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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...
Request for research proposals
Data for tax revenue mobilizationUNU-WIDER is seeking proposals for original research that employs the Government Revenue Dataset (GRD) from researchers working on tax revenue performance and related fields in developing countries and beyond. Submission deadline: 17 October 2021,...
News
UNU-WIDER releases first Annual Report for 35-year anniversaryTo celebrate 35 years of influencing development and practice, UNU-WIDER released its first Annual Report . 2020 marked the 35th anniversary of UNU-WIDER, 45 years since the establishment of the United Nations University (UNU), as well as 75 years...
COVID-19
Vacancies
Senior Systems Analyst P-2UNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong commitment and potential to join the Institute's Operational Support Unit in the ICT Team in a leadership role to strengthen the ICT division at UNU-WIDER. Closing date: 12 October 2021...
Request for research proposals
World Income Inequality DatabaseUNU-WIDER is seeking to commission research papers from researchers working in inequality, income distribution, welfare, and related fields who would like to contribute to the World Income Inequality Database project. Submission deadline: 31 October...
Blog
Social protection at a crossroad
How can we ensure a resilient and inclusive recovery from COVID-19? How can we hold on to the target of eradicating poverty and hunger by 2030, with the pandemic still ongoing?...
COVID-19 Social assistance Social protectionSeminar
Long-run impacts of in-utero Ramadan exposure: evidence from administrative tax recordsMazhar Waseem presents at the WIDER Seminar Series on 15 September. Abstract Using Ramadan fasting as a natural experiment, we estimate the long-run impacts of in-utero environment on labor market outcomes . We exploit administrative tax return data...
Blog
Afghanistan 2021: A quickly made long tragedy
The tragedy for the Afghan people of the Taliban re-taking control of the country in August 2021 is the denouement of a process 20 years in the making...
Problem Driven Iterative Adaption State capacityPolicy Brief
News
Building up fair taxation – New data research collaboration in Tanzania
Taxation Tanzania Administrative capacity Blog
Unlocking the mystery of domestic savings: What difference do they make?The socioeconomic fallout from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore discussions on domestic resource mobilization (hereafter DRM)...
Domestic revenue mobilization Domestic savings InvestmentsConference
COVID-19 and development - effects and new realities for the Global SouthThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges, and undone hard-earned progress on the pathway to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Blog
Helping the poor to survive lockdownThe Hrishipara Daily Diaries Project has been tracking the daily spending of 60 poor households in rural Bangladesh for the last six years...
COVID-19 Lockdown LivelihoodsWorking Paper
Norms that matter: Exploring the distribution of women’s work between income generation, expenditure-saving, and unpaid domestic responsibilities in IndiaBased on primary data from India, this paper analyses the reasons underlying women’s low labour force participation. In developing countries, women engaged in unpaid economic work in family enterprises are often not counted as workers...
Female labour force participation India Social normsWorking Paper
The regulation of interconnection and regulatory alignment in the Southern African Development CommunityThis paper analyses interconnection in telecommunications markets in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, focusing on cross-border roaming as well as international interconnection...
Southern African Development Community Competition RegulationResearch Brief
Is technical and vocational education and training a solution for youth unemployment?: The dynamics of school-to-work transition of TVET graduates in MozambiqueTechnical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is often seen as a silver bullet resolving issues ranging from youth unemployment to labour market-related structural change...
Mozambique Education policy EmploymentPolicy Brief
The economic gains of reducing the employment gender gap in MoroccoMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, including Morocco, currently record the lowest rates of female labour force participation (FLFP) in the world...
Female labour force participation Gender gap EmploymentBlog
Stunted growth, orphans, and access to sanitation services in South Africa
Stunted growth in early life has serious implications for cognitive development and is a well-established constraint to individual productivity and life expectancy...
Child wellbeing Child nutrition South AfricaBlog
Long-term research in Tanzania sheds light on the reasons rural households diversify their income
Researchers and policymakers have long asked whether rural households in Africa diversify their income to spread risk or by seizing opportunities to increase their earning potential...
Blog
Do resource rich economies have better or worse human development outcomes?Although increasingly challenged , we often hear that being resource rich can adversely affect growth prospects...
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...
COVID-19
News
UNU-WIDER releases guidebook on economic growth in fragile contexts
Fragile states Inclusive growth Elites News
Three UNU-WIDER books in top five most accessed economics titles on Oxford Scholarship OnlineAccording to a listing by Oxford University Press, three UNU-WIDER books are among its top five most visited economics titles during the past year (April 2020–March 2021).
Blog
Better measures of informality can improve poverty reduction policy
In a recent study , my co-authors and I propose a new way to measure informality by household, rather than by individual worker...
Informality Labour rights Labour market outcomesBlog
Precarious employment for youth in Egypt, Jordan, and TunisiaYouth (those aged 15–29) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face notoriously precarious employment prospects...
Labour market outcomes Gender equality; Labour markets Informality