Policy Center for the New South

Le Sommet Union européenne (UE) - Union africaine (UA), qui s’est tenu à Bruxelles les 17 et 18 février 2022, entend marquer un tournant dans les relations entre les deux continents. L’agenda européen pour l’année 2022 met au centre de ses priorités les relations Europe - Afrique. Celles-ci sont aussi l'un des principaux axes défendus par la Présidence française du Conseil de l’Union européenne (PFUE) et le Président français Emmanuel Macron dans de son discours inaugur ...

Using education and elite configurations as the main variables of analysis, this Policy Paper aims to show how higher levels of popular sector incorporation during elite conflicts, namely in the process of formulating and implementing policies related to education reforms, can negatively affect the economic complexity of developing countries. To do so, it analyzes the experiences of Mauritius and Singapore and links foundational political economy theories, particularly developmental ...

Energy markets have experienced significant disruptions since the outbreak of COVID-19. In late 2021, soaring natural gas prices triggered a new crisis, leading to risks of energy supply shortages worldwide and propelling the issue of energy security to the forefront. Africa will not be spared the repercussions of this crisis, which could further increase energy inequality, which is in turn linked to other forms of inequality. Indeed, in a context of persistent inflation, the lack o ...

COVID-19 has ravaged nearly every country in the world, with the globalization of recent decades intensifying its spread. As of mid-2021, the world had spent $16.5 trillion—18% of global GDP—to fight the disease. And that amount does not even include the most important losses such as deaths, mental health effects, restrictions on human freedom, and other nonmonetary suffering. Nearly 90% of this spending was by developed economies, with the rest by emerging market and developing eco ...

We examine the effects of trade on youth labor force participation and unemployment rates by performing fixed-effects and Arellano-Bond GMM estimations on data from 89 developing and emerging economies from 1990 to 2018. The empirical results suggest that trade openness has U-shaped effects on youth labor force participation rates, with negative impacts at low-to-moderate levels of trade and positive but minor effects at relatively high levels of trade. Except for Latin America, the ...

According to the Oslo Manual, innovation can be defined as “the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisations or external relations” (OECD, 2005, p. 46). For today’s middle-income countries in Africa, innovation is essential to sustain growth and promote the transition to high-income status. This paper begins by providing a summary of theore ...

COVID-19 has caused serious damage throughout the entire world. As of mid-2021, the global fiscal cost of COVID-19—excluding the most important consequences, such as human lives, mental health effects, restrictions of human freedom, and other non-pecuniary components, have amounted to at least $16.5 trillion, about 18% of world GDP (Dinh 2021). Financial support has varied across countries depending on income level, political willingness, and the extent of the pandemic in each econo ...

The year began with simultaneous signs of a slowdown in global economic growth and a reorientation toward tightening of monetary policies in advanced economies. In its latest Global Economic Prospects released on January 11, the World Bank forecasts that, after a global growth surprisingly at 5.5% last year, it should moderate to somewhere around 4.1% and 3.2%. % in, respectively, 2022 and 2023. In addition to the effects of omicron at the start of the year, less fiscal support and ...

Why Green Finance Taxonomies? The increasing effort to mitigate climate change has caused more and more individuals, governments, and companies to shift away from traditional financial investments and activities, and towards more environmentally-friendly alternatives. However, until recently, there has been a lack of consensus on what green finance and its environmental impact is. Thus, green finance taxonomies are needed to provide classification systems that identify how environm ...