Commentary

The skyrocketing cost of high-cost, innovative medicines is straining healthcare budgets worldwide. In 2021, global pharmaceutical spending hit $1.4 trillion, with oncology drugs alone accounting for over $185 billion—a staggering 70 percent increase since 2016. For low- and middle-income countries ...

It has been almost two and half years since the IMF launched the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. While the RSF saw a strong initial uptake, demand peaked in 2023 and has since tapered off. Two key features of RSF eligibility and program design are inhibiting its uptake by countries.

The US Administration has presented a weak case for its argument that US foreign assistance was so riddled with abuse and fraud that the only answer was to shut down USAID and reboot. The lists of terrible projects and “appalling waste” don’t show any evidence of fraud or abuse, and I’d argue most o...

Last week we presented some estimates of the extent and distribution of cuts to USAID assistance. Since then, a list of active USAID projects has also been leaked. We recalculate our estimates of active and cancelled USAID grants from this data.

In a city increasingly disenchanted with international market-based competition, one block on H Street in Washington DC remains committed to the cause. The World Bank’s procurement rules, which apply to its investment project financing, still mandate international competitive bidding for nearly all ...

The Trump Administration has signaled that it would like to shut down USAID and absorb its programs into the State Department. That proposal should involve Congress directly, as USAID is an independent agency established under legislation. And lawmakers might want to consult the international record...

We present some estimates for lives saved by US assistance worldwide, with illustrative estimates by recipient country. Our core estimates are for deaths prevented from HIV/AIDS, vaccine-preventable illnesses covered by Gavi, tuberculosis, malaria, and emergency/humanitarian relief. We suggest the n...