Tag: featured

SDG 10 reduce inequalities
Building resilience, SDGs

Reducing inequalities: how should we measure and monitor SDG Goal 10?

By Francesco Savoia, Research Fellow, Università degli Studi di Milano, Ioannis Bournakis, Associate professor, SKEMA Business School, Mona Said, Professor, The American University in Cairo, and Antonio Savoia, Reader, University of Manchester; Nonresident Senior Fellow, UNU-WIDER

The inclusion of income redistribution in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, as part of SDG Goal 10 aiming to reduce inequality within and among countries, reflects an increasing realisation that addressing inequalities is intrinsically important, as well as instrumental to human development and to a number of other development outcomes through a variety of channels. But how should we measure and monitor progress in reducing inequalities? Here we argue that looking at the sub-national level may be important.

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Development Matters
Knowledge and innovation are the currency of progress - LDCs cannot afford to lag behind
Building resilience

Knowledge and innovation are the currency of progress – LDCs cannot afford to lag behind

By Paul Akiwumi, Director, Division for Africa, LDCs and Special Programmes, UNCTAD

In an increasingly complex global economy, knowledge can be a silver bullet. Technology-driven innovation creates new products, tasks, professions, and economic activities. However, for developing countries, capturing the gains of innovation may not be automatic.

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Development Matters
Remittances diaspora climate change development matters
Green transition, New social contract

Diasporas, the invisible heroes of climate action

By Jason Gagnon, Head of unit and Senior Economist, OECD Development Centre, and David Khoudour, Global Human Mobility Adviser, UNDP

Diasporas are not only at the forefront of the response to climate disasters, their action goes deep, way beyond the short term: in addition to sending money to their families, they invest in healthcare and reconstruction, design and lead climate adaption projects –e.g. for access to water and sustainable energy–, help diversify livelihoods and boost the resilience of local communities e.g. by improving food security and access to education. Continue reading Diasporas, the invisible heroes of climate action

Development Matters
ODA-DAC-Graduation concept
Reviving multilateralism

When and why do countries stop being eligible for receiving Official Development Assistance?

By Carsten Staur, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee

The OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) has defined a set of criteria for including countries on its list of Official Development Assistance (ODA) recipients and, similarly, for them to graduate from the list, primarily because their economic growth has made them high income countries.  

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Development Matters
Green transition

COP28: Prioritising children in the fight against climate change

By Shruti Agarwal, Senior Climate Adviser with Save the Children

Children are looking to world leaders to demonstrate brave leadership. As one child from India told us, “It’s not children’s job to clean the mess spread by their elders.” But they are not just passive victims. Children have distinct capacities to contribute to climate action within their communities, countries and globally. Yet their rights, specific needs and perspectives have been overlooked in climate discussion. This must change. Continue reading COP28: Prioritising children in the fight against climate change

Development Matters
How to maximise the benefits of the LDC Services Waiver
New social contract

How to maximise the benefits of the LDC Services Waiver

By Swati Sharma, independent trade law and policy professional; and Neil Balchin, Economic Adviser, Commonwealth Secretariat, London

Services is the fastest growing segment of international trade. Yet, while service exports from least developed countries (LDCs) grew by 9% in 2021, they still accounted for less than 1% of global services trade.

Recognising the potential for trade in services to create jobs and accelerate development, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) adopted a Waiver in 2011 to support LDC service suppliers.

In addition to non-market access preferences, the Waiver enables developed and developing countries to grant direct-market-access preferences to LDCs that would otherwise be inconsistent with the most-favoured-nation rules of the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services. In response, LDCs collectively identified their export interests under the Waiver. Continue reading How to maximise the benefits of the LDC Services Waiver

Development Matters
Nation building successes and failures matter to the EU and OECD
New social contract

Nation building successes and failures matter to the EU and OECD

By Dominic Rohner, Professor of Economics, Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne), University of Lausanne, and Research Fellow, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

From Syria to Libya, Somalia to Yemen, today more than 50 nations are categorised as fragile states. With a number sitting very close to the EU’s borders, it’s impossible to argue that these countries and the difficulties they face exist in a vacuum from the rest of the world.

As conflict, extremism, and poverty increase due to states falling into “failed” or “failing” categories – the ripple effects are not only tragic for the domestic population but also felt way beyond their borders.

It follows that, to help the EU achieve greater integration and assist its institutions bolster fragile neighbours and partner states, we need a greater understanding of what makes some states thrive, while others slide from fragility to outright collapse. Continue reading Nation building successes and failures matter to the EU and OECD

Development Matters
Quota Reform is an Opportunity for the IMF to Restore Its Legitimacy
Reviving multilateralism

Quota reform is an opportunity for the IMF to restore its legitimacy

By William N. Kring, Marilou Uy, Rakesh Mohan and Haihong Gao1

As the global economy confronts a myriad of challenges, the prospects for long-term growth and economic recovery look increasingly bleak.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the center of the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN), is the pre-eminent multilateral institution tasked with addressing challenges that threaten global financial stability. Unfortunately, the lending capacity of the IMF has not kept pace with the global economy or global trade flows, and quota shares of emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) are increasingly misaligned with their role in the global economy.

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Development Matters
Currency risk climate finance development
Development finance, Green transition

Currency risk is stifling climate finance for developing countries. It should – and can – be mitigated

By Ruurd Brouwer, CEO, TCX, and Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Private-sector funding will be essential for raising the trillions of dollars needed to finance climate-change abatement and adaption projects in emerging and developing countries. The question is: will that finance be forthcoming? 

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Development Matters