Development and Economic Growth

Since 2015, the DR Congo, a major rent-based economy in Africa, has embarked into macroeconomic turbulence with significant inflationary pressures and a severe exchange rate depression, partly due to a commodities slump. The economic downturn has contributed to strengthening the acute social crisis. The country is a fragile state on the edge, a product of […]

BY STEFAN NORGAARD On a cold December afternoon in 2017, I step inside the offices of Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO), run by Marty Chen of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. I am immediately transported. Photographs from around the world fill this warm, colorful space. On the […]

Singapore has enjoyed rapid growth since independence, due in part to the hard choices made by the government regarding economics and politics. Agnes Chew’s research explores some of the costs of growth, and raises questions about the sustainability of the current growth paradigm as it relates to societal wellbeing.

In recent years, multilateral trade agreements among African countries have become increasingly popular. In March 2018, in Kigali Rwanda, leaders gathered to sign an agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA), the biggest trade pact in the post-World Trade Organisation (WTO) era. Other initiatives are underway, including the formation of a tripartite free […]

 BY HAIYANG ZHANG In China’s recent 19th Party Congress, President Xi Jinping spoke confidently about blazing “a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernization” and providing “a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development.”[1] China increasingly asserts itself as an important development partner to other developing […]

BY GRANT TUDOR AND JUSTIN WARNER “The explanation of the amazingly high standard of rice cultivation in Bali is to be found in Montesquieu’s conclusion that ‘the yield of the soil depends less on its richness than on the degree of freedom enjoyed by those who till it.’”[1] – A. Liefrinck, Dutch Colonial Officer, 1887 […]

Abstract: In this exciting reflection, Arthur A. Catraio, Researcher at the Brazilian School of Public Administration, makes the case for a more nuanced narrative around African growth prospects. He uses recent trends to highlight the analytical limitations of Dani Rodrik’s Growth Strategies (2003) concerning sub-Saharan African countries. He finds that countries like Botswana and Mauritius […]

BY ALYSSA DAVIS Although several U.S. cities and towns have undergone revitalization in the last decade, there are still many persistent pockets of concentrated poverty—distressed neighborhoods where outcomes are worse for residents across-the-board. The places where crime rates are higher, schools are low-performing, unemployment is high, and vacant storefronts abound. This has a devastating effect […]

BY CAMERON LINDSAY Last month, 27 of the 28 national European Union ambassadors to Beijing denounced China’s “Silk Road” project as one that hampers free trade and places Chinese companies at an advantage. The sentiments, in response to China’s One Belt Initiative (OBI), strongly contrast the themes of cooperation, openness, and mutual benefits espoused by […]

BY SASHA RAMANI President Trump’s long-promised trade war against China has begun. In March, President Trump unveiled tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, and later targeted China directly with tariffs on $60 billion worth of imports on technology and energy industry components. In April, he launched a further 25 percent tariff on Chinese industrial technology, […]

BY MAX NATHANSON The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will change Pakistan. CPEC — a proposed network of highways, power plants, and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) worth a reported $62 billion — is set to bring Pakistan more than double the entire volume of foreign direct investment that the country received since 2008. But who, exactly, […]

BY LAURA MERRYFIELD and PRANAV REDDY Black Panther begins with T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) grappling with the dilemma presented by his new role as king of Wakanda. His country is rich in vibranium, a valuable metal that has allowed Wakanda to develop advanced technology and quiet prosperity for its citizens. The previous king, T’Challa’s father, disguised […]