Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
The slogan “build back better” has become widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to the extent it is used to promise a recovery that ensures less risk of a repeat, greater equality and more opportunity, that’s a wonderful thing. But the term comes with a history—and not a great one
On 17th March, the Dutch will make their way to the polls to elect a new government. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte remains largely popular at home for his management of the pandemic through an “intelligent lockdown” and seems to be heading towards a fourth term.
The UK government plans to reduce its aid budget from 0.7 percent of its gross national income (GNI) to 0.5 percent.Today we publish a note that provides an analytical overview of the proposed cuts and potential impacts.
In a paper and blog, Charles Kenny discusses the idea of the declining marginal utility of income and its potential use in allocation decisions.
In a paper and blog, the authors examine the distribution of aid among countries at different income levels and focus on the aid going to middle-income countries (MICs).
In new analysis, we explore the impact of political pressures and fragile accounting rules on aid budgets, and ask: What can be done to ensure ODA remains robust and relevant?
As development agencies transition from their immediate COVID-19 response towards a medium-term strategy, their leaders see a clear need to rethink some key aspects of their underlying business models. The Development Leaders Conference brought together heads of bilateral development agencies and senior management from selected multilateral institutions.
If further cuts are to come from the ODA budget, how should they be selected and managed? And is there a way to rescue those things of greatest value in the portfolio? In a new note, I argue that there is—and that such a process can improve the quality of ODA spending in perpetuity.
The world is facing a climate emergency, and additional financing is sorely needed to ensure that global temperatures do not rise by more than 1.5 degrees. But how much of the new finance pledged by donors is actually new?
A few months ago, the experts at the OECD who decide what’s in and what’s out when it comes to what counts as official development assistance (ODA) said spending on research towards a Covid vaccine was out. “It contributes to addressing a global challenge and not a disease disproportionately affecting people in developing countries,” they argued.
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