WIDERAngle

Expert commentary from our network

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...

How India’s economy has fared under ten years of Narendra Modi

More than 960 million Indians will head to the polls in the world’s biggest election between April 19 and early June. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is seeking a third term in office. And the polls suggest it will achieve this objective.If one was to go by economic growth figures alone, the Modi government’s performance has been impressive. When Modi came to power in 2014, economic growth was sluggish. A series of high-profile corruption...

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...

191 Blogpost

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The poorest countries attract few foreign investments
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The share of the least developed countries (LDCs) in global foreign investments is less than one percent. But positive developments have taken place...

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Affirmative action policies to increase diversity are successful, but controversial, around the world

In a landmark judgment in June 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled against the use of race-conscious admissions in colleges and universities. This...

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Improving early child development outcomes in low-income settings

Improving early child development outcomes in low-income settings requires affordable, sustainable, and easily scalable solutions. The “First Steps”...

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WIDER Alumni Amadou Boly shares wisdom for next generation
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Amadou Boly is Special Assistant in the Economic Governance and Knowledge Management Complex at the African Development Bank (ADB). Before that, he...

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Why are frontiers and borderlands more conflict prone—and what have institutions got to do with this?

According to a recent OECD Report, borderlands experience a greater intensity of violence, especially violence targeted against the state. While there...

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My journey from research assistant to the World Bank and Yale: How SA-TIED transformed my career
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When I began my role as a research assistant for the SA-TIED programme in January 2020, I didn’t know that it would lead me to such prestigious...

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Not too long and not too short: Introducing the new UNU-WIDER and Cambridge University Press series in Development Economics

Simon Kuznets’ pipe dream was to have economic inequality data that rarely existed when he was writing. What are the pipe dreams of today’s...

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The inheritance of human capital: Rethinking how much parents’ influence children’s human capital in low- and middle-income countries
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The measure of human capital —the economic value of one’s skills and experience— acknowledges that investments in people’s cognitive and emotional...

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The 1918-20 influenza pandemic: A retrospective in the time of COVID-19

The influenza pandemic of 1918 (the Spanish Flu) is by far the greatest humanitarian disaster caused by an infectious disease in modern history. It...

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Digital platforms and job search: Experimental evidence from Mozambique

Digital technologies can be deployed to improve job search, but their effectiveness in practice is disrupted. This column uses experimental data to...

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Can access to finance spur entrepreneurship in Indian informal sector?

Credit constraints, a consequence of the widespread failure of credit markets in developing countries, are widely regarded as a key constraint to...

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Dual learning disadvantages in East Africa: And how to deal with them
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Children from poorer families in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda face a double disadvantage in their opportunity to access learning: not only is the...

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3 presentations, 9 takeaways on the long-term impact of COVID-19 on learning and how education systems can respond
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On the third day of the annual UNU-WIDER Conference on 8 September, RISE presented findings from three studies on COVID-19's impact on education...

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Least Developed Countries are facing five major challenges: Four suggestions to tackle them
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This month we had the honour to co-host the first ever LDC Future Forum here in Helsinki. It was our first large-scale live event since the COVID-19...

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I was a visiting PhD fellow at UNU-WIDER — this is my experience
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Virgi Agita Sari joined UNU-WIDER as a visiting PhD fellow in the summer of 2017. Coming from Indonesia, Virgi joined five other fellows from across...

Displaying 16 of 191 results