Showing 1 - 10 of 43
Rethinking global health finance
Oped, Walter O Ochieng & Tom Achoki, Published on 06/02/2026
» For the past half-century, the economics of global health were straightforward. Under the so-called "grant-based" approach, rich countries donate to poor countries, which use the funds to meet their populations' health needs. Success was measured by services provided or lives saved, rather than by balance sheets. While this model was far from perfect, the latest approach replacing it -- focused on using tools like guarantees and blended finance to crowd in private capital -- threatens to produce even worse outcomes.
Going beyond multilateralism
Javier Solana & Angel Saz-Carranza, Published on 19/12/2025
» The world is on the cusp of a profound geopolitical restructuring, as escalating great-power rivalries erode the multilateral structures that have supported the global order since the mid-20th century.
Moving toward a world of greener steel making
News, Gernot Wagner & Roland Kupers, Published on 27/09/2025
» Burning coal to generate power is so uneconomical that the Trump administration has resorted to issuing stay-open orders to prop up the dying industry. However, there is one area where coal is still king: in the production of primary iron to make steel.
Commodities nearing super cycle
News, Taosha Wang, Published on 22/09/2025
» Commodities have had a rough decade, but a confluence of structural factors suggests that after years of underinvestment, the stage may be set for the next super cycle.
Charting Thailand's refugee path
Oped, Tammi Sharpe, Published on 15/08/2025
» In the mid-1970s, conflict and upheaval across this region forced millions of people from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to flee their homes in fear. Amidst this chaos, Thailand became a sanctuary for these refugees, offering safety and hope to those displaced.
Remembering a journo like no other
Oped, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 04/04/2025
» Gwen Robinson was a quintessential journalist who probed for the best scoop and pried for the juiciest gossip, an old-style old hand the likes of which we are unlikely to see again. In the new contentious era of geopolitical conflict and geoeconomic tension underpinned by American economic nationalism, Robinson's journalist craft over more than four decades explaining and linking Asia and the West will be sorely missed.
The effects of Trump's Ukraine deal
News, Gene Frieda, Published on 24/02/2025
» At the end of World War I, John Maynard Keynes was part of the British delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, where the victorious Allies dictated the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers. He emerged from the conference distraught. As he subsequently wrote in The Economic Consequences of the Peace, delegates' focus on short-term political considerations, including the desire to "punish" Germany for its aggression, would come at the cost of long-term social and political stability in Europe. It is a warning worth remembering today.
Fintech and universal inclusion
Oped, Carl Manlan & Adanna Chukwuma, Published on 14/01/2025
» The world has made remarkable progress in advancing financial inclusion in recent years. In the decade beginning in 2011, the share of adults with access to financial services rose a whopping 50%, to more than three-quarters. But we still have a long way to go in creating a truly inclusive financial system. Beyond expanding access to financial products and services, we must ensure that these products and services work for all people, including the 1.2 billion people worldwide with disabilities.
Forget American exceptionalism, it's a tri polar world
News, Jay Pelosky, Published on 11/01/2025
» In 2024, the watchword in financial markets was "American exceptionalism", as the US economy and markets left the rest of the world in the dust. But as the calendar turns, it may now be time to remove these geographic blinders to consider the larger regional competition likely to reshape the global economy in the coming years. We may be in the midst of a long-term global growth cycle driven by intensifying competition in the critical areas of artificial intelligence, green technology, and security between the world's three dominant regions: the Americas, Asia and Europe. (It's what I refer to as the Tri Polar World.)
Is the 'middle-income trap' real?
Oped, Keun Lee, Published on 31/12/2024
» The term "middle-income trap" refers to the tendency of fast-growing developing economies to lose momentum well before they achieve high-income status. First introduced by World Bank economist Indermit Gill and the Brookings Institution's Homi Kharas in 2007, the concept has since become the subject of intense debate among economists.