In their recent blog Can Africa Claim the 21st Century?, Andrew Dabalen and Chorching Goh rightly highlight Africa’s moment of opportunity: a convergence of global attention, demographic momentum, and natural resource wealth. But whether this century can truly be Africa’s depends on whether its cities are able to generate enough good jobs to employ its growing population. […]
Although the source and duration of the destruction differ, wars and natural disasters disrupt economies in similar ways. This column examines the effects of natural disasters and the impact of government rebuilding policies by focusing on the impacts of Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico in 2017. The findings underscore how the scale and design […]
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. […]
Population ageing makes it harder for governments to finance programmes like public pensions and long-term care. But policy responses, such as tightening programme eligibility and benefit levels or raising taxes on current workers, often prove unpopular. This column presents findings from the latest wave of the OECD’s Risks that Matter survey, which takes stock of […]
Cities have faced a host of shocks throughout history, including earthquakes, hurricanes, coastal flooding, and storm surges, as well as wartime destruction, such as in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. This column looks at one of the most dramatic events in history, the atomic bombing of the city of Hiroshima in Japan, to explore the mechanisms […]
Language policy is not merely symbolic – it shapes the direction of trade, the allocation of subsidies, and a country’s internal cohesion. Using new data on linguistic diversity across and within the US and Canada, this column examines how language affects trade patterns and economic welfare. The authors find that enforcing a single language without […]
Generally speaking, political instability, armed conflicts, and low population density create significant challenges to collecting, accessing, and disseminating quality data. This is especially true in central Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger), which are relatively vast with low population densities, ranging from 65 inhabitants per km² in Burkina Faso to 14 inhabitants per km² in […]
As populations age, the demand for long-term care will increase dramatically. This column argues that markets for long-term care insurance in the US have failed to expand, despite nearly five decades of development in part because individuals too often rely on self-insurance or Medicaid – a means-tested programme that requires they spend down their assets […]
