While developing countries have made some progress in human development since the turn of the century, many are still lagging behind in important goals such as education, health, nutrition and access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation. Moreover, gender equity remains a major...

James Heintz addresses the lack of attention that has been paid to gender in the policy frameworks, summits, and declarations of the G20. He finds that the G20 has not seriously considered the fact that sources of gender inequality interact with changes in the economic environment to produce...

Donors and governments in aid recipient countries are under pressure to demonstrate effectiveness of aid, especially due to increasing stress on fiscal balances in the context of the global financial and economic crisis. The evidence on aid effectiveness remains mixed at best: while individual...

The importance of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in combating poverty in our country by alleviating hunger was driven home anew during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the subsequent tepid economic recovery. The program is credited with preventing a dramatic increase in hunger...

As part of efforts to reduce urban emissions, major cities and states, including New York City, San Francisco, the District of Columbia, and California, are now requiring building owners and operators to measure and disclose building energy performance. Such policies are expected to expand...

Policies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions can yield substantial co-benefits via reduced emissions of co-pollutants such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and air toxics. Valuation studies suggest that these benefits may be comparable in magnitude to the value of reduced carbon emissions....

Garrett-Peltier estimates the employment impacts of a low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS) in the state of Minnesota. She develops three scenarios by which the demand for transportation fuels in the state could change by 2021, and further to 2035. Under each scenario, she estimates the number of jobs...

In recent years, some states have responded to the collapse in tax revenue following the Great Recession by turning to tax increases targeted at high-income households. The revenue from such taxes can help sustain public spending on vital public services. Jeffrey Thompson looks at decades of...

The City of New Haven is considering outsourcing its public school custodial services to a private firm. Outsourcing would cut the cost of services in half, saving the city $8.1 million, or 19% percent of the deficit. But in this analysis of the impacts of the cuts, Jeannette Wicks-Lim finds...

Evidence from surveys of migrating households, the existing economic literature, and new analysis using data from the Internal Revenue Service all suggest that taxes do not play any notable role in causing people to leave a state. The most important factors in influencing household migration are...