Tag: Wang

Direct Impacts and Spatial Spillovers: The Impact of Chinese Infrastructure Projects on Economic Activities in sub-Saharan Africa

Amid a weak and uneven economic recovery in the Global South, regional development and infrastructure investment seem to be critical to sustainable development. In particular, infrastructure provision is seen as an “unmissable driver for development” in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. Aside from institutional reasons, physical infrastructure is critical in facilitating market integration and freeing […]

Around the Halls: A Year in Review and Look Ahead to 2024

The year 2023 is coming to a close as emerging market and developing economies continue to experience economic headwinds in the form of higher-for-longer interest rates, the ongoing ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine and accelerating climate change. In reflecting on the end of the year and the start of another, […]

Why Governments Must Protect and Invest in Green Natural Capital for a Sustainable Future

By Yan Wang and Yinyin Xu Three years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple extreme weather disasters have pushed millions of people to the brink of hunger and poverty. Progress in achieving the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been rolled back in many countries due to overlapping crises, or ‘polycrises’ […]

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 […]

Around the Halls: A Year in Review and Look Ahead to 2023

As 2022 comes to a close and the world confronts the “polycrisis,” researchers from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center highlight where progress has been made, where policy movement has stagnated and what to keep an eye on for 2023.  Below, read key takeaways on the green energy revolution, sovereign debt, Chinese loans to […]

Financing Infrastructure – New Normal, New Technologies, New Financing

Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine have exacerbated a large divergence in development due to the uneven recovery from the health crisis, looming stagflation and the global climate crisis. For emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs), outlook remains dampened by the lasting legacies of the pandemic, including the erosion of skills […]