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Season's greetings 2020

On behalf of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) we wish you a happy holiday season and prosperous new year!

35 years of research for change – what's next? Building just societies

by Armida Alisjahbana, Kunal Sen, Andy Sumner, and Arief Yusuf

To celebrate its 35th birthday, UNU-WIDER has looked back at some of its greatest achievements. As the year closes, Armida Alisjahbana, Kunal Sen, Andy Sumner, and Arief Yusuf highlight the continued impact of UNU-WIDER’s flagship work and the future of knowledge about building more just societies.

Blogs

Late development, early adoption – how new technology is reshaping the future of structural change

by Lukas Schlogl

Technological catch-up is bringing new asynchronies to development pathways. What does this mean for employment, globalization, and inequality? A chapter in the forthcoming volume The Developer’s ...

The developer’s dilemma in India – the role of politics and economic ideology

by Saon Ray and Sabyasachi Kar

Policy makers seeking inclusive growth frequently face the developer’s dilemma between prioritizing structural transformation, which is potentially inequitable, and keeping a check on rising economic inequality. How this dilemma is resolved by different countries ...

Promoting industrialization in Africa – global versus regional value chains

by Julian Boys and Antonio Andreoni

As COVID-19 ravages international trade and production, policy-makers are shifting their sights from global value chains (GVCs) to regional value chains (RVCs) as pathways to industrialization. This blog presents evidence from the textiles and apparel sector in ...

Changing the lives of very young children – evidence from Rwanda

by Patricia Justino, Marinella Leone, Pierfrancesco Rolla, Monique Abimpaye, Caroline Dusabe, Diane Uwamahoro, and Richard Germond

Globally, around 250 million children under the age of five do not meet key development milestones, which reduces their ability to reach their full potential. This column explores the evidence on what works ...

Slow death or new direction for the UN?

by Mark Malloch-Brown

For most of its 75-year existence, the United Nations has struggled to strike a balance between its lofty founding aspirations and realities on the ground. But in today's fast-changing geopolitical environment, the organization may be facing its biggest challenge yet.

Evidence matters for inclusive growth policy – reflections from the annual conference of the Inclusive growth in Mozambique programme

by Gimelgo Xirinda

Like many developing countries, Mozambique is struggling with problems of poverty, inequality, low productivity, unemployment, ...

News

Press release: New study shows democracy aid works

Does development cooperation aimed at strengthening democracy work? A new study from the Expert Group for Aid Studies (EBA) addresses critical knowledge gaps on aid assistance. The report, published today, is the most comprehensive study on democracy aid to date.

In Memoriam: Stephan Klasen

On 27 October 2020, Professor Stephan Klasen passed away after a serious and prolonged illness which took his life too early. We have lost one of Europe’s leading development economists, a brilliant mind and generous soul. With his unceasing dedication to research in development economics and selfless support to young scholars, Stephan has been and will continue to be a prolific source of inspiration and a role model for a human-faced approach to work.

Ongoing work on the effect of COVID-19 on the economies,
states, and societies of the Global South

Coronavirus: five ways some states have used the pandemic to curtail human rights and democracy

by Rachel M Gisselquist and Durgesh Solanki

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, at least 95 countries declared a national emergency, empowering governments to act in ways they would not normally to protect citizens. Such exceptional periods ...

Headline data suggests low-income states are coping better with the pandemic than high-income states. But is this true?

by Rachel M Gisselquist

States with fragile state health systems have been commended for effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. But if we take into account factors such as favourable climate and the age structure ...

Studying COVID-19 through the lens of microsimulation – the role of tax and benefit policies in alleviating poverty and inequality

by Jesse Lastunen and Pia Rattenhuber

As the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, developing nations are struggling to deliver economic assistance and public services to their citizens, under pressures of fiscal constraints ...

The world needs a people’s vaccine

by Sanjay G. Reddy and Arnab Acharya

The world needs a people’s vaccine for COVID-19 — one provided universally, and accessible to the entire world population. A patent-protected vaccine could ultimately exclude many people from being vaccinated and protected. Unfortunately, most projects to develop a COVID-19 vaccine currently underway expect to recoup costs, ...

Working Paper | Do bigger health budgets cushion pandemics? An empirical test of COVID-19 deaths across the world

by Arusha Cooray, Krishna Chaitanya Vadlamannati, and Indra de Soysa

How has government healthcare spending prepared countries for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic? Arguably, spending is the primary policy tool of governments in providing effective health.

WIDER Working Paper Series

Working Paper

State–market–society alliance – the evolving nature of the '21st century developmental state'

Working Paper

Special economic zones in Southern Africa: white elephants or latent drivers of growth and employment? The case of Zambia and South Africa

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment

Working Paper

Formalization and productivity – firm-level evidence from Viet Nam

Working Paper

Informality and work status

Working Paper

By choice or by force? Uncovering the nature of informal employment in urban Mexico

Working Paper

Progress and stagnation in the livelihood of informal workers in an emerging economy – long-term evidence from Indonesia

Publications

Report | Effects of Swedish and international democracy aid

by Miguel Niño-Zarazúa, Rachel M. Gisselquist, Kunal Sen, Melissa Samarin, and Ana Horigoshi

Democracy aid is a significant component of development cooperation. As a share of total aid, it has increased steadily since the mid-1990s. In 2018, countries in the OECD Development ...

Journal Article | The corruption–growth relationship – does the political regime matter?

by Shrabani Saha and Kunal Sen

Open access on early view | Corruption is widely believed to have an adverse effect on the economic performance of a country. However, many East and Southeast Asian countries either achieved or ...

Journal Article | How mobile are workers across informal and formal jobs in India?

by Rajesh Raj Natarajan, Simone Schotte, and Kunal Sen

OPEN ACCESS | The Indian labour market is characterized by a high level of informality, with large numbers of workers in poorly paid ‘lower-tier’ informal jobs, and somewhat better paid ‘upper-tier’ informal jobs, which do not have the same benefits and security of tenure as ...

Research Brief | Economic transformation in Vietnam – SMEs and access to credit

During the last three decades Vietnam has undergone a considerable economic transformation. However, little research has considered the role that financial reform has played in the development of small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). A focus on the financing of SMEs is of particular importance given the extensive international ...

Research Brief | Are employees in Vietnamese SMEs compensated for working in unfavourable conditions?

It is important to understand how working conditions faced by workers in Vietnamese SMEs affect levels of compensation. This is salient given the scope of SMEs in Vietnam — they contribute to approximately 45% of the country’s GDP and 60% of its employment.

Events

Conference | Development challenges in Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

11-12 February 2021

The online conference will take place on 11-12 February 2021. This conference will bring together participants from scholarly, policy and business communities to discuss the policy challenges faced by Africa in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Webinar | Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Rachel M. Gisselquist at Democracy aid: any effects?

10 December 2020

Global democracy is under threat. At the same time, the evidence whether development cooperation can impact democracy has been debated. Sweden is one of the countries that devotes the largest share of its development cooperation budget for ...

Webinar | Myles Wickstead on the changing face of aid and development

8 December 2020

This webinar began with Professor Myles Wickstead setting out how notions of aid and development have evolved since the end of the Second World War, and how they relate to broader international political and economic dynamics.

Presentation | Tony Addison at 2nd UN Roundtable on Extractives

9 December 2020

On 9 December, 2020, Tony Addison made a presentation at a high-level United Nations Roundtable titled "Extractive industries and sustainable development and the 2030 Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean".

Project Workshop | Second training on UGAMOD

4-6 November 2020

The aim of this virtual event was to introduce participants to the most recent version of UGAMOD, with a view to promoting its use for evidence-based policy making among government officials. This was the first full online training under the SOUTHMOD project.

Opportunities

Vacancy | Web Developer

UNU-WIDER is looking for an outstanding individual with strong web and systems development skills to join the institute’s ICT Team. Closing date: open until the position is filled

Vacancy | Research Assistant, Consultant Contract (part-time)

UNU-WIDER is looking for three (3) outstanding individuals with strong commitment and potential to support the Institute’s Domestic Revenue Mobilization (DRM) programme’s work streams: (i) Building up efficient and fair tax systems; (ii) SOUTHMOD – simulating tax and benefit policies for development. Closing date: 3 January 2021 23:59 UTC+2

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