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The paper explores the drivers of political fragility by focusing on coups d’état as symptomatic of such fragility. It uses event studies to identify factors that exhibit significantly different dynamics in the runup to coups, and machine learning to identify these stressors and more structural determinants of fragility—as well as their nonlinear interactions—that create an environment propitious to coups. The paper finds that the destabilization of a country’s economic, political or security environment—such as low growth, high inflation, weak external positions, political instability and conflict—set the stage for a higher likelihood of coups, with overlapping stressors amplif...
Energy efficiency is the best tool to improve sustainability and affordability of energy services. However, there are considerable challenges when it comes to identifying opportunities and measurement. This monograph provides a comprehensive understanding of the trends and progress made in terms of energy intensity in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) compared to other world regions and nationally by looking at the aggregate, industrial and household levels. Additionally, it discusses the limitations of using such indicator to measure energy efficiency in LAC. In order to complement perspectives resulting from this indicator, it investigates the counterpart challenge of promoting energy efficiency: creating incentives. To address this challenge, the present document proposes a conceptual framework through which to analyze energy efficiency policies and regulation across the region. This framework consists of four steps: Law and regulation, Types of incentives, Targets and Governance and Support. The analysis carried out leads to policy recommendations at both the national and regional levels.
South Sudan is a very fragile post-conflict country, and one of the most vulnerable in the world to climate change effects. The spillovers from the fighting in Sudan have exacerbated an already dire humanitarian situation. Two-thirds of South Sudan’s population was exposed to acute food insecurity prior to the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan and the situation has worsened due to a large and growing number of refugees, and a sharp increase in fuel and food prices in the border areas with Sudan driven by trade disruptions. The Sudan war has also delayed the needed repair of the pipeline that transports South Sudan’s crude oil to international markets through Sudan. As a result, oil expor...
Recent developments. Rwanda’s economy continued with fast-paced post-pandemic growth in 2022, but macroeconomic imbalances have emerged. Strong output in manufacturing and services sectors more than offset weaker agricultural production and construction activity. Rising food prices and strong domestic demand fueled by high credit growth partly contributed to a persistent inflation which stood at 19.3 percent in March. Robust import demand coupled with high commodity prices and tightening global financing conditions have weakened Rwanda’s external position. The uncertain external environment and the reduced prospects for external concessional financing are compounding the challenges from the legacy of the pandemic. The authorities are committed to implementing frontloaded fiscal policy adjustment, while the National Bank of Rwanda stands ready to take further actions to anchor inflation expectations. The outlook is subject to high uncertainty, mainly stemming from deepening geopolitical fragmentation, volatility in global energy and fertilizer prices, a steeper-than-projected decline in trading partners growth, or a funding squeeze.
Rwanda: Selected Issues
This is the third update of the reported Social Unrest Index (Barrett et al. 2022), describing the evolution of social unrest worldwide since June 2023. It shows that the global incidence of unrest has stayed broadly stable in the last year. However, the global distribution has not been even, with a concentration of major events in Europe and sub-Saharan Africa and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Hemisphere.
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This paper analyzes the effect of an IMF Staff-Monitored Program for Chad to enhance economic development. Weak institutional capacity and governance concerns have limited economic development and donor support in Chad. It is highlighted that the reduction in the nonoil primary deficit envisaged in the 2013 budget appears appropriate, but expenditures linked to the regional security situation and lower than anticipated oil revenues imply large financing needs. There are significant economic and political risks to program implementation,; the regional security situation remains volatile, and the economy is highly dependent on volatile oil revenue.
The field of material culture, while historically well established, has recently enjoyed something of a renaissance. Methods once dominated by Marxist- and commodity-oriented analyses and by the study of objects as symbols are giving way to a more ethnographic approach to artifacts. This orientation is the cornerstone of the essays presented in Material Cultures. A collection of case studies which move from the domestic sphere to the global arena, the volume includes examinations of the soundscape produced by home radios, catalog shopping, the role of paper in the workplace, and the relationship between the production and consumption of Coca-Cola in Trinidad. The diversity of the essays is mediated by their common commitment to ethnography with a material focus. Rather than examine objects as mirages of media or language, Material Cultures emphasizes how the study of objects not only contributes to an understanding of artifacts but is also an effective means for studying social values and contradictions.
Irony and Humor: From pragmatics to discourse is a complete updated panorama of linguistic research on irony and humor, based on a variety of perspectives, corpora and theories. The book collects the most recent contributions from such diverse approaches as Relevance Theory, Cognitive Linguistics, General Theory of Verbal Humor, Neo-Gricean Pragmatics or Argumentation. The volume is organized in three parts referring to pragmatic perspectives, mediated discourse, and conversational interaction. This book will be highly relevant for anyone interested in pragmatics, discourse analysis as well as social sciences.