Our sobering analysis shows the world looks set to miss the UN’s flagship development goals for 2030 by a wide margin. That means millions of lives blighted unnecessarily by sickness, poverty, and death unless we see radical policy changes, say Arief Anshory Yusuf, Zuzy Anna, Ahmad Komarulzaman and Andy Sumner.
After half a century of misguided policies, here’s how the World Bank and IMF can work for the poor…
It’s time both the World Bank and IMF abandoned the short-term fixes and austerity that have repeatedly failed people in developing countries, says Anthony Kamande. With their joint annual meetings back on African soil for the first time in five decades, he sets out six ways both institutions can make real and lasting change: from debt restructuring to encouraging social spending and taxes on the wealthiest.
A Flawed GDP Bypasses Women’s Unpaid Care Work
Nearly 90 billion hours of unpaid care work, without which economic growth would come to a halt, do not count as part of that growth. Professor Naila Kabeer explains why this makes the GDP a flawed metric. Last week the IMF offered a cautious estimate of positive global economic growth for this year, warning ‘we are on track, but not …
The Gross Domestic Problem: What Would A New Economic Measure That Values Women and Climate Look Like?
The fixation with measuring progress by Gross Domestic Product leads straight to gender injustice, austerity and environmental ruin. Anam Parvez Butt and Alex Bush introduce a new Oxfam discussion paper that aims to encourage debate about alternative metrics, and calls on advocates to join the “Beyond GDP” movement Illustration by Alex Bush Since its official adoption at the Bretton Woods …
What is the Palma ratio? And how can it turbo-charge efforts to cut inequality?
The UN’s current inequality measure doesn’t adequately describe the gulf between the rich and the rest. As global efforts to reduce inequality falter, Anthony Kamande sets out the case for international organisations and governments to adopt and target alternative metrics.
Five things we need for a feminist economic future
Why is debt a feminist issue? And why is it time to advance alternatives to GDP? Rachel Noble reports back from an inspiring gathering of the International Association for Feminist Economics in Cape Town.
We need to talk about inequality in West Africa
As the African Union and regional economic communities gather to discuss their economies, the gulf between the rich and the rest in West Africa needs to be top of the agenda, says Mohamadou Fadel Diop – and that conversation must give serious attention to inequality-busting policies such as reversing austerity and debt cancellation.
Too often last in the queue for food assistance, Lebanon’s LGBTQIA+ people struggle with surging hunger
Support that prioritises heteronormative families is leaving the nation’s LGBTQIA+ people paying a devastating price amid successive crises and rocketing inflation, says Tarek Al Ali.
Which governments really care about inequality? Not many, our new global index suggests
As Oxfam launches its latest index that rates countries’ commitment to reducing inequality, Anthony Kamande reflects on how poor policy choices impacted his own family in Kenya, points out how ordinary people have lost out amid the pandemic and inflation, and highlights a few governments showing the way forward
Gambling on development: why I’m (mostly) convinced by Stefan Dercon’s big idea
Duncan Green reviews a provocative new book, which argues that countries’ economic progress depends on a ‘bargain’ struck by the elite to push for growth and development