report August 19, 2021 Markets don’t reward sustainable borrowers. Here’s a solution. The weight of research shows that businesses and households with good environmental credentials are also better borrowers. They are less likely to default on their loans and less likely to be late on their repayments.In a well-functioning market where these broader social and economic benefits were properly priced, these borrowers would get lower interest rates. When these loans were... By Brookings Institute, Op-Ed Brookings Institute
report August 19, 2021 Does West Africa need a single currency? Over a decade ago, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a regional trade bloc of 15 countries with a total population of roughly 400 million, committed to establishing a monetary and currency union by the end of 2020. In other words, they agreed to renounce monetary sovereignty and adopt a common currency managed by a... By Brookings Institute, West Africa Brookings Institute
report August 18, 2021 Roundtable on the replenishment of the IDA-20 On Wednesday June 16, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative convened a consultation with multilateral institution leaders representing Africa in preparation for the IDA-20 replenishment meetings. The purpose of this consultation was to offer recommendations for securing a robust IDA-20 outcome, identify priorities for IDA-20, and discuss approaches for ensuring a common African voice at the replenishment meetings. The International Development... By Brookings Institute, Event Brookings Institute
report August 17, 2021 Governments must help manage the risks of fintech The writer’s next book is ‘The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution is Transforming Currencies and Finance’Financial innovation sometimes brings great rewards. It can make the financial system more accessible to underserved segments of the population and improve lives. But some innovations can lead to disaster, which usually hurts the poor more than others. Governments must find the right... By Brookings Institute, Technology & Innovation Brookings Institute
report August 16, 2021 Around the halls: The Taliban retakes Afghanistan Nearly 20 years after the United States intervened in Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power, and in the wake of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal of U.S. troops, the Taliban’s stunningly rapid reconquest of the country reached its denouement Sunday, August 15 as its fighters entered Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani left the country. Brookings experts reflect on the... By Afghanistan, Brookings Institute Brookings Institute
report August 16, 2021 Policymaker’s Journal: From New Delhi to Washington DC This book charts the course of Kaushik Basu’s career over seven years, as he moved out of the cloisters of academe to the frenetic world of policymaking, first in India as Chief Economic Adviser to the Indian Government and after that as Chief Economist at the World Bank in Washington. The Indian years were a period of high inflation, growth challenges (as... By Brookings Institute, External Book Brookings Institute
report August 16, 2021 Digital technology and African smallholder agriculture: Implications for public policy COVID-19 has exacerbated challenges to Africa’s food and agriculture sector and to its millions of smallholder farmers. At the same time, the pandemic has accelerated innovative efforts to develop and deploy the transformative power of digital technology to address these problems in ways that leapfrog past practices and traditional solutions. Emerging evidence from Asia and Africa suggests that digital... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report August 14, 2021 Africa in the news: Ethiopia updates, Zambia elections, and Africa’s many Olympic achievements War in Tigray continues, and Ethiopia rejects Sudan’s mediation attempts Ethiopia’s conflict in Tigray has escalated after the government, on August 6, warned that it could deploy its “entire defensive capability” in the region. In fact, on August 10, the government called for all capable citizens to join the country’s military to combat resurgent forces in the region, ending the... By Brookings Institute, Post, Uncategorized Brookings Institute
report August 13, 2021 Why it’s harder for American workers to get ahead, and what we can do about it On this 400th episode of the Brookings Cafeteria podcast, Marcela Escobari, a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development at Brookings, talks about her new report on how to tackle the worker mobility crisis in the U.S. economy. In the face of rising inequality, stagnating wages, a shrinking middle class, and now a global pandemic, many American workers are... By Brookings Institute, Podcast Episode Brookings Institute
report August 12, 2021 Remote work wanted? Analyzing online job postings during COVID-19 In early 2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic started to affect the health of millions around the world, epidemiologists and public health experts pointed to social distancing as the key measure to control the spread of the virus. From an economic perspective, it became immediately clear that the ability to work from home would determine workers’ outcomes. Indeed, our estimates... By Brookings Institute, Post Brookings Institute
