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

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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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    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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    Cash Plus: Towards poverty reduction in Zambia
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    The Zambian government wants to reduce poverty by 20% by 2030. To make this happen, the government reformed their national cash transfer programmes...

    Research Brief
    Search image, calculator, pen, Ugandan currency, URA form. Image: Kalungi Kabuye / UNU-WIDER
    What is the impact of corporate tax incentives in Uganda?
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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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    Realizing socioeconomic rights with a limited budget
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    The South African constitution is considered progressive and transformative in intention due to its inclusion of socioeconomic rights, such as the...

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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 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...

    Research Brief
    Cart with collected items on the street. Photo by Gio Almonte on Unsplash
    Will the poverty-related SDGs be met? Global projections for 2030
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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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    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...

    Blog
    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...

    Research Brief
    Perceptions of inequality among young adults in Mozambique
    Research Brief
    Did withholding value-added tax improve revenue collection in Zambia?
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    Direct support to small scale farmers reduces poverty: What Zambia is doing right

    Over half of Zambia’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2015. In rural areas, where 89% of households are engaged in agriculture...

    Blog
    In memory of Martin Ravallion: A global leader in development economics

    (19 March 1952 – 24 December 2022) It is with the greatest sadness and a deep sense of grief and shock that we received the news of the passing of...

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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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    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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    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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    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...

    Policy Brief
    Inequality is not an inevitable consequence of economic development
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    Behind the scenes: Meet our tax-benefit microsimulation team in Viet Nam!
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    How can Vietnamese policymakers improve their policy choices related to social protection and tax policies? Who are the experts providing evidence on...

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    What does ‘promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth’ mean for everyday life?

    Erica stands under a rudimentary market stall in Accra, Ghana, selling fruits — she has done this every day for 10 years now. Like many women in the...

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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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    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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    Corona pandemic revealed gaps in African social security systems
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    Millions of Africans lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but state social security systems were of little help to people who lost...

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    Above or below the poverty line: Three key questions for understanding shifts in global poverty

    In 2010 and the following years, there was attention to the fact that much of global poverty had shifted to middle-income countries (for example here...

    Policy Brief
    Six sets of policy actions to promote social mobility

    Promoting social mobility is an essential task of development, and a multi-faceted one. Precarious livelihoods are widespread. Containing downward mobility is an important precondition for sustaining upward mobility. Policies of human capital...

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    Ending aid dependency: Taxation in developing countries can be improved through collaboration

    Finland aims to raise the amount of its development assistance to 0.7% of GDP, and this goal has good grounds. But how can we make sure that the...

    Policy Brief
    O papel das políticas de impostos e benefícios durante a pandemia da COVID-19 em 2020 em Moçambique
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    The pandemic and Africa's social safety net

    The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that African tax and social-benefit systems are currently ill-equipped to protect households from sudden income losses...

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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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    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...

    Policy Brief
    Limited impact of the tax-benefit system in Tanzania during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
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    COVID-19 and the Global South — From crisis response to sustainable development
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    Around the world, the pandemic, and the measures taken to address it, have had far reaching effects on poverty, inequality, and governance. And even...

    Policy Brief
    Distributional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda
    Policy Brief
    Distributional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana
    Policy Brief
    The role of tax-benefit policies during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in Mozambique
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    Working together to better understand how COVID-19 affects poverty and inequality

    In summer 2020 the SOUTHMOD team set out, with partners, to analyse the impact of government policies on protecting households from getting poorer and...

    Policy Brief
    Distributional effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Zambia
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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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    Wasted talent – How COVID-19’s effect on the poor could make all of society poorer
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    The opening keynote of the recent WIDER Development Conference, COVID-19 and development – effects and new realities for the Global South, was given...

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    Helping the poor to survive lockdown

    The Hrishipara Daily Diaries Project has been tracking the daily spending of 60 poor households in rural Bangladesh for the last six years. Analysis...

    Displaying 48 of 361 results