Request for research proposals
Regional growth and development for southern Africa’s prosperityUNU-WIDER, the National Treasury of the Republic of South Africa (NT), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) invite proposals from qualified researchers for high quality economic and/or political economy analysis in any of the five focus...
Journal Article
How polarized is the global income distribution?The interest in the level of global inequality has surged in recent years. This paper complements existing estimates of global inequality by providing the first estimates of the level of bipolarization of the global income distribution...
Polarization Bipolarization Polarization measuresVacancies
Digital Design Associate and Webmaster GS-6UNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong commitment and potential to support the Communications Team in implementing the communications strategy through design, assuring the uptake and impact of the Institute’s work online and...
Journal Article
The impact of intergovernmental transfers on local revenue generation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from TanzaniaDo intergovernmental transfers reduce revenues collected by local government authorities (LGAs)?...
fiscal capacity intergovernmental grants Sub-Saharan AfricaAnnual Lecture
WIDER Annual Lecture 21 - How are people poor? Measuring global progress towards zero poverty and the SDGsThe 2017 WIDER Annual Lecture was delivered on 24 October, as part of UN Day celebrations. More information is available below in the programme for the day.

Policy Brief

News
UNU-WIDER Director-Designate namedUNU-WIDER is pleased to announce that, following a highly successful 10 years under the leadership of Professor Finn Tarp, the Institute’s next director has been named. Professor Kunal Sen will join the Institute as Director-Designate on 1...
Blog
Information asymmetries in extractive industries: What can be done?
In the second part of this blog, Alan R. Roe discusses what is known about the informational failures that pose challenges for governments in projecting revenues from extractive industries. Read the first part here ...
Extractive industries Government revenueWorking Paper
A 2015 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for MozambiqueThis paper documents a 2015 Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Mozambique...
Social Accounting Matrix national accounts Supply tableNews

Blog
Forecasting revenues from extractive industries: Information asymmetries and other disadvantages of host governments
In the first part of this blog, Alan R. Roe writes about the difficulties governments face in predicting revenues from extractive industries. Read part two here ...
Extractive industries Government revenueJournal Article
Optimal taxation and public provision for poverty reductionThe existing literature on optimal taxation typically assumes there exists a capacity to implement complex tax schemes, which is not necessarily the case for many developing countries...
Income tax Poverty Public goodsReport
SOUTHMOD country report Ethiopia: ETMOD v1.0This report documents ETMOD, the SOUTHMOD model developed for Ethiopia...
Tax Government revenue Government spending policyConference
Migration and mobility - new frontiers for research and policyThe WIDER Development Conference on migration and mobility, jointly organized with the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), will take place on 5-6 October 2017 in Accra, Ghana.

Policy Brief

Journal Article
Discrimination, Social Capital, and Financial Constraints: The Case of Viet NamThis paper examines the relationship among gender, social capital, and access to finance of micro, small, and medium enterprises in the manufacturing sector in Viet Nam...
Entrepreneurship Financial constraints GenderJournal Special Issue
Fiscal Policy, State Building and Economic DevelopmentThis journal presents a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place, as an introduction to this United Nations University-World Institute for Development Economics Rese...
Fiscal policy Economic development TaxationThe WIDER Seminar Series showcases the latest research on key topics in development economics. At the weekly sessions, early-career and senior researchers present recent and ongoing work touching on structural transformation, inclusion, and...
WIDER Seminar SeriesProject
WIID - World Income Inequality DatabaseWorld Income Inequality Database (WIID), collects and stores information on income inequality for developed, developing, and transition countries. WIID provides the most comprehensive set of income inequality statistics available and can be...

Policy Brief

News
Working Paper
Stock-and-flow-consistent macroeconomic model for South AfricaWe develop a stock-and-flow-consistent model for South Africa with four financial instruments and detailed balance sheets for the household, government, financial, non-financial, and foreign sectors and the Reserve Bank...
Stock and flow Macroeconomics Computable general equilibriumBook
Aid Effectiveness for Environmental SustainabilityThis collection examines the role that foreign aid can play in dealing with the severe global challenge of climate change, one of the most pressing international development issues of the 21st century...
Foreign aid Climate change Sustainable energyBlog
A WIDER perspective on migration
While many WIDER Development Conferences emerge from ongoing projects, our latest conference in October — ‘ Migration and mobility: New frontiers for research and policy ’ — offered a different opportunity: to focus attention ...
Migration RefugeesWorking Paper
Fiscal policy, state building and economic developmentThis paper presents a synopsis of the contextual conditions, factors and challenges under which the recent evolution of tax systems has taken place over the past three decades...
tax policy Economic development Developing countriesNews

Project
Extractives for development (E4D)Natural resource wealth has often turned out to be a ‘curse’ rather than a ‘blessing’ for developing countries. Growth based exclusively on natural resources—such as oil, gas, and minerals—is often of a very...
Wealth Natural resources Management
Report
SOUTHMOD country report Ghana: GHAMOD v1.0This report documents GHAMOD, the SOUTHMOD model developed for Ghana. This work was carried out by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) and the University of Tampere in collaboration with the project partners...
Tax Government revenue Government spending policyBlog
What would it take for Mozambique’s growth to be inclusive?
In late November 2017 more than 100 people gathered in Maputo, Mozambique, to participate in a joint reflection on poverty and inequality in the country...
Poverty and inequality MozambiqueBlog
Peer influence and human capital accumulation: Evidence from Delhi University collegesCollege is an important milestone in life that is believed to develop several aspects of an individual's human capital, broadly defined to include both cognitive and socio-emotional traits...
Cognitive attainment Behaviour Personality