While the steep rise of inequality in the United States is well-known, long-run data on the incomes of the richest shows countries have followed a variety of trajectories. Here are four articles, written by Joe Hasell for Our World in Data, that explore a wide range of indicators on inequality and poverty
Energy access policies continue to bear fruit, with 2019 data showing important progress. The number of people without access to electricity dropped from almost 860 million in 2018 to 770 million in 2019, a record low in recent years. In India, the government announced having reached full electricity access in 2019, and effective policies have
Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, employing nearly half of the private sector workforce.
Unfortunately, lockdown and work-from-home measures brought about by COVID-19 have disproportionately affected small businesses – particularly in the leisure and hospitality sectors.
As metro-level data from Opportunity Insights points out, geography makes a great deal of difference in
On May 7, the United Nations (UN) President of the General Assembly Tijjani Mohammad-Bande sent an invitation to all permanent representatives and observers of the UN. The purpose of this invite was to launch the UN Alliance for Poverty Eradication. President Mohammad-Bande virtually launched the alliance from UN New York headquarters on June 30th.
In the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, venture capital firms, like most of the U.S. economy, essentially shut down. “A lot of VCs were telling me that everything just froze,” says Ilya A. Strebulaev, professor of finance at Stanford Graduate School of Business and director of the school’s Venture Capital Initiative.
Indeed,
The urban world is facing a double demographic hit on economic growth. Between 2000 and 2012, an expanding population drove nearly 60 percent of economic growth in the world’s large cities, but those days of easy urban growth are over. First, global population growth is slowing due to declining fertility rates and an aging population.
The Chief Economist of the World Bank, Pinelopi Goldberg, recently called out the need for a “new vision in development.”
We may not yet have a clear new vision, but thanks to three recent publications, we know some of the components. Raj Kumar’s “The Business of Changing the World” contrasts “new aid” with “old
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, goes the old adage, teach him to fish and you feed him for life. It should be obvious, shouldn’t it? Education is one of the cornerstones of both the green economy and the global pursuit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It
The beacon of development often conjures up images of radical innovations, disruptive models, and leapfrog technologies. And yet, as nations attempt to embrace the promises of development, there is often a disconnect between imagination and execution in providing for even the most basic of human needs. Measurable social change, ensuring a degree
Conventionally, economists use gross domestic product (GDP) to estimate the sustainability of the economy and the quality of societal welfare. However, this approach is not only incorrect and logically flawed, but also in gross neglect of nature’s contribution to the society.
GDP measures the performance and level of economic activities though the market value of goods
New research from the University of Waterloo shows that Canadian small businesses are important- and often overlooked- drivers of sustainability and the green economy.
The Waterloo study, led by researcher Sarah Burch, discovered that eight out of 10 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) surveyed are already implementing sustainable business practices. SMEs make up 98.2 per cent
The concept of social enterprises – businesses and organizations that focus both on making a profit and a positive impact on people – isn’t new.
A well-known example is Goodwill Industries International, which pioneered offering “a hand up, not a handout” in 1902.
What’s new is the explosive growth of such operations, especially in central Ohio.
When SocialVentures,
Necessity may be the mother of invention, but new research examines what spawns the inventor.
To spur innovation, it helps to have the right environment. And according to a comprehensive analysis by SIEPR Senior Fellow Raj Chetty and his colleagues, key factors that determine who becomes an inventor are coming up short for
In a potato field near the Netherlands’ border with Belgium, Dutch farmer Jacob van den Borne is seated in the cabin of an immense harvester before an instrument panel worthy of the starship Enterprise.
From his perch 10 feet above the ground, he’s monitoring two drones—a driverless tractor roaming the
An analysis of flood claims in several southeast Houston suburbs from 1999 to 2009 found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 100-year flood plain maps — the tool that U.S. officials use to determine both flood risk and insurance premiums — failed to capture 75 percent of flood damages from five serious floods, none of
Women entrepreneurs in developing countries are creating jobs, advancing gender equality, and helping build economies that work for everyone. Despite the vital role they play, women entrepreneurs often face major obstacles to financing and growing their businesses. These obstacles include limited options for loans and capital, financial services not tailored to their specific needs, and
The world of work is changing pretty rapidly, but one thing has been pretty consistent over the past few years: Workers are feeling optimistic about their prospects. The U.S. economy keeps adding jobs at a healthy clip and unemployment remains at pre-Recession lows, making this a jobseekers’ market.
Here’s a look at the current state of the American workplace:
According to
The obsession with measuring it is paralysing aid workers, there is no way to fully understand the impact of development.
I would wager that, at any given moment, the majority of aid workers in the world are doing the exact same thing. We like to imagine aid workers out in the field, but that’s not the
Microfinance was long been seen as the silver bullet for poverty alleviation. Over the years, we have learned that it has limitations, but it’s still one of the most powerful tools for financial inclusion. Now, financial technology, or fintech, promises us another revolution, one that could potentially reach millions more through nano-savings and credit delivered
“Chickens versus cash” might be the “best investment” for a very narrow question, but I argue it probably isn’t in the top 100 value for money research questions in development economics.
In a recent article in Vox discussing Bill Gates’ commitment to chickens as a high impact poverty intervention Chris Blattman made the following statement
