WIDERAngle

Expert commentary from our network

About

The WIDERAngle publishes expert commentary and analysis of the latest research in global development. The WIDERAngle supports UNU-WIDER’s missions to undertake research and policy analysis on the most pressing concerns affecting humanity and provides a forum for knowledge sharing, discussion, and debate.

 

To see past newsletters, visit our WIDERAngle archive.

 

Write for the WIDERAngle

We accept submissions that represent sincere efforts to advance knowledge on topics related to the promotion of sustainable and equitable development for all. Although many of our writers are established in their fields, we particularly encourage submissions from early-career researchers, policy professionals, and writers who represent Global South countries and perspectives.

 

For guidelines on WIDERAngle submissions, please refer to our Guidelines for submissions.

 

Send submission queries to editorialteam@wider.unu.edu.

 

EDITORIAL TEAM

Executive Editor: Annett Victorero

Managing Editor: Timothy Shipp

Assistant Editor: Tristan Reid

 

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Securing a future for the next generations – navigating today’s global challenges

by Frederik Matthys
In an era frequently described as ‘unprecedented’, the global landscape often seems daunting. Countries classified as democracies are increasingly outnumbered by those classified as autocracies, interstate conflicts have escalated, and the multifaceted impacts of climate change—from health crises to forced displacement—continue to intensify. Meanwhile, gender inequality persists, progress in poverty and inequality reduction has stalled, or even reversed in some contexts, and multilateral co...

Quantifying the economic impact of conflict traps

by Joan Margalef
As we look towards securing a brighter future for coming generations, we must address the complex challenges that threaten sustainable development and global stability. Among these challenges, conflict stands out as a particularly destructive one. In our latest research, we find that a country that falls into conflict is expected to lose 20% of its GDP per capita after 30 years, compared to if it had always been at peace. Even for small countries, this represents a substantial economic loss...

What are foresight methods and how can they secure our common futures?

by Aicha Robei
Future tools and foresight thinking are crucial instruments to improve decision-making for a common future. As a Youth Foresight Fellow with UNICEF, I firmly believe that utilizing foresight, a sophisticated approach for anticipation and strategic planning, is essential in tackling and lessening the impacts of climate change, conflict, and inequality.Foresight allows us to think about the speculated future based on models and data to solve problems and chart a path to a prosperous and nurturing...

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    Blog
    Taking localisation beyond labels and lip service

    Donors increasingly speak of locally led aid response, but often do not walk the walk. Case in point is the United States Agency for International...

    Blog
    Development aid cuts will hit fragile countries hard, could fuel violent conflict

    Fragile and least developed countries have had their development assistance cut drastically, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation...

    Blog
    Will growth be enough to end poverty?: New Projections of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

    Today, October 17th is the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (you already knew that, right?). In new analysis for UNU-WIDER, we...

    Blog
    Oslo conference turns the spotlight on sustainable development financing
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    With the deadline for achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals just seven years away, there is an increasing sense of urgency over the...

    Blog
    Why the Aid Effectiveness Principles are important for development

    Demonstrating empirically the Aid Effectiveness Principles' global impact on development is a challenge. But according to Rachel M. Gisselquist...

    Blog
    Unlocking efficiency – overcoming challenges in South Africa's rail freight sector
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    The South African rail freight sector is currently facing a crisis of operational efficiency, which is having a significant economic impact. In the...

    Blog
    91% of sub-Saharan African workers don’t save for old age: Why that’s a problem and how to fix it
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    Less than 10% of the workers in sub-Saharan Africa save for old age, the lowest rate for any region in the world. That implies most of the...

    Blog
    Four global problems that will be aggravated by the UK’s recent cuts to international aid

    UK economic forecasts have improved markedly since the September 2022 mini-budget. The economic recession may now be more shallow and public borrowing...

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    From Monterrey to Addis Ababa, and what has happened since?
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    The importance of domestic revenue mobilization and taxation for sustainable development is widely acknowledged in global development discussions, but...

    Blog
    What is next for development effectiveness in a post-aid world?
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    Improving the effectiveness of global development spending may seem like a fool's errand given the state of the world today. Yet this is precisely the...

    Policy Brief
    Building evidence around the effectiveness principles

    This policy brief draws on the studies presented at the International Research Conference on the Effectiveness of Development Cooperation on 17–18 November 2022, in Brussels, Belgium and jointly organized by UNU-WIDER and the European Commission (DG...

    Blog
    Indonesia, the developer’s dilemma, and Vision 2045

    According to the World Bank, Indonesia has reached the upper-middle income status in 2019 after spending almost two decades in the lower-middle income...

    Policy Brief
    Inequality is not an inevitable consequence of economic development
    Blog
    Putting it all together: Highlights from The puzzle of peace
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    ‘Understanding how to sustain peace means understanding conflict itself. Yet conflict and peacebuilding are often addressed separately’ – Patricia...

    Blog
    Solving the puzzle of peace: Overcoming the curse of Finland
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    At The puzzle of peace conference in Helsinki, Adnan Khan, Chief Economist at the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, lamented what he...

    Blog
    Mozambique's difficult decade: Three lessons to inform next steps

    At the start of the last decade, Mozambique’s prospects looked stellar. Following from the early 1990s, when peace finally arrived after a devastating...

    Blog
    Foreign aid can help stem the decline of democracy, if used in the right way

    Democracy is having a hard time. In India, once the world’s largest democracy, the pandemic has hastened the country’s slide toward authoritarianism...

    Blog
    What does COVID-19 mean for Africa?: Challenges, but also opportunities

    The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an exceptional social and economic crisis all over the world, with Africa among the hardest-hit regions. What are the...

    Research Brief
    The role of tax and benefit policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ecuador
    Research Brief
    Unlocking a regional plastics value chain between Mozambique and South Africa

    Plastics are universal and integrated into different sectors of the economy. Industrial policy requires countries to look at moving up the value chain and producing progressively more sophisticated products to contribute to improved economic...

    Research Brief
    Special economic zones in Zambia and South Africa

    East Asia’s successful experience in accelerating the process of industrial development with SEZs paved way for the use of SEZs as policy instruments in Africa. In southern Africa, Zambia and South Africa instituted SEZs in legal and institutional...

    Blog
    Slow death or new direction for the UN?
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    For most of its 75-year existence, the United Nations has struggled to strike a balance between its lofty founding aspirations and realities on the...

    Research Brief
    Solutions for designing better special economic zones programmes in Africa

    Special economic zones (SEZ) in Africa are generally regarded as underperforming relative to their peers in the rest of the world. To explain this underperformance and to support success in the future it is important to analyse the key features and...

    Research Brief
    Turnin’ it up a notch

    Since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s economic challenges have disrupted efforts to establish a society of inclusive growth and prosperity. Understanding how South Africa can break the pattern of sluggish growth, high unemployment, inequality...

    Research Brief
    Pushing for policy innovation
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    Global poverty: coronavirus could drive it up for the first time since the 1990s

    As COVID-19 slows in developed countries, the virus’s spread is speeding up in the developing world. Three-quarters of new cases detected each day are...

    Blog
    The end of poverty postponed?: Over a billion people living in poverty and a $500 million per day loss of income for the poorest people in the world could soon be reality

    The COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate headlines as the death toll rises and economies falter. However, far too little attention is being given...

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    Solving the PhD puzzle: My experience as a visiting PhD Fellow
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    I am now in my fourth year as a PhD student in development studies at SOAS, University of London, working on my thesis, ‘The Dynamics of Chinese...

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    Book review of Resurgent Asia: Diversity in Development: Completing a trilogy on Asia’s transformation
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    Deepak Nayyar — economist, thinker, leading scholar — has written yet another splendid book. Resurgent Asia: Diversity in Development, together with...

    Research Brief
    Can trade in services bolster regional development in Southern Africa?

    Service exports are the fastest growing portion of world trade and now account for nearly a quarter of global exports. Tradable services contribute to economic growth and development by bolstering industrial capabilities, facilitating productivity...

    Policy Brief
    The politics of social protection in Eastern and Southern Africa

    Since the mid-1990s, there has been in Africa something of a ‘quiet revolution’ in poverty reduction strategies with the proliferation of social assistance programmes that entail cash transfers to the poor. The past two decades have also been...

    Blog
    Reflections on the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics
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    The award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics to Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of MIT, and Michael Kremer of Harvard University, has led to a...

    Displaying 32 of 270 results