The Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN) is a set of institutions and mechanisms that provide insurance against crises and financing to mitigate their impacts. It has four main elements: countries’ own international reserves; bilateral swap arrangements whereby central banks exchange currencies to provide liquidity to banking systems; regional financial arrangements (RFAs) by which countries pool […]
The current trade war and tensions with the US pose many challenges for Mexico, but at the same time they provide both an impetus and a strategic opportunity to make progress on the longstanding and interwoven problems of low wages, poverty and slow economic growth. The impetus comes from the clear need to reduce the […]
By Laurissa Mühlich, Marina Zucker-Marques and Barbara Fritz In an era of mounting debt pressures, climate shocks and volatile international trade policies, timely and reliable financial resources are critical to stabilize economies without sacrificing essential public spending and development goals. To address this, crisis financing is provided through the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN)—a network that includes […]
By Rachel Thrasher, Deborah Gleeson, Brook K. Baker, Veronika Wirtz, Warren A. Kaplan, and Brigitte Tenni Global and regional crises call for rapid, flexible solutions, especially when it comes to access to lifesaving medicines in a health emergency. On December 30, 2025, the European Parliament published a revised regulation on compulsory licensing for crisis management. […]
By Tim Hirschel-Burns For the first time in nearly 10 years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have a chance to revise a key framework that will shape whether low-income countries are set up for a decade of growth or a decade of lost opportunity. The IMF and World Bank’s review of their […]
Carbon pricing is widely regarded as the most efficient instrument for climate mitigation, and the carbon prices of individual countries are often used as the primary indicator of climate policy strength. However, in practice, both advanced and developing countries implement a combination of carbon pricing and non-pricing measures to reduce carbon emissions. Many countries, especially […]
By Tim Hirschel-Burns This blog is part of a blog series on past large-scale international investment programs and the lessons they provide for the investment push needed for development and climate action today. You can read the introduction to the blog series here. The Marshall Plan has become the definitive reference point for ambitious international […]
By Faiz Nawab When the Republic of Cabo Verde’s Fifth Prime Minister José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva visited Boston University on September 29th for a public conversation organized by the BU Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center), the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and the African Studies Center, students, faculty and […]
By Daniel Titelman As temperatures in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) heat up, economies in the region are cooling down. In August 2025, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released a new edition of its Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2025, finding that LAC faces […]
By Tim Hirschel-Burns Political winds may have shifted in some major powers, but reality has not: a global investment push is needed. Only 18 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are on track, setting the world on a course for low growth, instability and the mass waste of human potential. Last year was the […]