What does it take to accelerate gender equality and ensure that women have the same opportunities as men to build successful lives? As the World Bank Group develops the new 2024-30 Gender Strategy, we have been inspired by initiatives that support women’s economic empowerment, human capital development and leadership. Egypt’s Takaful and Karama programis one of these. In […]
SDG 3 aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all. COVID-19 took a catastrophic toll on global health with many excessive deaths resulting in lower global life expectancy at birth by over 1.5 years. A reversal of global life expectancies at this scale was unprecedented since the early 1960s. But COVID-19 vaccines were developed […]
Indonesia has launched a national crypto asset bourse to provide regulators with transaction records and better protect crypto investors, the government announced this week. The launch of the exchange and clearing house is also intended to strengthen monitoring of the booming sector amid a transition in regulatory oversight, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Regulatory […]
Indonesia’s history, size, location, demographics, and resource endowments suggest that it should be an international trading powerhouse. Yet, evidence indicates that trade as an engine of economic growth has not been fully tapped . Supported by a steep decline in trade costs, advances in information technology, the liberalization of trade, and the expansion of global value […]
Political clientelism and corruption are usually regarded as isolated acts intended for personal financial and political gain. Accordingly, an army of competent auditors, a good dose of ethics, democracy, and a vibrant civil society are expected to provide the cure. But what if the orthodoxy is wrong? Indeed, new research suggests it may be time to abandon […]
More people than ever before 828 million, according to the most recent estimates—do not know where their next meal will come from. Yet we are producing more food than ever, with cereal grain production at an all-time high. How did we get so far off track in ending hunger and how do we get back on […]
Throughout 2022, the weaponisation of natural gas supplies by Russia led to concerns regarding the security of natural gas supply in Europe. This column reviews the reasons behind the increases in energy prices and prospects for 2023–24. Decisive EU policy and market rebalancing helped reduce concerns about shortages, bringing prices back to physical fundamentals. Similar […]
Raising awareness about climate change is important for support and action, but the effects of anticipating its impact are still unclear. This column introduces a new framework to estimate the economic impact of climate change on all US counties, revealing it to be roughly twice as large as previous studies. Anticipation of future changes plays […]
Wall Street’s main indexes climbed on Monday as investors braced for earnings from megacap growth and technology companies, while focusing on an interest rate decision from the Federal Reserve. All eyes will be on the quarterly reports of Microsoft, Google-owner Alphabet and Meta Platforms this week, as market participants will be keen to know whether their earnings […]
Apple is asking suppliers to produce about 85 million units of the iPhone 15 this year, roughly in line with the year before, Bloomberg News said on Monday citing people familiar with the matter. The company is aiming to hold shipments steady despite a projected decline in the overall smartphone market, the report said, adding Apple […]
