By Brook Baker and Rachel Thrasher COVID-19 exploded on a global stage dominated by an international legal and policy regime that instantiates closed science, intellectual property (IP) monopolies and privatized control over the testing, supply, price and distribution of life-saving health technologies. As a result, there were avoidable delays in biopharmaceutical preparedness, ill-adapted technologies that […]
COVID-19 has been met by an international legal and policy regime of closed science, intellectual property monopolies and privatized control over the testing, supply, price and distribution of life-saving health technologies. Despite the remarkable effectiveness of the currently available vaccines, almost one-third of the world remains unvaccinated, allowing the pandemic to continue in many low- […]
By Yaechan Lee The International Monetary Fund (IMF) continues to be the focal institution in the Global Financial Safety Net (GFSN), which refers to a set of institutions and mechanisms that provide insurance against crises and financing to mitigate their impact. Yet, the IMF’s stringent conditionalities that were often perceived to ignore country-specificities, and the […]
The rise of regional financial arrangements (RFAs) over the last two decades has significantly reshaped the Global Financial Security Net (GFSN), which was previously almost the sole purview of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). While the rise in regionally based financial resources has been widely noted, as have the challenges of coordinating IMF and RFA […]
By Christina Duran The Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center is proud to present the 2023 Summer in the Field Fellows. These nine Boston University students are currently pursuing graduate degrees in various disciplines across the University, including social work, linguistics, earth and environment, economics, biostatistics and political science. The GDP Center Summer in […]
There are more than 12 million foreign domestic workers in the world today; most of them are women. They represent 7.7 percent of all migrant workers and 17.2 percent of all female migrant workers. These women work in households where they clean, cook and provide childcare and eldercare. In some countries, a large share of […]
Women are the bedrock of the economy and of society in Liberia. As of 2016, women comprise 50 percent of the Liberian labor force, supplying 76 percent of labor for cash crop production and 93 percent of the labor for food crop production. About 80 percent of women own small enterprises, compared to 57 percent […]
By Emanne Khan Trade relations between China and the United States reached a major turning point in 1979 when the two countries signed a trade agreement that provided both with greater access to the other’s markets. Then-US Secretary of Commerce Juanita M. Kreps stated at the signing, “Today we take a major step together in […]
By Amanda Brown On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, the Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery (DRGR) Project hosted the webinar launch of its new report, “Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery: Guaranteeing Sustainable Development.” The DRGR Project is a collaboration between the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and […]
Gender inequality varies widely between and within countries, despite widespread technological and institutional changes favoring female empowerment. Persistent disparities between genders have prompted a growing number of cultural explanations. Some scholars emphasize deep-rooted historical norms around female work, marriage, familial structures and political behavior that offer novel insights into the modern landscape of gender inequality. […]