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Blog
How should the international community respond to migration and refugees?In our previous blog , we looked at some of the key facts about international migration and identified a few areas that, from an economist’s perspective, need attention...
Emigration and immigration RefugeesNews
Press release - UNU-WIDER conference aims to improve global responses to crisesExperts available for press interviews on core crisis response issues Helsinki, Finland — Experts from around the world will gather this week at the ‘Responding to crises’ conference in Helsinki. The main goal of the event is to...
Working Paper
Human capital inequality and electoral outcomes in South AfricaThis paper examines the nature and evolution of horizontal and vertical human-capital inequality in South Africa since the end of apartheid...
Equality and inequality Human capital VotingBlog
An economist’s view on migration and refugeesFew issues have been so contentious in recent years as international migration. The refugee crisis sparked not least by the Syrian war has shown that policies governing migration are in a tangle...
Emigration and immigration RefugeesWorking Paper
Taxation and inequality in developing countries: Lessons from the recent experience of Latin AmericaThis paper aims to advance understanding about the relationship between taxation and inequality in developing countries, focusing on the recent experience of Latin America...
Economic policy Equality and inequality Income distributionWorking Paper
Resilience to crisis through social protection: Can we build the case?This paper investigates the linkage between social protection and economic resilience. Does social protection have an impact on income?...
Blog
What do we know about growth and poverty in Africa?
The literature on Africa’s development abounds in big theories — structural transformation, pro-poor growth, inclusive growth, among others...
Economic growth PovertyBlog
Responding to crises: What can we do? What’s next?
Although sometimes over used, the word 'crisis' accurately describes many challenges of today's world, such as climage change, war and refugees, economic volatility, pandemics, and the continuing unmet needs of the poor, hungry, and negle...
Climate change Development Foreign aidProject
Understanding the African lions - growth traps and opportunities in six dominant African economiesThis project aims to define some of the key constraints facing African economies as they attempt to maintain a long-run economic growth and development trajectory. The work will provide the analytical basis for policy recommendations and value-added...
Africa Labour market Growth
Working Paper
On the spread of social protection systemsThis paper undertakes an empirical analysis of the adoption of various components of social security systems as well as contribution rates...
Panel analysis Social security TaxationBlog
Capital flight from developing countries – what is it, how is it measured, and what have we learned?Many worry that developing countries lose a substantial amount of money via capital flight, that is, outflows of cash and securities — part of which can also be illegal...
Capital Tax evasion TaxationBook
Measuring poverty and wellbeing in developing countriesDetailed analyses of poverty and wellbeing in developing countries, based on household surveys, have been ongoing for more than three decades...
PovertyBlog
Extractives, climate change, and developmentTo read this blog, on a computer screen or mobile phone (or even paper!), a manufacturing process used plastics derived from oil, and metals mined from ores...
Project
Regional growth and development in Southern AfricaEconomies in the Southern Africa region face thorny challenges when it comes to the transformation of their economies and the need for job creation and the sharing of the benefits of growth. This project aims to develop, in conjunction with...
South Africa Regional integration Industrialization
Working Paper
Capital flight and development: An overview of concepts, methods, and data sourcesThis paper offers a critical review of the methods used to estimate the extent of capital flight and illicit financial flows from developing countries...
Capital TaxationLearning
Rama Ngenzebuke: the three most productive months of my PhD researchWe asked our February-June 2016 PhD interns to share their experiences at UNU-WIDER.
Blog
New gas finds in lower-income Africa – the case of Tanzania
There has been great excitement in recent years about the huge oil and gas finds, offshore and onshore, in a number of lower- and lower-middle-income countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda and, more recently, Kenya...
News
Press release - Global income inequality has declined in relative terms, but gone up substantially in absolute amountsHelsinki, Finland – Researchers from United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) have found that during the last four decades global income inequality decreased substantially in ‘relative...
Project
Inclusive growth in Mozambique - scaling-up research and capacityThe central goal of the project is to support inclusive growth, growth that substantially improves the living standards of the Mozambican population. This will be pursued through a focused research and capacity-building effort, meant to increase...
Mozambique Employment generation Industrial policy
Vacancies
Visiting ScholarOur Visiting Scholars Programme gives qualified scholars an opportunity to research topics related to development and/or global economic issues, and to participate in UNU-WIDER activities.
Vacancies
PhD InternshipOur PhD Internship Programme gives registered doctoral students an opportunity to utilize the resources and facilities at UNU-WIDER for their PhD dissertation or thesis research, and to work with UNU-WIDER researchers in areas of mutual interest.
Blog
Improving adult health increases children’s schooling - evidence from Zambia
Both health and education are essential for reducing poverty. Unfortunately, the two are often interlinked and in many countries both are severely lacking...
Economic growth Education HealthWorking Paper
Ethnic and racial disparities in children’s education: Comparative evidence from Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Viet NamWe investigate whether there are racial and ethnic disparities in children’s education in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Viet Nam...
Children EducationProject
Africa's energy futuresAs one of the most likely regions of the world to suffer first and most from climate change, Africa has considerable long run incentives to see effective global mitigation policies enacted. However, concerns are frequently and legitimately voiced...
Energy infrastructure Renewable energy Power systems
Blog
African Lions - Ghana's job creation successes and obstacles
Over the past two decades, Ghana’s economy experienced an average annual growth rate of 5.8 percent, and became a low-middle income country in 2007...
Economic growth Employees Equality and inequality
Blog
African Lions - Tapping the potential of Kenya's economic growth From 2000-2014, like many other sub-Saharan African countries, Kenya experienced high growth, at an average of 4.37 percent...
Economic growth Labor Labor productivityBlog
Extractive industries and development – taxing profits and investing gains
Industries based on natural resources such as oil, gas, and minerals can play a major positive role in the development of low- and middle-income countries, however they can also lead to a very narrow kind of growth which excludes the poor and damages...
Industrialization Natural resources