Tariffs, deals and multilateral ideals: can the World Trade Organization survive?
The Trump administration’s trade policy accelerates the WTO’s decline and challenges global trade governance. The second administration of United States President Donald Trump has shaken
The flawed rationale behind America’s “reciprocal tariffs”
On 2 April 2025, the Trump administration declared a “national emergency” caused by “large and persistent US goods trade deficits” and announced the imposition of
Multi-issuer stablecoins: A threat to financial stability
Stablecoins – digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies – have emerged as a major innovation in crypto finance, with broad implications for payments and international
Leading firms are falling behind in developing East Asia
For decades, East Asia has been a paragon of economic dynamism. But today, in an era of rapid global technological advances, productivity growth in the
Public R&D and Brazil’s agricultural revolution
It is often argued that returns to R&D are low in developing countries, making imported technologies a better path to growth. Yet technologies designed for
Transforming schools for better learning outcomes
Education is the pathway to jobs and the surest way out of poverty, empowering generations to drive economic growth. Yet, for many students, this promise
Coffee beans meet green rules: Reconciling climate and development goals
The average resident of the European Union spends €150 annually on coffee, a small price for what many consider one of life’s necessities. This morning
Reimaging public finance management: From spending control to delivering outcomes
For as long as governments have existed, so has public financial management (PFM). This approach has always been explicitly designed to ensure the efficiency and
Is AI adoption impacting job markets in South Asia?
The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the global economy and reshaping labor markets. What does this mean for the South Asia region?
Strengthening governance and trust in AI-based data dissemination with Proof-Carrying Numbers
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a new gateway to development data, a quiet but significant risk has emerged. Large language models (LLMs) can now summarize
