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Working Paper
Looking ahead to COP27—from climate pledges to action: The Global Methane Pledge—opportunities and risksThe global energy transition is happening, but too slowly to limit climate change to acceptable levels, for diverse reasons...
Natural gas Emissions HealthBlog
Inequality, fiscal space, and crisis response — A matter of priority, affordability, or both?
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments financed more than 5000 fiscal support policies worldwide in 2020–21...
Fiscal policy Fiscal capacity InequalityBook
Parental investments and children’s human capital in low-to-middle-income countriesThis study reviews what we know about parental investments and children's human capital in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs). First, it presents definitions and a simple analytical framework...
parental investment Human capital low-and-middle-income countriesBlog
Urban poverty: cities, slums, and the need for policy actionDeveloping countries will be predominantly urban by 2030...
Social mobility India UrbanizationNews
UNU-WIDER launches new series: Cambridge Elements in Development EconomicsUNU-WIDER is excited to publish the first titles in a new series of peer-reviewed, original, authoritative, and succinct publications combining the best features of books and journals, made especially for digital access.
Working Paper
Global profit shifting, 1975–2019This paper constructs time series of global profit shifting covering the 2015–19 period, during which major international efforts were implemented to curb profit shifting...
Profit shifting Multinational firms TaxationWorking Paper
Trust as state capacity: The political economy of complianceThis paper explores the link between trust in government, policy-making, and compliance. It focuses on a specific channel whereby citizens who are convinced that a policy is worthwhile are more motivated to comply with it...
State capacity Trust ComplianceWorking Paper
Elite incomes around the world: Command over tradables, non-tradables, and peopleThis paper analyses elite incomes around the world, and how international comparisons of elite incomes vary depending on the exchange rate and income concept used...
Elites Income inequality Exchange rateWorking Paper
Foreign aid and intergenerational mobility in AfricaWhile there is extensive literature examining the growth and development effects of foreign aid, very little attention has been paid to its potential impact on social mobility...
Foreign aid Intergenerational Mobility AfricaBlog
Fintech and domestic savings: A perfect match coming true in sub-Saharan Africa
Financial technology (FinTech) is a major force disrupting the structure of financial services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and enabling access of unbanked people to financial services...
Technological innovations Domestic savings TechnologyBook
The 1918–20 influenza pandemic: A retrospective in the time of COVID-19The pandemic of 1918–20 — commonly known as the Spanish flu — infected over a quarter of the world's population and killed over fifty million people...
Pandemic COVID-19 socioeconomic consequencesWorking Paper
Agricultural risks, the COVID-19 pandemic, and farm household welfare and diversification strategies in AfricaAgricultural activities in many African countries are bedevilled by a range of risk factors...
Risk COVID-19 Household welfareAbout
2022 UNU-WIDER Winter SchoolIn 2022 UNU-WIDER launched an intensive winter school course on tax policy research. The course, which gathered 27 African researchers from 13 countries, took place in two parts. Part one was a 3-day online Stata and Statistics bootcamp in May-June...
Capacity development Tax administration data SDG17
Blog
What would be the economic consequences of a military stalemate in Ukraine?Russia’s war in Ukraine may reach a stalemate as neither side appears in reach of a military victory. Unless a settlement can be agreed, a frozen conflict may emerge, which will delay economic recovery in Ukraine...
Blog
Electoral politics and Mexico’s COVID-19 vaccine roll-outGovernment responsiveness is an integral feature of representative democracy. Its importance could be amplified in times of crisis, especially if citizens cannot rely on market actors for help...
COVID-19 COVID-19 policy response COVID-19 vaccineBlog
Are autocratic states doomed to weak fiscal capacity?
How best to increase and mobilize revenue is a key issue that confronts contemporary developing economies, but the same problems were faced —and solved— by today’s developed economies...
Blog
Fiscal states in developing economies: Why do they matter and where do they come from?Modern states are complex organizations which perform a broad range of functions. They have an important role in economic and human development...
Fiscal capacity State capacity Building State CapabilitiesNews
Senior Research Fellow Patricia Justino appointed as Deputy Director of UNU-WIDERThe United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) appoints Senior Research Fellow Patricia Justino as Deputy Director on 1 August 2022.
Conflict Trust Governance
Blog
Opportunities beyond lecture rooms – widening my career perspectives as a UNU-WIDER PhD fellow
It was surreal to take a springtime walk along the harbor in Helsinki on my way to UNU-WIDER’s headquarter offices for the first time. My initial application to the UNU-WIDER PhD Fellowship programme had been rejected...
UNU-WIDER PhD Fellowship Capacity building Capacity developmentAnnual Lecture
Blog
Tax revenues and tax capacity in sub-Saharan AfricaAfrican countries raise lower amounts of tax as a share of national income (GDP) than other countries. Researchers are interested in understanding why this is the case...
Government tax revenue Government revenue domestic resource mobilizationBlog
Sales recovered faster from the pandemic than employment: Evidence from tax administrative and survey data in ZambiaLike most other countries, the government of Zambia introduced restrictions to control COVID-19, which considerably curtailed normal economic activity...
Competitiveness Debt Finance