Working Paper
Inequality in China
In this paper we describe the major trends in China’s income inequality over the past 40 years and explain them as the outcome of four interleaved stories. The first story is a standard development story characterized by structural change, market...
Blog
Migrant workers in the Covid-19 pandemic
Millions of migrant workers around the world provide valuable income for their families and contribute more broadly to the economies of both their...
Blog
A summer reading list of our latest papers, articles, and books
At the UNU-WIDER offices here in Helsinki, Finland, the summer holidays are almost upon us. Looking at the list of new UNU-WIDER publications, it is...
Blog
Reflections on the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics
The award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics to Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of MIT, and Michael Kremer of Harvard University, has led to a...
Blog
Randomized control trials – why they deserve the Nobel and what should happen next
by
Milla Nyyssölä
November 2019
This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach — randomized...
Blog
Development policy in an era of robots: Views from the experts
Labour-saving technology in the form of robotic systems, artificial intelligence, and advanced computer networks may cause a rapid decline in global...
Blog
What is the future of industrial policy in Africa: Views from Experts
13 September through 15 September 2018, UNU-WIDER hosted the Think development - Think WIDER conference in Helsinki, Finland. Over three days...
Blog
Reflections on thinking development, thinking WIDER
What do we talk about at a conference on development economics? Well, robots, rockets, and space, of course. 13 September through 15 September 2018...
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...
Project
Experimental and non-experimental methods to study government performance: contributions and limits
Theme: 2012-13
In recent years, field experiments using randomized trials have gained increasing popularity in the field of development economics. In particular, scholars have argued strongly for their use as the best means of identifying ‘what works’ in foreign...