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...

47 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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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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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...

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...

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UNU-WIDER at 35: Letter from the Director
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2020 promised to be a big year for UNU-WIDER, with the celebration of our 35th anniversary, the 45th birthday of UNU, and 75 years of the UN. But as...

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...

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In Conversation with Deepak Nayyar on ‘Resurgent Asia’: FP2P Podcast and transcript
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Duncan Green: I recently skyped Deepak Nayyar, Professor of Economics at India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to discuss his new book, Resurgent...

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How Asia transformed from the poorest continent in the world into a global economic powerhouse
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In 1820, Asia accounted for two-thirds of the world’s population and more than one-half of global income. The subsequent decline of Asia was...

Policy Brief
Learning from a half-century of economic development in Asia

When Gunnar Myrdal published his magnum opus, Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, in 1968, he was deeply pessimistic about the development prospects in Asia. The fifty years since witnessed a remarkable economic transformation in...

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Economic Elites, Crises, and Austerity in 21st Century Capitalism
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24 September 2014 Andrés Solimano The era of neoliberal capitalism starting by the late 1970s and early 1980s promotes free trade, capital mobility...

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Good Governance: Is it about Appearance or Action?
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27 May 2013 Matt Andrews, Harvard Kennedy School A growing governance agenda and post-2015 ambitions The governance agenda has grown rapidly in the...

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UNU-WIDER Interview with Dr Kaushik Basu

29 November 2012 Carl-Gustav Lindén In November 2012 UNU-WIDER had the pleasure of hosting a public event with Dr Kaushik Basu, the newly appointed...

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The Imperative for Strengthening International Tax Co-operation

GUESTAngle John Langmore and Perrin Wilkins When delivering the eighth WIDER Annual Lecture on rethinking growth strategies in 2004 Dani Rodrik...

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Urbanization and Development in Asia: Linkages with Globalization and Migration

Lorraine Telfer-Taivainen The Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, was the venue for the launch on 16 June 2012 of the just...

Research Brief
How Aid Supplies from Donor Countries Respond to Economic Crisis

The strong interdependent relationship between the developed and developing countries made itself visible again with the recent economic downturn. Due to the now truly global character of the economy, the crisis did not only affect the North, where...

Research Brief
Lessons of Experience in International Democracy Support

The view that democracy can be good for development has held sway in influential international development policy circles for over two decades now. And over that time considerable efforts have been made internationally to give direct encouragement...

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The View from Buenos Aires
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Tony Addison A visit to Buenos Aires in September provided a good vantage point to look at the euro zone’s deepening crisis. Angle readers will recall...

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Who Captures Value in Global Supply Chains?: The Case of Nokia's N95 Smartphone

Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö, Petri Rouvinen, Timo Seppälä, Pekka Ylä-Anttila Available statistics biases the true picture of the current stage of globalization...

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The West Is Finding it Harder to get Its Own Way in the World
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Ian Morris The people of Europe and North America still produce two-thirds of the world’s GDP, spend more than two-thirds of its R&D dollars, and own...

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The Poor under Globalization in Asia, Latin America and Africa

Machiko Nissanke and Erik Thorbecke Despite the enormous potential of globalization in accelerating economic growth and development through...

Policy Brief
Linking Globalization to Poverty in Asia, Latin America and Africa

Despite the enormous potential of globalization in accelerating economic growth through greater integration into the world economy the impact of globalization on poverty reduction has been uneven. Asia has been the major beneficiary of globalization...

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Getting Serious About Food
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Luc Christiaensen Senior Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER At the G8 July summit in Aquila, Italy, US$ 20 billion was pledged to support farmers in poorer...

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Aligning Elites with Development

Alice Amsden, Alisa DiCaprio, and James Robinson To understand what role elites play in the process of economic development, we need to establish...

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Foreign Aid: Down but Not Out
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Peter Burnell The UN Doha Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, held late in 2008, reminds us of how far foreign aid has...

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Development Finance: New Opportunities for Doha

Tony Addison and George Mavrotas This has been a roller-coaster year for global capitalism. Financial markets – flush with liquidity just last year –...

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The Evolution of the World Economy 1000-2000 AD

by Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke We are all familiar with the idea that today we live in an age of ‘globalization’, in which all the countries...

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Mobilizing Talent for Global Development
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by Andrés Solimano Talented individuals such as students, professionals, information technology experts, entrepreneurs, cultural workers, and others...

Policy Brief
Linking Globalization to Poverty

While the economic opportunities offered by globalization can be large, a question is often raised as to whether the actual distribution of gains is fair, in particular, whether the poor benefit less than proportionately from globalization and could...

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Globalization, Growth, and Poverty in Africa

by Machiko Nissanke and Erik Thorbecke African countries have benefited relatively less from the positive effects of globalization than other parts of...

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