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...

301 Blogpost

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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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Research in focus – country profiles: Indonesia and Ecuador
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Our Institute’s expansive international research contributions, consisting of over 800 WIDER Working Papers in the 2019–23 work programme, delve deep...

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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...

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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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Modelling to influence poverty and inequality in Zanzibar: Latest addition to the SOUTHMOD programme
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ZANMOD, the tax-benefit microsimulation model for Zanzibar, was launched in November 2023. The model will aid local authorities and researchers in...

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Realizing socioeconomic rights with a limited budget

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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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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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...

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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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SOUTHMOD family extended: Welcome to the three new Latin American teams

How would progressive income taxation affect income inequality in Bolivia? What are the costs and benefits of implementing a state pension in Colombia...

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Partnerships with Global South governments improve development policy and support achieving the Global Goals
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In Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, and elsewhere, UNU-WIDER is on the ground to support national development plans, collect and create...

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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...

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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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Teamwork and capacity strengthening to promote development: The case of Mozambique

Designing and implementing public policies requires caution to guarantee the best use of scarce resources, especially in middle- and lower-income...

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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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Sales recovered faster from the pandemic than employment: Evidence from tax administrative and survey data in Zambia

Like most other countries, the government of Zambia introduced restrictions to control COVID-19, which considerably curtailed normal economic activity...

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Indonesia, the developer’s dilemma, and Vision 2045

According to the World Bank, Indonesia has reached the upper-middle income status in 2019 after spending almost two decades in the lower-middle income...

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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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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...

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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...

Displaying 32 of 301 results