This working paper examines the extent to which fiscal consolidation is occuring in 2010-11 among 126 low and middle-income countries, and the potential risks for children and poor households at a time when economic recovery is fragile and uneven. Using fiscal projection data published by the...

It is often argued that social and economic investments that benefit children and poor households are not affordable or that government expenditure cuts are inevitable during adjustment periods. But there are alternatives, even in the poorest countries. This working paper offers an array of...

Ce document: (i) donne un aperçu de l'inégalité du revenu mondial, régional et national sur la base des dernières données de la Banque mondiale, l'UNU-WIDER et Eurostat, (ii) examine les conséquences négatives de l'inégalité croissante des revenus pour le développement, (iii) appelle...

This working paper: (i) describes recent labour market trends; (ii) analyzes how young people are experiencing a double employment crisis as a result of the demographic phenomenon known as the ‘youth bulge,’ which aggravates the already low demand for labour during the economic downturn;...

This working paper: (i) provides an overview of global, regional and national income inequalities based on the latest distribution data from the World Bank, UNU-WIDER and Eurostat; (ii) discusses the negative implications of rising income inequality for development; (iii) calls for placing...

In the wake of the food, fuel and financial shocks, a fourth wave of the global economic crisis began to sweep across developing countries in 2010: fiscal austerity. Serving as an update of earlier research by UNICEF, this working paper: (i) examines the latest IMF government spending...

Public service providers, especially frontline school teachers and health workers at local levels, are crucial to positive outcomes for children. Low pay is a key factor behind staff absenteeism, informal fees and brain drain. In past crises, pay levels for teachers and health workers have...

This study examines how austerity measures may have adversely affected children and women in a sample of 128 developing countries in 2012. It relies on International Monetary Fund (IMF) fiscal projections and IMF country reports to gauge how social assistance and other public spending decisions...

Is a dramatic slowdown in global economic growth going to erase much for the progress in the last decade in terms of human development in the developing world? How might the crisis affect progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals? To address these questions, this paper...

The 'miracle' of East Asia and economic growth was brought to a standstill when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997, unleashing a range of economic, political and social consequences across the region and exposing this transformation as fragile and unstable. This working paper examine the...