UNU-WIDER : UNU-WIDER

NEW PROJECT: Institutional legacies of violent conflict

This project seeks to increase understanding among policymakers, academics and practitioners of how institutional dynamics that develop during violent conflicts shape state-building and economic development trajectories in the long run. More

How is COVID-19 changing development? A WIDER Webinar Series

Check out the upcoming WIDER Webinar Series events to hear from renowned researchers on the impact of COVID-19 on development, and the implications for the Global South. Recordings of past events available too. Click here for more details

Shanghai, China - Unsplash / Chritie Kim

NEW OPEN ACCESS BOOK: Inequality in the Developing World

Inequality has emerged as a key development challenge. This book contributes to this important discussion by presenting assessments of the measurement and analysis of global inequality by leading inequality scholars. Read more

Have you heard about the GGDC/UNU-WIDER Economic Transformation Database?

The new database provides crucial information on changes in the economic structure of economies across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Preliminary findings suggest a trend reversal in many developing countries towards industrialization. Read more

Support COVID-19 research - take the survey today

Life with Corona, a global survey tracking the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 around the world has just been released with updated questions. Take part in the survey here, and share the link with your colleagues, friends and family! Read more

Visit our YouTube channel

Want to catch up on our recent events? Find out what Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz think about the SDGs? Click here to visit us on YouTube.

Research and policy briefs

Evidence-based policymaking is crucial. Use our publications search to browse nearly 200 briefs which highlight the findings and policy implications of our research.

177 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...

News

Findings from new GGDC/UNU-WIDER database grab attention of academia and media Economic Transformation Database Economic transformation Deindustrialization

Working Paper

Resource rents in the diamond industry 2014–19: Rents, issues, methods, and data availability

The focus of this study is rent in the diamond industry...

resource rent diamond Tax

Journal Article

The political economy of small and medium-sized enterprise development: Characteristics, productive value and market constraints in industrial manufacturing

This study analyses the differentials of productive values in Vietnamese micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and how market constraints have hindered their performance...

SMEs Industrial policy Value addition

Blog

Promoting industrialization in Africa: Global versus regional value chains

by Julian Boys, Antonio Andreoni
November 2020

As COVID-19 ravages international trade and production, policy-makers are shifting their sights from global value chains (GVCs) to regional value chains (RVCs) as pathways to industrialization...

Value chain directionality Textiles Apparel industry

Policy Brief

Mining for change: How can natural resources support inclusive growth in Africa

For 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 policy

Working Paper

Value chain directionality, upgrading, and industrial policy in the Tanzanian textile and apparel sectors

With recent changes in the global economy, policy makers are increasingly turning from global value chains to regional and national value chains as drivers of structural transformation in the global South...

Value chain directionality Textiles Apparel industry

Working Paper

Structural transformation, inequality, and inclusive growth in South Africa

This paper evaluates structural change, inequality dynamics, and industrial policy in South Africa between 1960 and the present day...

Structural transformation Inclusive growth South Africa

Working Paper

Structural transformation and inclusive growth: Kuznets’ ‘developer’s dilemma’ in Indonesia

We focus on special characteristics of the manufacturing sector, in terms of employment generation and productivity growth, that enable the rapid, resilient economic catch-up of developing countries...

Structural transformation Inclusive growth Indonesia

Working Paper

Winners and losers in industrial policy 2.0

Large-scale business subsidies tied to national industrial development promotion programmes are notoriously difficult to study and are often inseparable from the political economy of large government programmes...

Firm subsidies Fiscal policy Industrial policy

Book

Mining for Change: Natural Resources and Industry in Africa

For a growing number of countries in Africa the discovery and exploitation of natural resources is a great opportunity, but one accompanied by considerable risks...

Mining Industrial policy Extractive industries

Working Paper

De-industrialization, re-industrialization, and the resurgence of state capitalism: The case of Indonesia

Discussions on the developing world’s industrial policies have largely neglected the role of state-owned entities...

Industrialization Industrial policy Infrastructure

Working Paper

South African gold mining and local procurement in Tanzania and Ghana

We examine the extent to which two of Africa’s leading gold mining economies, Ghana and Tanzania, have adopted transformative local procurement policies to enhance backward linkages from the minerals sector...

Mining Extractives Gold

Working Paper

The governance of global value chains, the state, and small businesses: The case of timber in Myanmar

We use the case of the timber industry in Myanmar to analyse how national regulatory frameworks and international ecological discourses affect forest management and small businesses...

Timber Wood Forestry