report September 1, 2021 Accelerating COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa The rapid spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 has made the successful rollout and uptake of vaccinations against the disease around the world more urgent than ever. Through regional cooperation and tough national actions, among other factors, the African continent has made impressive strides toward preventing the devastating impacts of the pandemic seen elsewhere. However, recent months have... By Brookings Institute, Event Brookings Institute
report August 31, 2021 Renewing US rural prosperity: Federal policy in the Biden administration Amid 21st-century shifts in the global and U.S. economy, demographics, and climate, federal leadership must modernize to improve its coherence, effectiveness, and ability to support rural communities. The Biden administration’s public commitment to “rebuild rural” represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine policy to maximize rural prosperity. Critical to its success will be addressing several questions, including: How can federal... By Brookings Institute, Event Brookings Institute
report August 31, 2021 Which will be the top 30 consumer markets of this decade? 5 Asian markets below the radar Despite COVID-19, the global consumer class—those who are middle class or rich—is rising fast. In an earlier post, we showed that we are experiencing a truly secular shift in the size of this global consumer class. COVID-19 is a transitory setback of one or two years in this long-term shift. Since 2000, the global consumer class grew by more... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report August 30, 2021 How Chile implemented its computer science program Computer science (CS) education helps students acquire skills such as computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. It has been linked with higher rates of college enrollment (Brown & Brown, 2020; Salehi, Wang, Toorawa, & Wieman, 2020), and a recent randomized control trial showed that lessons in computational thinking improved student response inhibition, planning, and coding skills (Arfé et al., 2020).... By Brookings Institute, Report Brookings Institute
report August 30, 2021 How Chile implemented its computer science education program Computer science (CS) education helps students acquire skills such as computational thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. It has been linked with higher rates of college enrollment (Brown & Brown, 2020; Salehi, Wang, Toorawa, & Wieman, 2020), and a recent randomized control trial showed that lessons in computational thinking improved student response inhibition, planning, and coding skills (Arfé et al., 2020).... By Brookings Institute, Report Brookings Institute
report August 30, 2021 The role of fiscal decentralization in promoting effective domestic resource mobilization in Africa The lingering economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting sub-Saharan Africa’s traditional financial inflows, revealing the heightened need to strengthen domestic resource mobilization and improve tax administration in the region. This unprecedented shock to the world economy has revealed the volatility of financial inflows that African nations are dependent on: Indeed, foreign direct investment (FDI)—an increasingly important source... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report August 30, 2021 Why did state-building efforts in Afghanistan fail? Afghanistan has received enormous amounts of foreign aid over the years, but despite the investment of funds and various efforts to build state capacity, the government quickly fell to the Taliban after the withdrawal of U.S. forces. To discuss what capacity-building efforts accomplished and why they ultimately fell short, David Dollar is joined by Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, director of... By Afghanistan, Brookings Institute Brookings Institute
report August 28, 2021 Africa in the news: South African economy, energy production, and Nigerian foreign relations updates New definition measures South Africa’s GDP 11% higher than previously thought This week, authorities in South Africa announced that the country’s economy is 11 percent larger than previous estimates after Statistics South Africa altered its method for calculating gross domestic product. The national statistical service’s new definition utilizes a refined, more modern classification of activities, new sources of information, and... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report August 27, 2021 Figure of the week: A case study comparison of industries without smokestacks in South Africa and Uganda Unlike developing countries in Asia, African countries are not relying on export-led manufacturing to drive structural transformation but instead pivoting to service-oriented sectors. While many services are less productive and absorb less low-skilled labor than manufacturing, certain subsectors, according to recent Brookings Africa Growth Initiative research, can be the catalyst for economic growth and job creation in the changing... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
report August 26, 2021 The future of money: The end of cash and the rise of digital currencies Are we heading for a cashless future? Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at Brookings and author of the forthcoming book, “The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance,” thinks so. Credit card and cell phone payments have disrupted the physical cash market already, but Prasad says the real driving force will be central banks—as... By Brookings Institute, Financial Regulation Brookings Institute
