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Journal Article
Duration of pre-university education and labour market outcomes: Evidence from a quasi-experiment in GhanaTHIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW. This study provides new evidence on the effect of shortening the duration of pre‐university education on long‐term labour market outcomes in Ghana, exploiting the education reform of 1987 as a natural experiment...
Years of education Labour market labour market outcomesConference
Development challenges in Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic
Request for research proposals
Detecting and countering illicit financial flowsUnited Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) together with Department of Economics at the University of Copenhagen invite proposals for papers examining the challenge of illicit financial flows. The...
Article
UNU-WIDER ongoing work on the effect of COVID-19 on the economies, states, and societies of the Global SouthIt is clear that COVID-19 will have serious implications for economies, states, and societies of the Global South. At UNU-WIDER we are reorienting our work to think through what those implications are and possible mitigation and adaptation measures...
Blog
The developer’s dilemma in India – the role of politics and economic ideologyPolicy makers seeking inclusive growth frequently face the developer’s dilemma between prioritizing structural transformation, which is potentially inequitable, and keeping a check on rising economic inequality...
Structural transformation Economic inequality Economic developmentJournal Article
Health-system equity, egalitarian democracy and COVID-19 outcomes: An empirical analysisTHIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spate of studies showing a close connection between inequitable access to health care, welfare services and adverse outcomes from the pandemic...
COVID-19 Healthcare healthcare accessResearch Brief
Job duration in apartheid and post-apartheid South AfricaThe two primary features of a job are its wage and how long it lasts. Today, there is an extensive literature on wages in the developing world thanks to the expansion of national household survey data...
apartheid Labour market dynamics job durationBlog
Late development, early adoption – how new technology is reshaping the future of structural change
Technological catch-up is bringing new asynchronies to development pathways. What does this mean for employment, globalization, and inequality?...
Structural transformation Technology developer's dilemmaBlog
35 years of research for change – what's next?: Building just societiesTo celebrate its 35 th birthday, UNU-WIDER has looked back at some of its greatest achievements...
Structural transformation Economic inequality Economic developmentReport
Effects of Swedish and international democracy aidDemocracy aid is a significant component of development cooperation. As a share of total aid, it has increased steadily since the mid-1990s...
democracy aid Aid effectiveness DemocracyResearch Brief
Extreme inequalities: The distribution of household wealth in South AfricaSouth Africa is, by most contemporary measures, the most unequal country in the world. Yet, relatively little attention has been given to country’s wealth inequality...
Administrative data households balance sheets income capitalizationBlog
Coronavirus: five ways some states have used the pandemic to curtail human rights and democracyIn the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, at least 95 countries declared a national emergency, empowering governments to act in ways they would not normally to protect citizens...
News
UNU-WIDER joins major new research consortium analysing African citiesA partnership of urban development experts – including UNU-WIDER – has been awarded a contract of £32 million to establish the African Cities Research Consortium (ACRC).
Urban economics Informal sector Partnerships for Development
Blog
The world needs a people’s vaccineThe world needs a people’s vaccine for COVID-19 — one provided universally, and accessible to the entire world population. A patent-protected vaccine could ultimately exclude many people from being vaccinated and protected...
COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccineBlog
Studying COVID-19 through the lens of microsimulation: The role of tax and benefit policies in alleviating poverty and inequalityAs the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, developing nations are struggling to deliver economic assistance and public services to their citizens, under pressures of fiscal constraints and tax revenue losses...
Tax-benefit microsimulation tax-benefit policy Individual povertyBlog
Headline data suggests low-income states are coping better with the pandemic than high-income states. But is this true?States with fragile state health systems have been commended for effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic...
COVID-19 Capable states state capacityWorking Paper
Vulnerable employment of Egyptian, Jordanian, and Tunisian youth: Trends and determinantsYouths in the Middle East and North Africa face the highest unemployment rates in the world. Those who are employed are pushed to accept informal sector jobs that are insecure, unsafe, and lack non-wage benefits...
Vulnerable employment Informality youth unemploymentNews
Call for participation: Life with Corona survey round 2Life with Corona, a global survey tracking the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 around the world has just been released with updated questions.
COVID-19 Trust pandemic
Working Paper
Horizontal inequality, COVID-19, and lockdown readiness: Evidence from IndiaA growing body of research shows that COVID-19 both reflects and exacerbates existing inequalities...
Horizontal inequality Ethnic inequality CasteWorking Paper
Transparency in extractive industry commodities tradingThe paper reviews the debate about transparency in extractive industry commodities trade. It examines the obstacles to improved transparency...
Transparency commodity trading Extractive industriesWorking Paper
What works to mitigate and reduce relative (and absolute) inequality?: A systematic reviewOver the past two decades, research on the impacts of a diverse range of public policies and income inequality has seen rapid growth...
Income inequality Systematic review tax policyPolicy Brief
Mining for change: How can natural resources support inclusive growth in AfricaFor a growing number of countries in Africa the discovery of natural resources is a great opportunity, but one accompanied by considerable risks. There is an extensive literature linking natural resource dependence to poor economic performance...
Mining Extractive industries Industrial policyBlog
Changing the lives of very young children: Evidence from RwandaGlobally, around 250 million children under the age of five do not meet key development milestones, which reduces their ability to reach their full potential...
Social mobility Human capital Cognitive abilityResearch Brief
Monetary policy and firm size in South AfricaMonetary policy affects the real economy through various channels, including the interest rate, exchange rate, credit, and asset price channels. The credit channel has recently received considerable attention...
credit channel Firm heterogeneity Financial constraints
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Web DeveloperUNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong web and systems development skills to join the institute’s ICT Team.