Amplifying Women’s Voices
Comment Articles
Give Women with Disabilities a Chance
March 20, 2024 – NKECHI S. OWOO
ACCRA – It is well known that women in developing economies have fewer educational and employment opportunities than their male counterparts, leading to higher rates of poverty…
How Wide Are Latin America’s Health Inequalities?
March 20, 2024 – DOLORES DE LA MATA
BUENOS AIRES – Health is much more than a personal matter; it is essential to a society’s well-being and productivity. But achieving equitable health outcomes for all remains a challenge…
Rethinking Inequality in Latin America
February 26, 2024 – ANA MARÍA IBÁÑEZ
WASHINGTON, DC – Nearly everyone agrees that the unequal distribution of income, wealth, and opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has hindered efforts to build cohesive …
Will Turkey Remain Committed to Economic Reform?
February 20, 2024 – SELVA DEMIRALP
STANBUL – Eight months after a surprise return to orthodox economic policies, Turkish officials are continuing to signal their commitment to reform. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey…
Are Social Norms Really the Main Cause of Low Female Employment?
January 23, 2024 – ASHWINI DESHPANDE
NEW DELHI – In China, the painful custom of binding young girls’ feet to alter their shape began in the tenth century and continued for a millennium, until it was outlawed in 1911…
Sri Lanka’s Debt Restructuring Is Hurting Older Women
January 23, 2024 – NISHA ARUNATILAKE
COLOMBO – The World Bank’s Women, Business, and the Law Index has documented a persistent gender pension gap in rich and poor countries alike…
Colombia Has an Alternative to the Drug War
December 15, 2023 – MARÍA ALEJANDRA VÉLEZ
BOGOTÁ – When Colombia’s first leftist government came to power in August 2022, many hoped that the country’s drug strategy would shift dramatically. President Gustavo …
How a Man’s World Systematically Neglects Women
December 15, 2023 – NAVIKA MEHTA
DEHRADUN – The existence of “women’s issues” reflects the simple fact that we live in a man’s world. Over the course of centuries, research and policies focused on men became the default, whereas initiatives that account for women are “women-centered.” …
The G7’s Anti-Coercion Campaign Against China Could Backfire
October 19, 2023 – LILI YAN ING
JAKARTA – On October 28-29, Japan will host the G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting in Osaka. The primary focus of the gathering will be improving supply-chain resilience and strengthening …
South Africa’s Gendered Electricity Crisis
October 12, 2023 – ODILE MACKETT
JOHANNESBURG – For the past 16 years, South Africa has grappled with an acute energy crisis characterized by rolling blackouts, some lasting as long as 15 hours a day. In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national “state of …
Affirmative Action Under Siege
October 12, 2023 – ASHWINI DESHPANDE
NEW DELHI – Should individuals receive differential treatment based on race, caste, gender, religion, or any other accident of birth? In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court answered this question…
Why India’s Women Are More Vulnerable to Disasters
September 28, 2023 – JOYITA ROY CHOWDHURY and PRARTHNA AGARWAL GOEL
PUNE/NEW DELHI – Of the many natural disasters that afflict India each year, floods are by far the most prevalent. This is no surprise, given that around 40 million hectares of land in the country are prone to flooding, and nearly 75% of the …
India’s Population Surpasses China, But Challenges Await in Workforce Expansion: A Deep Dive
August 03, 2023 – ASHWINI DESHPANDE, AKSHI CHAWLA
NEW DELHI–India is all set to overtake China and become the most populous country on …
Turkey’s Economic U-Turn?
July 17, 2023 – SELVA DEMIRALP
ISTANBUL – Despite facing his greatest electoral challenge in more than two decades in power, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won another five-year term in a run-off vote in May, while his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its …
Policy Briefs
The world’s largest humanitarian cash transfer programme reduces child labour and increases schooling among refugee children
March 26, 2024 – AYSUN HIZIROGLU AYGÜN
Forced displacement often forces children out of school and into employment at a young age. This disruption in their human capital formation leads to poverty in the long term…
Beyond rejection: Exploring gender differences in academic resilience
March 10, 2024 – PAULA PEREDA, MARIA DOLORES MONTOYA DIAZ, FABIANA ROCHA, AND RENATA NARITA
Underrepresentation of women in high-profile career positions has impacts on the labour market and public policies. This column documents gender inequalities in academia, based on panel data of paper submissions to the largest economics conference in Brazil…
Victim-blaming norms and violence against women: Moral considerations can induce policy and behaviour change
March 10, 2024 – SEVINÇ BERMEK AND ASLI UNAN
Violence against women entails great psychological, physical, and socioeconomic costs. Prevailing victim-blaming norms are…
How did child health respond to trade shocks in Brazil?
February 20, 2024 – DANYELLE BRANCO
One of the most striking trends over the last 40 years has been the dramatic decline in infant mortality across most of the developing world…
Education during commodity booms in low-income countries: Lessons from history
January 23, 2024 – IRINA ESPAÑA-ELJAIEK AND MARÍA JOSÉ FUENTES-VÁSQUEZ
The global economy is facing a boom in demand for minerals essential to the adoption of renewable energy technologies, including cobalt, lithium, copper, and coltan. However, despite the undeniable benefits of implementing …
Indian women are not dropping out of paid work voluntarily
January 8, 2024 – ASHWINI DESHPANDE
India has made massive developmental and economic gains since 1991, but one facet of its developmental path marks it out from its peers – a failure to increase female participation rates as the economy matures. This column examines the factors underlying the persistently low labour …
South Africa’s higher education funding conundrum: could the current funding system hamper social mobility and university performance?
January 8, 2024 – EMMA WHITELAW AND NICOLA BRANSON
By supporting social mobility, higher education can help economies become more socially inclusive…
Electrifying inequalities: how the global energy divide threatens sustainable development
November 23, 2023 – ROULA INGLESI-LOTZ
The vast differences in energy infrastructure between the Global North and South intensify disparities in wealth and well-being Policy discussions surrounding these differences tend to focus on improving access to energy, expanding national electricity grids, and tackling energy poverty…
Banning sex-selective abortion has unintended effects on the health and education of children in India
November 23, 2023 – ANISHA SHARMA
In response to alarming imbalances in its child sex ratio, in 1994 India passed an act prohibiting prenatal diagnostic methods for sex-determination and sex-selective abortions. This column explores the unintended impact on human capital attainment. It finds that the ban led to an…
The role of children in shaping gender gaps in Latin American labour markets
November 23, 2023 – MARIANA MARCHIONNI, INÉS BERNIELL, MARÍA EDO
Claudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize-winning work sheds light on gender disparities in the labour market, particularly the transformation of women’s roles. This column examines this phenomenon within the Latin American context, uncovering a substantial 35% reduction in women’s income after …
Lucky Women in Unlucky Cohorts: Gender differences in the Effects ofInitial Labor Market Conditions in Latin America
September 14, 2023 – INÉS BERNIELL, LEONARDO GASPARINI, MARIANA MARCHIONNI, MARIANA VIOLLAZ
Evidence for developed countries suggests that individuals entering the labour market during high unemployment periods, the “unlucky cohorts,” suffer due to lower wages and earnings in the long term…
Navika Mehta
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