By Rachel Thrasher The growth of Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical sector into an economic powerhouse has helped the country meet the necessary criteria for graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status. But upon graduation, the country will need to begin bringing its policy landscape into compliance with the trade and intellectual property rules at the World Trade […]
By Jake Werner In both Beijing and Washington, the recent history of mutual gain in the US–China relationship is increasingly seen as an exercise in self-deceit. Where shared benefits were once recognized, elites on both sides now perceive the national interests and even the national character of the other to be incompatible with their own. […]
Macroeconomic policy has long been dominated by the use of the dynamic, stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) and computable general equilibrium (CGE) models, used for predicting economic outcomes. Despite this popularity, a systematic and realistic assessment of DSGE and CGE models was missing, until economist Servaas Storm recently analyzed the shortcomings of the models and their […]
By Jeronim Capaldo Is the US economy running too hot, such that more spending is bound to drive up inflation with no benefit for growth and employment? Many experts think so. Would more trade be beneficial for economic growth and employment? On this, too, many agree. In answering these and other macroeconomic questions, multiple sources […]
By Rachel Thrasher In 2018, Bangladesh met the necessary criteria for graduation from Least Developed Country (LDC) status and is now slated to graduate by 2026. Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical industry has played a critical role in this possible graduation. Exploring this connection, a new working paper from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center demonstrates the […]
Bangladesh is one of the few Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that has been able to gain a foothold in the global medicines market, which is characterized by significantly high entry barriers compared to other traded goods. Policies implemented by the Bangladesh government have strengthened its pharmaceutical sector, but to what extent would Bangladesh have been […]
By Katie Gallogly-Swan and Rachel Thrasher Severe vaccine inequality continues to undermine efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic, but a focus only on distribution eludes a deeper problem: the world is simply not making enough vaccines. A new policy brief from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center argues meeting the global vaccination challenge will […]
Do central banks rebalance their currency shares? The answer matters, as the dollar’s predominant role in large official reserve holdings means widespread rebalancing requires central banks to buy (sell) a depreciating (appreciating) dollar, stabilizing its value against other major currencies. In a new National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, Menzie D. Chinn, Hiro Ito and Robert N. […]
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and growing climate crisis, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there is an unresolved tension between the network of rules that make up the global trading system, and the individual members of that system. The new book by Rachel Thrasher, Constraining Development: the Shrinking Policy Space in the […]
By Rachel Thrasher There is an unresolved tension between the network of rules that make up the global trading system, and the needs of the system’s individual countries. Indeed, troubling trends in treaty-making and international jurisprudence suggest global rules increasingly present obstacles to national governments pursuing development and economic expansion aims. Consisting of one multilateral […]