Author: Claire Paul

Authority and Discretion Over Troubled Sovereign Debt: Who Has Voice?

By Leslie Elliott Armijo and Prateek Sood Global concern over the recent acrimonious debate surrounding raising the United States’ debt ceiling – and the tenuous relief following a long awaited agreement –  illustrates the US dollar’s centrality in the national and world economies. While there would be an enormous cost to the reputation and leadership […]

Debunking the Myth that ISDS – and the ECT – are Important for a Low-carbon Future

By Rachel Thrasher The European Union (EU) Commission recently proposed that all EU member countries withdraw as a bloc from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an investment treaty with the specific goal of facilitating investment and protecting investors in the energy industry. The ECT has attracted increasing criticism for its misalignment with Europe’s energy and […]

Cooperating to Address Climate Change with Pricing and Non-Pricing Measures

The world needs more ambitious collective policy actions to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposes internationally coordinated carbon price floors – adjusted to levels of development – as ideal climate mitigation instruments. In reality, the implementation of explicit carbon pricing systems at required levels and scale have been limited. A new […]

The Effectiveness of Global Chemicals Treaties

Multiple global environmental agreements cover different steps in the life cycle of hazardous substances from their production to final disposal. Yet, chemicals, including many pesticides, continue to cause much harm to human health and the environment. One of the global chemicals treaties — the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous […]

China and Africa: A New Narrative on Debt Sustainability and Infrastructure Financing

In an environment characterized by rising interest rates and high uncertainty, avoiding a global recession is possible not by halting investment, but continuing to invest in public assets in the Global South. Public assets like railroads, bridges and other critical infrastructure are able not only to generate a positive yield, but also support sustainable structural […]

Women and Power in the Developing World

The prevailing view in political science and economics has been that women’s power in the Global North is greater than that in the Global South, where progress is viewed as slower and less impactful. Yet, across analytic levels, the developing world provides striking models of the assertion of women’s power, specifically the latest insight that […]

Reviving the International Financial Transactions Tax Agenda for the G20

As the need for substantive climate action and poverty alleviation becomes more urgent amid global crises, both developing and developed countries cannot fulfill the mechanisms designed to ease these issues. Meeting the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate action are necessary to ensure green transitions and lift communities out of poverty, but […]