Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser

August 2020

WIDERAngle blog. Photo: Juan Arredondo/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment

COVID-19 intensifies the global need to support informal workers in their struggle – three guiding principles for a better deal

by Marty Chen

The world is facing an existential crisis that poses challenging questions: whether to put people and nature before owners of capital and technology; whether to protect the rights of the disadvantaged or the interests of the elite. This is a defining moment to follow the call for racial and economic justice and change structures of discrimination and disadvantage.

Blogs

Why all countries should contribute to ending global poverty

by Andy Sumner

In 1969, richer countries agreed to commit 0.7% of their gross national income to international development aid. The world has changed since then, and a new era calls for a fresh approach to poverty eradication, involving a scaled financial commitment from all countries.

An interview with José Antonio Ocampo – Why is 'Resetting the international monetary (non)system' one of the most popular economic titles at Oxford University Press?

by Timothy Shipp and José Antonio Ocampo

The UNU-WIDER book ‘Resetting the International Monetary (Non)system’ by José Antonio Ocampo was recently ranked ...

Do we have the right balance? – aggregate population health and COVID-19

by Sanjay Reddy

The world has been shaken by unprecedented efforts in the name of public health. But, efforts to arrest COVID-19 were not initially formulated with a comprehensive view of the public health in mind. These policies must be adjusted and revisited if they are ...

International tax research – more than data and numbers

by Maria Jouste, Tina Kaidu Barugahara, and Dorothy Nakyambadde

Can tax research be inspiring? For three years UNU-WIDER and the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) have been working together on a collaborative research and capacity building programme. In this piece we will share experiences on the co-operation.

Five ways coronavirus is deepening global inequality

by Kunal Sen

Before coronavirus, inequality was already increasing in many parts of the developing world. But the pandemic is going to greatly heighten existing economic and social inequalities. Here are five of the main ways inequality is heightening around the world.

News

Three UNU-WIDER books are 'Top 10 OSO Titles in Economics'

In a recent listing by Oxford University Press of the top ten most accessed works on Oxford Scholarship Online, UNU-WIDER books held three places, including the top spot as the most popular title in their Economics collection.

Kunal Sen is awardee of the 2020-22 V. K. R. V. Rao Chair at ISEC

Kunal Sen, our Director, has been awarded the prestigious Dr V K R V Rao Chair Professorship by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC). The Chair is named after one of India’s most important economists, is awarded biennially to scholars of international eminence, and is one of India’s most distinguished visiting chairs.

Press release: Survey finds the manufacturing sector remains instrumental for Myanmar’s economic growth and transformation

YANGON, MYANMAR and HELSINKI, FINLAND – A new report published by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) and the United Nations World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) says that Myanmar’s manufacturing sector is more productive in 2019 than it was in 2017.

For South Africa’s Women’s Month, SA-TIED celebrates the women behind the programme

August is Women’s Month in South Africa and SA-TIED is taking the opportunity to lift up women’s voices from the programme. SA-TIED joined forces with SAFM’s Life Happens for a special episode on leading women economists in South Africa, featuring SA-TIED’s energy economics expert Faaiqa Hartley, data specialist and labour economist Amina Ebrahim, and work stream leader and tax policy expert Mamiky Leolo.

Publications

Journal Special Issue | Income inequalities and redistribution in China

edited by Finn Tarp

This special section presents the main findings about long-run trends in inequality in China and its driving factors as they emerge from a country case study carried out under a UNU-WIDER-supported project. Special focus in the umbrella project were on three ...

Journal Article | Quantifying the contribution of a subpopulation to inequality an application to Mozambique

by Carlos Gradín

In this study, I quantify the contribution of a subpopulation to inequality. This is defined as the sum of the contributions of its members, with these contributions computed as the impact on inequality of a small increase in the population mass at each point of the distribution ...

Background Note | COVID-19 and employment – insights from the sub-Saharan African experience

by Michael Danquah, Simone Schotte, and Kunal Sen

The COVID-19 pandemic poses important risks for people’s health and economic wellbeing. While the full socio-economic consequences remain uncertain, the pandemic’s impact on the labour market has become an issue of global concern. Especially low-income ...

Background Note | Do more diversified suppliers rebound faster than concentrated suppliers in times of shocks? – insights from Kenya

by Aarti Krishnan and Giovanni Pasquali

In this background note, we examine how different firms and sectors rebound or prevail in crises. We draw on insights from the performance (upgrading potential) of Kenyan horticulture, tea, ...

Policy Brief | Designing inclusive public finance policies in developing countries – five key issues and solutions

by Jukka Pirttilä and Finn Tarp

Taxation, and public sector matters more generally, are high on the agenda for the international development community. This is clearly reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG17 stipulates the need for improving domestic resource ...

Research Brief | Lessons from the transformations of Asian states

Over the last 50 years, Asia has emerged as the most important laboratory for understanding the roots of state effectiveness and the consequences of different modes of state action for delivering enhanced wellbeing. While in the mid-twentieth century social ...

Research Brief | Multidimensional poverty in times of multiple crises – a snapshot of Mozambique in 2015–2018

After decades of war and conflict, Mozambique and its economy experienced a strong recovery from the 1990s into the 2000s. However, between 2015 and 2018 multiple crises unfolded in Mozambique — the economic crisis and the scandal of ...

Research Brief | Estimating tax gaps in the non-financial sector – a pathway to effective tax collection in South Africa

Many governments, particularly those in developing countries, have set an objective to improve tax revenue mobilization to offer more and better public services to their citizens. To develop effective revenue-raising strategies it is necessary to determine whether there ...

Research Brief | How important are management practices for micro, small, and medium enterprises in Vietnam?

Given the weight of micro, small, and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) in total employment in Vietnam, and because the long-awaited development process is occurring through productivity gains, there is value in understanding the mechanisms that foster or ...

Research Brief | Solutions for designing better special economic zones programmes in Africa

Special economic zones (SEZ) in Africa are generally regarded as underperforming relative to their peers in the rest of the world. To explain this underperformance and to support success in the future it is important to analyse the key features and what is lacking ...

WIDER Working Paper Series

Working Paper

Transitions between informal and formal jobs in India – patterns, correlates, and consequences

Working Paper

Transforming informal work and livelihoods in Costa Rica and Nicaragua

Working Paper

Globalization and gender inequality – evidence from South Africa

Working Paper

Healthcare equity and COVID-19 – assessing the relative effectiveness of egalitarian governance and healthcare system capacity on the COVID-19 pandemic

Working Paper

A medium-sized, open-economy, fiscal DSGE model of South Africa

Working Paper

Value chain directionality, upgrading, and industrial policy in the Tanzanian textile and apparel sectors

Events

Conference | Better Jobs for Development

1-4 September 2020

The 2020 edition of the annual IZA/World Bank/NJD/UNU-WIDER Jobs and Development Conference – “Better Jobs for Development” will be held online on 1-4 September. The four-day conference features keynote speeches, a policy panel, and almost 90 paper presentations.

From the network

AERC calls for research proposals

The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) calls for research proposals to undertake research in the following five thematic areas: Poverty, labour markets and income distribution; Macroeconomic policy and growth; Finance and resource mobilization; Production, trade, and economic integration; and Agriculture, climate change and natural resource management.

Call for papers and participation | SANEM International Conference 'COVID-19 and Development Challenges'

SANEM invites submissions for its competitive call for papers and participation for the SANEM International Conference on 'COVID-19 and the Development Challenges'. The online conference takes place on 1-3 October 2020, everyday 5pm – 9pm Bangladesh Standard Time (GMT+6).

	UNU-WIDER
	Finland