WIDERAngle

Expert commentary from our network

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...

Affirmative action in Brazil’s higher education system

by Rodrigo Oliveira, Edson Severnini, Alei Santos
Evidence from Brazil shows how affirmative action students in the higher education system adjust their behaviour to catch up with initially higher-performing privileged students.Affirmative action (AA) policies, aiming to address historical inequalities and promote social justice, have sparked debates across the world. Brazil, in particular, grapples with the challenges and complexities of AA, notably through Law 12,711/2012, which introduced the quota policy mandating all federal universities...

Decoding development – insights from UNU-WIDER's synthesis process and beyond

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At UNU-WIDER, we undertake our work explicitly within the context of an emergent strategy designed to maximize the impact of our research findings. We operate based on a theory of change that outlines how research eventually translates into improved development outcomes for the world’s most vulnerable populations.In 2023, we published the report Towards peace, decent work, and greater equality to guide policy efforts to achieve the United Nations Agenda 2030. This report synthesizes the key...

178 Blogpost

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Chile under neoliberalism

In our book, we examine Chile's economic, social, and development policies over the past six decades. The focal point is the enduring influence of the...

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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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Gender pay gaps on the rise in South Africa

New analysis of income data in South Africa shows the gender pay gap—how much more men earn than women—has increased. According to findings from a...

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High wage inequality in South Africa – are employers to blame?
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South Africa ranks as the world’s most unequal country by income. This is largely due to high wage inequality, given that wages are the main income...

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On the road to fairer societies in Asia and the Pacific region: Four focus areas on center stage

A recent panel discussion at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok set out to identify policy...

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Pinelopi Goldberg warns of the impact of deglobalization: Sobering insights from the 27th WIDER Annual Lecture
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With several violent conflicts around the world weighing heavily on our minds, we attended the 27th WIDER Annual Lecture. Dr. Pinelopi Goldberg’s...

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The COVID-19 TERS policy saved at least 2 million jobs: But not without some unintended results

About three years have passed since the South African government introduced the COVID-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) in response...

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Stuck at the bottom of the job ladder in Africa: The stumbling block to resilient growth and prosperity
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When the question of creating good jobs and decent work in Africa arises, policymakers and development partners often focus on formalization. For...

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Addressing poverty and unemployment in South Africa’s townships
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Nearly half the working-age population and nearly two-thirds of the unemployed live in areas designated as townships under apartheid spatial laws...

Policy Brief
Climbing the job ladder

Most workers in developing countries work in the informal labour market Lower-tier informal work leads to a dead end in the countries in this study, with little opportunity to move up the job ladder While those in upper-tier informal work are the...

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New global estimates on profits in tax havens suggest the tax loss continues to rise

The world has been trying to curb profit shifting to tax havens for a decade, but consistent time series evaluating the impact of these reforms have...

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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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