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Can a government reduce income inequality by changing the composition of public spending while keeping the total level of expenditure fixed? Using newly assembled data on spending composition for 83 countries across all income groups, this paper shows that reallocating spending toward social protection and infrastructure is associated with reduced income inequality, particularly when it is financed through cuts in defense spending. However, the political and security situation matters. The analysis does not find evidence that lowering defense spending to finance infrastructure and social outlays improves income distribution in countries with weak institutions and at higher risk of conflict. Reallocating social protection and infrastructure spending towards other types of spending tends to increase income inequality. Accounting for the long-term impact of health spending, and particularly education spending, helps to better capture the equalizing effects of these expenditures. The paper includes a discussion of the implications of the findings for Indonesia, a major emerging market where income inequality is at the center of policy issues.
The challenge in teaching an introductory course on sustainability is there are many ways to teach it, and many issues to cover. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals offer a cohesive and interconnected set of topics to help address this problem – indeed the SDGs are now the guiding framework for planning and implementing sustainability through 2030. They are the focus of international development efforts, and the lingua franca of sustainability as a field of study, the international consensus on “what is sustainability?” As such, the UN SDGs present an ideal framework for an introductory level textbook because taken together, they integrate the “Three Es”—environment,...
Proceedings of the 44th Session of the International Seminars on Nuclear War and Planetary Emergencies held in Erice, Sicily. This seminar has again gathered, in 2011, over one hundred scientists in an interdisciplinary effort that has been going on for the last 31 years, to examine and analyze planetary problems which have been followed up, all year long, by the World Federation of Scientists' Permanent Monitoring Panels.
Explaining how the legacy of colonialism and the nature of the liberal economy play a significant role in the development of Africa today, keeping Africa poor and dependent, this book explains how trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization had opened doors for the New Scramble for Africa. Green technology and the high demand for electronics have intensified Africa’s role as a supplier of raw materials, natural resources, and cheap labor and as a large market of more than one billion people in the global economy. This unique ethnographic study, with elements of autoethnography, starts with the author's journey to Bulyanhulu, Tanzania, one of the largest gold mines in Africa, and ...
Emerging and developing countries have grown faster than advanced countries since the 2000s. This shifting weight of global economic activity from 'the West' to 'East and South' is referred to as “shifting wealth”. But in recent years, a number of factors, such as lower commodity prices, seem ...
In Inequality and Governance in an Uncertain World: Perspectives on Democratic & Autocratic Governments, the authors address structural and systemic inequalities in democratic and autocratic governments from a multidimensional perspective in nine world regions (Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Eurasia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, and Latin America). Their focus is on issues of race, caste, class, gender, religion, culture, and ethnicity which has intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fragility of democracies is only enhanced by the sobering reality of the climate crisis and the horrible nature of disinformation through social media. However, just as the world has been witnessing a shift toward autocracy, a commitment to democracy can be also possible through a renewal of the social contract, calling for more equitable social, economic, and health policies, obliterating the intersections of inequality, and trudging toward a more sustainable future for all.
Drawing on original fieldwork in Nigeria, Portia Roelofs reconsiders what good governance means, focusing on accountability and transparency.
Indonesia has responded with a bold and comprehensive policy package to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy rebounded in the third quarter of 2020, and the economic recovery is projected to strengthen in 2021 and 2022. Strong policy support and an improving global economy will be the main drivers initially, and greater mobility and confidence will follow with the planned vaccination program in 2021. The uncertainty surrounding the growth outlook is larger than usual. Early completion of a widespread vaccination program is an upside risk, while a protracted pandemic remains a downside risk. The macro-financial fallout of the pandemic and economic downturn could be larger than expected, and credit conditions could be slow to improve. Ongoing reforms aimed at promoting investment are expected to help mitigate the scarring effects from the pandemic and put the economy on a sustained growth path that builds on Indonesia’s favorable demographics.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the largest global economic crisis in more than a century. In 2020, economic activity contracted in 90 percent of countries, the world economy shrank by about 3 percent, and global poverty increased for the first time in a generation. Governments responded rapidly with fiscal, monetary, and financial policies that alleviated the worst immediate economic impacts of the crisis. Yet the world must still contend with the significant longer-term financial and economic risks caused by, or exacerbated by, the pandemic and the government responses needed to mitigate its effects.World Development Report 2022: Finance for an Equitable Recovery examines the central role ...
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will create the largest free trade area in the world, measured by the number of countries participating. The pact will connect 1.3 billion people across 55 countries with a combined GDP valued at $3.4 trillion. It has the potential to lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035. But achieving its full potential will depend on putting in place significant policy reforms and trade facilitation measures.The scope of the agreement is considerable. It will reduce tariffs among member countries and cover policy areas, such as trade facilitation and services, as well as regulatory measures, such as sanitary standards and technical...