COVID-19 & Developing Countries—the Road to Recovery

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 economies. As a result, developed countries are on their way to taming the pandemic. But at just $12.5 billion, or less than 0.0001% of the total, coronavirus-related spending by low-income countries amounts to virtually nothing....

Trade and Youth Labor Market Outcomes: Empirical Evidence and Policy Implications

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 results also indicate that openness to trade reduces female youth unemployment rates after a country has reached a significantly high level of trade (greater than 200%) as a share of its GDP ...

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 theoretical elements of the relationship between innovation and growth ...

Argentina Avoids Falling into Arrears with the IMF

On January 28, both Argentina’s government and the International Monetary Fund staff made announcements about an understanding on new support program. Meanwhile, in addition to the payment of an amortization due on January 28, another payment is also expected in the first week of February. Both payments relate to the previous package, approved in 2018 and substantially disbursed thereafter. Non-payment could sour relations at a critical moment for a new program to be approved by the IMF's board of executive directors in time for disbursements to cover larger obligations due in March ...

حديث الثلاثاء: الرئاسة الفرنسية لمجلس الاتحاد الأوروبي: أهدافها، تجلياتها، وتأثيرها على الشراكة المغربية الأوروبية

خصص مركز السياسات من أجل الجنوب الجديد حلقة برنامجه الأسبوعي "حديث الثلاثاء" لتقييم الرئاسة الفرنسية لمجلس الاتحاد الأوروبي: أهدافها، تجلياتها، وتأثيرها على الشراكة المغربية الأوروبية، مع حمزة مجاهد، باحث في العلاقات الدولية، مركز السياسات من أجل الجنوب الجديد.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism: Impact and outlook for developing countries

As part of the lengthy fight against climate change, the European Union has unveiled its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism proposal in 2020, among its "Fit for 55" package. What are the concerns of the EU's partner countries, in particular developing countries, about this mechanism? And how did they react to the announcement of this mechanism? ...