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Social Mobility in Developing Countries: Concepts, Methods, and Determinants out now
Economics social sciences Social mobility 
Request for research proposals
Detecting and countering illicit financial flows – Second callUnited Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) together with the Development Economics Research Group at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH-DERG) invite proposals for papers examining the challenge of...
Policy Brief
Six sets of policy actions to promote social mobilityPromoting social mobility is an essential task of development, and a multi-faceted one. Precarious livelihoods are widespread. Containing downward mobility is an important precondition for sustaining upward mobility...
Social mobility Poverty InequalityBlog
The pandemic and Africa's social safety netThe COVID-19 pandemic has shown that African tax and social-benefit systems are currently ill-equipped to protect households from sudden income losses...
Tax-benefit microsimulation SOUTHMOD Sub-Saharan AfricaBlog
An African in Africa: New perspectives on travelling for research
Working for an international organisation presents a host of challenges, given the vast nature of tasks that one must surmount in a fast paced and changing environment...
Zambia Ghana AfricaRequest for research proposals
Social protection, taxation, and crisesUNU-WIDER is seeking proposals for original research on social protection and taxation in times of crises in developing countries. Proposals from individuals (or groups of individuals) as well as non-profit organizations are welcome. Submission...
Learning
Industrial Policy in the 21st Century – the Challenge for AfricaUNU-WIDER is running its popular Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), Industrial Policy in the 21st Century – the Challenge for Africa , as a self-paced course, with an instructor and regular opportunities to interact. This course is based on a...
Learning Industrialization Africa's Economic Development
Working Paper
The gender productivity gap: Evidence from the Indian informal sectorWe examine the patterns and correlates of the productivity gap between male-owned and female-owned firms for informal enterprises in India...
Gender Productivity gap IndiaJournal Article
Rural financial intermediation and poverty reduction in Ghana: A micro-level analysisTHIS ARTICLE IS ON EARLY VIEW | The financial sector in rural areas, where most of the poor people in sub-Saharan Africa are found, has transformed massively in recent times, notably through the increased penetration of several types of rural financi...
Rural financial intermediation Poverty reduction WelfareBlog
Ending aid dependency: Taxation in developing countries can be improved through collaborationFinland aims to raise the amount of its development assistance to 0.7% of GDP, and this goal has good grounds. But how can we make sure that the countries receiving the donor funding will not stay dependent on the external aid for a long time?...
Tax compliance Tanzania Tax administrationWorking Paper
Industrialization in developing countries: is it related to poverty reduction?This paper proposes an empirical framework that relates poverty reduction to production growth...
Poverty Production GrowthArticle
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...
COVID-19
Request for research proposals
Economic Transformation DatabaseUNU-WIDER is seeking proposals for original research on the Economic Transformation Database (ETD) project. Proposals from individuals (or groups of individuals) as well as non-profit organizations are welcome. Submission deadline: 31 January 2022,...
Working Paper
The effect of fiscal drag on income distribution and work incentives: A microsimulation analysis on selected African countriesAlthough the effect of fiscal drag is well studied in the industrialized world, empirical evidence from developing economies remains limited...
Inflation Income tax Fiscal dragBlog
Conflict-prone countries are not doomed to an eternal trapThe situation of Afghanistan has drawn a picture of a poor, conflict-prone, doomed country. But this does not have to be the case...
Least Developed Countries Productivity Sustainable developmentWorking Paper
Towards greater poverty reduction in Zambia: Simulating potential Cash Plus reforms using MicroZAMODA large share of the population in Zambia is living below the national poverty line...
Poverty Zambia Social protectionBlog
Virtuous circles and downward spirals: The power of ideas & the limits of technocracy
What will it take to shake loose the distemper of our times, and initiate a virtuous spiral of renewal?...
Sustainable development Institutional quality DemocracyWorking Paper
The changing nature of work and inequality in Brazil (2003–19): A descriptive analysisIn this paper we use different sources of data on job task content to investigate the importance of occupations and the intensity of routine tasks embodied in them in explaining changes in employment and earnings in Brazil, in particular their relati...
Brazil Inequality Polarization
Working Paper
An assessment of presumptive tax in Uganda: Evaluating the 2020 reform and four alternative reform scenarios using UGAMOD, a tax-benefit microsimulation model for UgandaPresumptive tax, a final tax on business income, was introduced in Uganda in 1997. The latest reform to the regime in July 2020 sought to make the system more progressive, simpler, and fairer to small firms...
presumptive tax Tax administration Small businessConference
COVID-19 and development - effects and new realities for the Global SouthSESSION RECORDINGS NOW AVAILABLE The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges, and undone hard-earned progress on the pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Blog
Dr Pia Rattenhuber on inequality in crises — an interviewHow do crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic influence inequality and the other way around? This year’s UN Day Dresden put a spotlight on “ Inequalities in Crises ”...
Inequality COVID-19 CrisisBlog
Global inequality may be falling, but the gap between haves and have-nots is growingIn one of the most unequal countries in the world, South Africa, the poorest 40% have annual incomes of less than US$1,000 (£727) per person...
Working 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 policyBlog
Reducing wasted gas emissions is an opportunity for clean air and climateThe 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is seen as the last best chance for countries and companies to set out how they are actually going to deliver the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) target of no more tha...
COP26 Climate change Extractive industries