Amid warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that it is “now or never” to make the investments necessary to limit warming to 1.5°C and avoid catastrophic costs, policymakers are in Paris this week to discuss the international financial architecture and how to efficiently mobilize sufficient resources for a green transition. Multilateral development banks […]
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 […]
By Timon Forster On March 29, 2023, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, the Institute for Economic Development and the Department of Economics hosted its annual Paul Streeten Distinguished Lecture in Global Development Policy, which celebrates the legacy of BU Professor Paul Streeten as an eminent economist and interdisciplinary scholar of global development policy. […]
A debt crisis is emerging in the Global South at the precise moment when substantial investment is needed to meet shared climate and development goals. Yet, the G20 Common Framework has been unable to engage all creditor classes or link debt relief to climate and development. How can emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) find […]
Reform of the international financial system is in the air, with support from both developing countries, as well as the advanced economies that wrote the rules in the first place. Tasked by US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, the World Bank has begun advancing an ‘evolution roadmap’ that reconsiders the mission, operations and financing […]
By Timon Forster On February 15, 2023, the Boston University Global Development Policy Center hosted Jamie Martin to discuss his new book ‘The Meddlers: Sovereignty, Empire & the Birth of Global Economic Governance.’ The Meddlers charts the transformation of global economic governance from World War I to the birth of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) […]
By Devika Dutt and Kevin P. Gallagher The long-standing gridlock in trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) has shifted the focus of trade negotiations to bilateral and plurilateral trade and investment agreements. Since the inception of the WTO in 1995, over 2,000 regional and bilateral trade and investment treaties have been negotiated and […]
A controversial legal process known as investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) is making it difficult for governments to mobilize finance for ambitious climate action. When assets are protected by international investment treaties, like the Energy Charter Treaty, legal claims can be brought against countries by investors who feel they are negatively impacted by government policies. For […]
In 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved reforms to make short-term operations available to low-income countries and reform lending to higher-income countries. Many scholars have noted that the 2008 Global Financial Crisis appeared to loosen austerity measures in favor of more counter-cyclical approaches. However, it remains an open question whether the IMF followed through […]
In parallel to a chaotic 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, leaders of Group of 20 (G20) countries met in Bali, Indonesia from November 15-16 for the G20 Leaders’ Summit against a backdrop of worsening climate impacts, an ongoing energy crisis, Russia’s war in Ukraine and skyrocketing inflation. Expectations for the […]