COP29, which just concluded, gathered country delegations, observers, businesses, and NGOs for several rounds of heated negotiations and discussions. Since the groundbreaking adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, COPs have largely revolved around painstaking efforts to implement its articles. Mukhtar Babayev, the...

The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville will convene in 2025, providing a global stage for countries to assess and strengthen strategies for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As part of the preparatory efforts, the co-facilitators of the FfD4—Mexico, Nepal, Norway, and Zambia—released an Elements paper, to inform the conference’s...

Turmoil following presidential and parliamentary elections in Mozambique has been severe. Preliminary official results from the 2024 elections indicated a landslide win by the ruling party, Frelimo. These results are widely contested, with various reports of...

The years since 2020 have been one of the most violent periods since the end of the second world war. The war in Ukraine and the escalating violence in the Middle East have dominated global headlines and captured the attention of policymakers and donors. But while the humanitarian toll in both regions is enormous, the fact is that conflicts elsewhere are largely being overlooked.

Launched on 1 September 2024, South Africa's two-pot retirement system is designed to offer greater flexibility in managing retirement savings. This system allows individuals to access a portion of their retirement funds before retiring—through a ‘savings pot’—while a ‘retirement pot’ remains inaccessible. As of 11 October 2024, ZAR 21.4 billion in withdrawals have been applied for through the system...

12 November 2024 | UNU-WIDER hosts two events during the Second Preparatory Committee (2nd PrepCom) Session for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in New York in December 2024.

OPEN ACCESS BOOK SCHEDULED FOR 19 DECEMBER 2024 | Almost everything that is essential to modern society — transport and power systems, buildings, machinery, and medical devices — depends upon metals, minerals, and stone as well as oil and natural gas which provide the energy for households and businesses and transport as well as widely-used materials such as plastics. The global economy has come to increasingly rely on mining and oil and gas extraction in the developing world.

Journal | Journal of Development Economics

Journal | Economic Analysis and Policy

OPEN ACCESS | In this paper, I calculate automatic stabilization in Ghana, South Africa, and Ecuador to explain how they cushion income amid income and demand shocks.

Journal | Oxford Economic Papers

In this article, we reassess the relationship between inequality and human development, focusing on the differential role of concentration of income at different parts of the distribution.

Journal | International Tax and Public Finance

OPEN ACCESS | The extent of redistribution in low-income developing countries, including in Africa, is very limited, which raises the question whether the tax rates of high-income individuals should be raised. A crucial parameter when considering a potential increase in progressivity is the response of taxable income to increased tax rates.