By Conrad Nunnenmacher (PhD fellow, UNU-MERIT), Franziska Gassmann (Professorial Fellow, UNU-MERIT) and Julieta Morais (researcher, UNU-MERIT) The economic fallout of COVID-19 left people around the world facing a significant threat to their livelihood. As governments scrambled to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on their populations, many decided to use direct payments to support vulnerable citizens. More than a sixth of the world’s population received some sort of cash transfer in 2020. These pr...
I am sitting at my desk at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a safety precaution for myself, of course, but also an act of solidarity. Solidarity with experts and solidarity with informed decision makers. Suddenly, finally, everyone is listening to scientists – i.e. virologists – as much as politicians. And suddenly everyone is taking drastic action: from governments to businesses to individuals around the globe. What changed? What is so different about this crisis, so different from a...
“The last lesson I learnt is that sustainability is not in the future but in the present. Personal experience taught me that most people want to be reassured that they are going to survive 2019.” Silvio Funtowicz, Philosopher of Science, University of Bergen During the first week of February, the University of Bergen in Norway hosted the 2nd National SDG Conference. Over two days, national and international speakers from academia, government, civil society, activism and the United Na...
Several new working papers on the relationship between institutions and long-term economic performance are now available. They represent the second phase of a research programme on ‘Institutions and Economic Growth’, executed in a partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD). The first 10 papers were published in 2012. The present set builds on our previous results, extending them in new directions. The new papers focus on issues including state capacities; the links between geography, i...