Development Research Branch (DRB)

Pingfan Hong, the Director of DPAD, was invited by the Chinese Government to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, 14-15 May 2017, Beijing, China. The Belt and Road Forum is closely related to the work of DPAD in research and ongoing capacity development projects.

Trade, investment and technology decisions at firm level interact with each other and affects aggregate productivity growth. This also illustrates the self-propagating forces of the current situation of the world economy.

A review of recent trends suggests the need for a renewed commitment and enhanced efforts by the international community to support financing for sustainable development. It also points out at potential risks of debt sustainability for a few developed and some emerging economies.

The 2030 Agenda has set the of goal universal access to electricity by 2030. The challenge is significant. It involves reaching population with limited incomes, often living in sparsely populated areas, mostly in developing and least developed countries. Costs can tally. Taking into account local characteristics, this model finds the combination of technologies that can provide universal access to the population of every country at the lowest cost.

Professor Willi Semmler of The New School and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of the Macroeconomics of Global Warming was the keynote speaker at the Development Policy Seminar on “A Macroeconomic Framework for Climate Investment with Implications for Structural Change and Employment” held today in New York.

Summary: Developed countries’ economic performance since the global financial crisis has been disappointing, with subdued growth, weak labour markets, low levels of investment and poor productivity growth. This combination of poor performance and const ...

Summary: As indicated in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, sustained economic growth will continue to be an important objective in developing countries, especially in those where extreme poverty is widespread and income per capita remains lo ...

The global economy remains trapped in prolonged episode of slow growth, of which weak international trade is both a cause and a symptom. While developing countries have become more integrated and benefitted from international trade in recent years, this has also made them more vulnerable to a slowdown in global trade. Ensuring an enabling global environment for trade is thus critical for progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, in particular given the risks associated with protectionism and inward-looking policies, which is on the rise in many countries.

Nazrul Islam, Hiroshi Kawamura and Marcelo LaFleur, Economic Affairs Officers from the Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Unit of DPAD, presented the World Economic and Social Survey 2016 at the Climate Change and Global Justice event at The New School in New York.