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Showing all Blog Posts in Covid 19
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Blog post
COVID-19 funding in federal systems: Lessons from Nepal
With COVID-19, the federal governments of many developing countries are grappling with a crisis that requires both a central and local response. Coordinating across spheres can be tough, especially when the effects of the disease are amplified by other emergencies. Our survey of local governments in Nepal shows how mismatches between COVID-19 caseloads and funding can...
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Reopening schools too early could spread COVID-19 even faster – especially in the developing world
Low-income countries face a very different set of circumstances to high-income countries when it comes to reopening schools after lockdown. In developing countries, adults and the elderly generally have more contact with children than those in advanced economies. A new study predicts that delaying school openings could save lives. According to the latest UNESCO...
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Property taxes in a pandemic world
While increasing demands are being placed on cities to address the current crisis and plan for resilience in the future, key sources of city government revenues are drying up. Taxes based on the value of land and/or property offer extraordinary potential for cities in financing urban recovery, but crucial to this is raising tax morale through visible investments in...
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Impact of COVID-19 on public transport
Public transport has been hit hard by COVID-19. With ridership significantly down, operators in developing cities will have to face difficult questions for their future viability. The appropriate response must plan for contingencies, but never forget the value of shared transit in the process of economic development. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities across...
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COVID-19 and the willingness to vaccinate: Evidence from India
Vaccination is one of the success stories in modern day medicine and seen by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a key element of the response to the current pandemic. While billions are poured into a vaccine’s development and tackling supply difficulties, policymakers should prepare for the next challenges: compliance and ability to pay. One of the most, if not the...
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Why COVID-19 offers the perfect opportunity to remove fuel subsidies
April 2020 recorded the lowest oil price (USD 21/barrel of oil) in 18 years. This was driven by a lack of demand due to low economic activity worldwide. This temporary season of low oil prices presents an opportune moment for countries to remove inefficient fuel subsidies and reduce the knock-on effect to citizens. This reform also provides developing country governments...
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Rethinking regulations: Informal settlements in the time of COVID-19
Informal settlements, given their high densities and lacking water and sanitation infrastructure, are potential hotspots for the spread of pandemics like COVID-19. To remedy this, upgrading informal settlements will be essential. However, for long term resilience, we need to tackle the regulatory challenges that keep formal housing prices unattainable for the urban...
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Pass-through shocks and income: The impact of COVID-19 on remittances in Ethiopia
Following COVID-19 induced global restrictions on the movement of people and activities, the Ethiopian economy, particularly the external sector, has faced significant challenges. COVID-19 related global disruptions have considerably affected tourism, exports, imports, and remittances to the country. The Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social...
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Crime and COVID-19: Lessons from Cape Town and Karachi
The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of how vulnerable cities in the global South are to devastation by contagion due to poorly managed population density, resource deprivation, and maladministration. However, there is another epidemic that has been harming these cities for much longer: urban violence. The cities of Cape Town and Karachi, both historically plagued by...
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The dangers of not knowing enough about COVID-19’s impact on women in Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan has begun publishing gender-disaggregated data on COVID-19 at a national level. One graph on the government’s Covid-19 website illustrates that men constitute 74% of observed cases so far (as of June 29th 2020). This is a significant aberration compared to worldwide trends and is one of the highest proportions globally. A WHO report on Gender...