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...

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...

207 Blogpost

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Counting (on) the labour market to secure a just transition

The climate stabilization imperative emerging from the Paris Agreement is, in so many ways, absolutely critical to securing the planet’s future for...

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Are Sovereign Wealth Funds fit for purpose in Africa?

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have become a symbol of national success and a means for global, commercial and geopolitical influence. But how well do...

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How climate change increases vulnerability to human trafficking in the Philippines
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As COP28 unfolds, I share new findings on the impact of climate change on human rights violations and, more specifically, on human trafficking as...

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Local governance in Ghana is more complicated than central versus regional

Measuring the effectiveness of local government in Ghana is hampered by incomplete records, but despite that there are still visible patterns, write...

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Will a revenue boom support development in resource-rich economies?

The post-COVID-19 economic recovery and Russia’s war with Ukraine have caused some natural resource prices to reach new highs. Although forecasting...

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Democracies are no longer immune to revolution – evidence from Lebanon and Iraq

New research for UNU-WIDER explores the differences between revolutionary mass mobilizations in democracies versus dictatorships. Evidence from...

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Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum: Cities have important role in mitigating climate threats
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'Our window to avoid climate catastrophe is closing rapidly, and yet there are still many reasons for optimism.' This statement sums up a recent third...

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What determines tax revenues mobilization?
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Tax revenues and political institutions placing constraints on the executive power may reinforce each other over time and this may also bring a shift...

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Clientelism and targeting of welfare benefits: Can a centralized formula-based system do better?

Local governments in India—known as panchayats—are sometimes criticised for failing to deliver benefits earmarked for vulnerable regions or households...

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Does political clientelism lead to higher corruption and a weaker rule of law?

Political clientelism is the strategic, discretionary, and targeted exchange of goods and services between politicians and voters for political...

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Empirical research is crucial for better tax enforcement in the developing world
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I had the privilege to participate in the UNU-WIDER Winter School as one of the lecturers. In this blog, I explain my main takeaways for students and...

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Electoral politics and Mexico’s COVID-19 vaccine roll-out

Government responsiveness is an integral feature of representative democracy. Its importance could be amplified in times of crisis, especially if...

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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...

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From offshore oil to offshore finance: How tax havens facilitate corruption in the extractive industries

In many countries, news of an oil discovery or the award of an exploration license is rarely greeted with enthusiasm by the general public. Any hopes...

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COVID-19 in India: cases, deaths, and vaccinations

The Omicron variant resulted in a third major wave of Covid-19 in India, with the number of cases exceeding those in the second wave, albeit causing...

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Virtuous circles and downward spirals: The power of ideas & the limits of technocracy
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What will it take to shake loose the distemper of our times, and initiate a virtuous spiral of renewal? In a recent UNU-WIDER webinar, Alan Hirsch and...

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From summits to solutions: what success means at COP26
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At the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, world leaders discussed the need to scale-up ambition to address key global challenges...

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Reducing wasted gas emissions is an opportunity for clean air and climate

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) is seen as the last best chance for countries and companies to set out how they are actually...

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Looking ahead to COP26
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The long-awaited COP26 in Glasgow is about to start. Billed as the most important COP to date, it is widely seen as a last chance to avoid a global...

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The value of non-renewable resources in the era of climate change
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The economic decline of Nauru, an island in the Central Pacific, is a cautionary tale. Nauru was the highest GDP per capita country in the world in...

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The zero carbon agenda and metals demand: some major dilemmas
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The transition to net zero over the next few decades will involve a large increase in the global demand for many metals essential to the renewables...

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Staffan Lindberg’s keynote address is a wake-up call
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In introducing Staffan Lindberg’s keynote at the WIDER Development Conference, UNU-WIDER Senior Research Fellow and political scientist Rachel...

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Why countries best placed to handle the pandemic appear to have fared the worst

During the first year of the pandemic, it was wealthier countries, with their comparatively stronger health systems, civil services, legal systems and...

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Finding keys for development in Africa
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Economics researcher Aimable Nsabimana shares the relevance and inspiration behind his recent work with UNU-WIDER on climate change and human...

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Why should I care about economic growth?
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Director of UNU-WIDER, Professor Kunal Sen is a world leading expert in development economics and led on ESID’s research into economic growth. In this...

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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
Wage inequality in post-apartheid South Africa

Much work has been done on inequality in South Africa, but to date the literature that assesses the dynamic response of income or wealth distribution to economic policy actions is almost non-existent. This information gap is caused by data...

Research Brief
Are credits or deductions better in public health spending?

The impact of medical deductions and medical credits on income inequality is a subject of discussion in South Africa, as well as in many other countries, raising critical questions about the fairness of the medical tax system and the impact on...

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35 years of knowledge for change: Changing IMF orthodoxy (1985-95)
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UNU-WIDER was among the first to challenge IMF orthodoxy on macroeconomic stabilization. The 1985-87 project ‘Stabilization and adjustment policies...

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Do we have the right balance?: Aggregate population health and COVID-19
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The world has been shaken by unprecedented efforts in the name of public health. But, efforts to arrest COVID-19 were not initially formulated with a...

Research Brief
Estimating tax gaps in the non-financial sector

Many governments, particularly those in developing countries, have set an objective to improve tax revenue mobilization to offer more and better public services to their citizens. To develop effective revenue-raising strategies it is necessary to...

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Beyond lockdown: rebuilding the social contract

Continued lockdown measures are straining the social contract between citizens and governments. As this column explains, in contexts where there are...

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The debate around intellectual property rights and the COVID-19 vaccine
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The most effective way to fight COVID-19 is by vaccinating against infection. But once the vaccine is developed, how can it be distributed across the...

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Being the change you want to see
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While growing up, I was troubled by the scale of the socioeconomic gap between the haves and the have-nots in the community around me. I saw cases...

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An unprecedented threat requires unprecedented leadership: What is needed from global powers
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COVID-19 is the greatest global threat the world has faced since the Second World War. It is not the deadliest or most infectious disease recorded...

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How Africa can fight the pandemic
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The response to Africa’s COVID-19 plight must be swift and at scale rather than too little, too late. In a world short of progressive global...

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When COVID-19 comes to Africa
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There is no telling how long it will take to bring the COVID-19 coronavirus under control, or how many people will be affected. But African...

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Indonesia's huge fires and toxic haze will cause health problems for years to come
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Indonesia is currently in the throes of an environmental emergency. Thousands of hectares of forest are burning across the vast country, causing toxic...

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New book from Oxford University Press looks at how to make extractive industries sustainable and inclusive
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Originally posted by Oxford Policy Management The extractives sector, and the way it works, continues to change rapidly and its importance to many...

Research Brief
Potential benefits and pitfalls of extractives in Mozambique

Mozambique has seen a significant expansion of interest and investment in its extractive industries. New gas finds in the past ten years have led to expectations that these industries will contribute very significantly to the country’s future...

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Energy subsidies are bigger than aid in more than half of poor countries … but we spend very little trying to reduce them
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Which of the following do you think is the most important need in developing countries? Free health services for all to reduce child and maternal...

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Lower exploration spending – another response to the end of the commodity price boom
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My previous blog, which you can read here, commented on the manner in which mining companies had been able to respond to the recent decline in metals...

Displaying 48 of 207 results