The most economically prosperous and gender-equal societies often display stronger gender segregation in educational choices – a pattern known as the ‘gender equality paradox’. This column explores this paradox using data on half a million children in 37 Western countries and 10,000 British families over two decades. The findings suggest that gender segregation in education […]
Economic research often treats tools such as tariffs, subsides, interest rates, monetary policy, and austerity measures as gender neutral. This column argues that when sex-disaggregated data and gender analysis are missing from models and policy decisions, the result is incomplete economic analysis and inequitable outcomes. What’s missing from economics isn’t just women’s voices, but women’s […]
The global development landscape is undergoing seismic shifts. Foreign aid, a critical lifeline for billions, is shrinking, after becoming fragmented at an alarming rate over the last two decades. At the same time, more than half of low-income countries are deep into or teetering on the brink of debt distress, with median public debt soaring from 20 […]
According to the UNDP’s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), the Republic of Chad has a poverty score of 0.517. But what does this number mean? Is it a good score or a bad one? If you have no clue, you aren’t alone. While the concept of poverty is easy to grasp, quantifying it is actually pretty hard. […]
As the world continues to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, countries face new and unexpected challenges. Elevated debt levels, persistent inflation, and weakened growth prospects have created a perfect storm of financial pressure. For many nations, this has meant shrinking the budgets in vital sectors like health, education, and the environment. In […]
France has narrowed its gender lifetime earnings gap, but has not managed closed it. Despite legal guarantees, French women still earn 30% less than men over a career. This column tracks lifetime income for cohorts born 1942–1964 and finds that convergence has stalled since the 1980s, mostly due to rising part-time work among women. Working […]
On this year’s International Day of Families, we explore a critical issue: the sidelining of family-oriented policies in mainstream economic discussions. Despite their transformative potential, family laws governing marriage, divorce, property rights, inheritance, and household decision-making often remain overlooked. These laws define personal relationships and set the legal boundaries of women’s agency, mobility, and access […]
A thriving economy is built on talent. Across Africa, the job market faces a growing shortage of highly skilled professionals in critical fields such as engineering, health, agriculture, digital technologies, and others. A decade ago, a survey by the Africa Investors Council revealed that major companies struggled to recruit qualified talent in these areas, while […]
