absolute vulnerability: in fact, they study different aspects of child labour in India, Indonesia and Pakistan. Originality/value - The paper introduces a number of articles using little used data and uses a wide range of up-to-date theoretical and methodological approaches to the issues of vulnerability and discrimination.