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Africa Industrialization Week 2020: Industrial development, trade, and COVID-19
Following Africa Industrialization Week 2020, we take stock of trends in African industrialisation, as well as look at the ways that COVID-19 has disrupted industries, trade, and supply chains. Each year since 1990, African leaders, key stakeholders, and pan-African organisations meet on the 20th of November to celebrate Africa Industrialization Day (AID), which kicks off...
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Africa Industrialization Week 2020: Policies for the future
Accelerating economic transformation and industrialisation is vital to create jobs, raise incomes, and reduce poverty in Africa. Industrialisation and international trade are critical drivers of this process. Combined with recommendations from three industrialisation experts we spoke with, we propose three complementary policy recommendations in advancing these...
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Blog post
Data for decision making in the COVID-19 crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis. For governments to respond effectively, policymakers need quality data on the prevalence of the virus and its various social and economic impacts. There are now at least 55 million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the world, with over a million deaths. While the world has probably not experienced a pandemic of this...
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Leaving no one behind: Vulnerable communities need smarter strategies to adapt to a changing climate future
The effects of climate change are felt more keenly by poor communities already facing the double burden of poverty and low development. Thus, climate change policies must be created keeping their unique vulnerabilities in mind and help them build resilience. In the first part of this blog series, we explored energy transition, market integration, and leveraging finance as...
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Not their burden alone: Global cooperation is key to helping developing countries mitigate climate shocks
Over the next decade, fast-growing developing nations will contribute to the bulk of the increase in energy consumption. However, the responsibility of adopting sustainable growth does not – and cannot – fall on them alone. A global shift towards more sustainable growth needs innovative and responsive policies that can only be implemented with international...
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Blog post
Adopt an Enhanced Revenue Mobilisation System to increase IGFs
The economic disruptions of COVID-19 have put local government revenue in Ghana in a dire state. James Dzansi, IGC Country Economist in Ghana, argues that local governments must urgently adopt the digital Enhanced Revenue Management System to increase their capacities to deliver essential services to their citizens. The local governments must stand up to the challenge....
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The case for scaling up renewable energy investments in fragile and conflict-affected situations
The impressive drop in the cost of clean technologies and the local practical potential of solar PV are making renewable energy an increasingly viable option from an economic perspective in fragile settings. Clean energy investment also has direct implications for tackling climate change, improving the socioeconomic inclusion of marginalised groups, and state-building –...
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Sierra Leone locked down early to contain COVID-19, but at a high price
Sierra Leone locked down early and appears to have COVID-19 under control. But the country has paid a very high economic price, with the vast majority of people missing meals or eating less. Researchers warn that if the virus begins to spread again, these sacrifices may be hard to justify and replicate. In the fight against COVID-19, we are in the same storm but in...
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Blog post
Diversifying economics: Resources for Black and other underrepresented minorities
Over 2011-2017, the top 20 economic departments in the US awarded PhDs to only 15 Black students. In 2017, only 0.6% of the doctorates in economics and 2% of the undergraduate degrees in economics awarded in the US went to Black women. The Institute for Fiscal Studies recently found that Black economists in the UK are 64% less likely to work in Russell Group universities...
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For the urban poor, trade may be the only lifeline during a pandemic
Trade routes have been significantly disrupted with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As formal firms reel under the consequent demand and supply shock, the urban poor engaging in informal trade with little social protection have been pushed further into the margins, and are struggling simply for survival. The outbreak of the plague in Surat, India in 1994 claimed...
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Vaccine uptake and resistance: Lessons and policy levers
As new variants of COVID-19 are disrupting global efforts to end the pandemic, governments need to work faster to immunise populations and curtail the spread. This blog examines lessons and policy solutions for global immunisation efforts, drawing from recent evidence on vaccine acceptance in low- and middle-income countries. With the urge to vaccinate their populations...