Ideas to Action:
Independent research for global prosperity
We develop screens and principles designed to maximise the impact of aid, especially in richer recipients. All else equal, a dollar spent in the poorest countries will have a larger impact on well-being than a dollar spent in richer countries, so ODA should be concentrated in those countries.
Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) tend to look at their development impact using project-level indicators of outputs and employment impacts.
This paper analyzes the role of political variables in the implementation of structural tax reforms in 45 emerging market and low-income economies during 2000-2015.
Spending needs for financing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in developing countries are large and cannot be covered by external flows alone. This has made it imperative for these countries to raise more resources domestically over time—an urgency accentuated by the fiscal impact of COVID-19, possibly with a long-lasting impact on revenue-generating capacity.
This paper reviews data on private development finance flows in poor countries, identifies the lessons and questions that should shape future efforts to mobilize more finance, and develops proposals to strengthen performance.
Even before the coronavirus crisis, since 2011 debt payments have grown rapidly for lower income countries. In this paper we analyse debt payments for 63 countries with figures available from the IMF and World Bank.
Here are five questions that the G20 IFA Working Group might want to answer if it is to harness the energy of the enthusiasts and quell the skepticism of the cynics.
In a recent CGD note, “Empathy and Client Relationships in Development Finance,” we emphasised the importance of development finance institutions (DFIs) investing in face-to-face contact and dialogue with their clients to build the empathetic relationships needed to deliver development outcomes. But, in the era of COVID-19, did we overstate our case?
The world is in the throes of a health, economic, and social crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Slower global growth has significantly worsened the economic prospects for all countries, including the poorest ones. Low-income countries (LICs) are also finding it more difficult to service their external debt as well as to access private capital—concessional and non-concessional
This paper investigates the extent to which institutional and political factors explain statutory tax rates in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In particular, it examines the effect of regulatory quality, political accountability, political fragmentation, the electoral cycle, and ideological orientation on corporate income tax (CIT) rates as well as top marginal personal income tax (PIT) rates during 1990-2017
This note explores what happens to the value of ODA loans if more realistic discount rates are chosen. In short, the value of ODA loans falls by over a half.
Development finance is multifaceted, but empathy is a rarely discussed characteristic of the relationship between providers and clients. Sir Suma Chakrabarti and Hannah Brown argue this should be more of a consideration for DFIs.
We construct a fiscal policy dashboard to provide a snapshot of the fiscal system of a country, focusing on macro-sustainability, revenue mobilization, spending composition, and redistributive effects.
The purpose of this report is twofold: to identify and discuss a set of challenges, and to develop key recommendations. The overarching goal is to provide support to policymakers in the region who may face difficult decisions to ensure that banks play a constructive role and support families and firms through and beyond the current crisis.
China is characterized by high prefiscal overall, urban-rural and regional inequality. Applying standard fiscal incidence analysis, we estimate the redistributive effect of taxes and social spending on income distribution and poverty.
By surveying DFIs, we aim to start building a baseline of their gender policies and practices, analyze the data, and make recommendations where stronger policies and practices are needed. The survey’s findings give DFIs an important opportunity to learn from one another and work towards standards for how they can best promote gender equity.
Climate investments in the emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) have so far fallen well short of what is required to meet targets set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. National commitments ahead of the 2021 UN climate summit will further underline the discrepancy.
Domestic revenue mobilization (DRM) is critical for developing countries to finance the spending necessary to enable sustainable development.
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