9 Africa in the news: South Africa looks to open up; COVID-19 complicates food security, malaria response By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 25 Apr 2020 11:30:28 +0000 South Africa announces stimulus plan and a pathway for opening up As of this writing, the African continent has registered over 27,800 COVID-19 cases, with over 1,300 confirmed deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Countries around the continent continue to instate various forms of social distancing restrictions: For example, in… Full Article
9 From rescue to recovery, to transformation and growth: Building a better world after COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 18:40:08 +0000 Full Article
9 How to ensure Africa has the financial resources to address COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 09:31:32 +0000 As countries around the world fall into a recession due to the coronavirus, what effects will this economic downturn have on Africa? Brahima S. Coulibaly joins David Dollar to explain the economic strain from falling commodity prices, remittances, and tourism, and also the consequences of a recent G-20 decision to temporarily suspend debt service payments… Full Article
9 Eisenhower to Kennedy: Brookings and the 1960-61 Presidential Transition By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000 Nearly 50 years ago, the country weathered a historical presidential transition in turbulent times, as John F. Kennedy bested Richard Nixon in the race to replace Eisenhower. Brookings played a behind-the-scenes role to help ease the transition. “[Brookings] deserves a large share of the credit for history's smoothest transfer of power between opposing parties.” Theodore… Full Article
9 Johnson to Nixon: Brookings and the 1968-69 Presidential Transition By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: President Lyndon Johnson’s decision not to run for re-election in 1968 preceded one of the most wrenching campaigns in American history, encompassing the assassinations of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., and culminating in a bitter three-way campaign among Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace… Full Article
9 Ford to Carter: Brookings and the 1976-77 Presidential Transition By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Following the release of his book Organizing the Presidency in 1976, Stephen Hess got a call from his secretary that Governor Carter was on the phone. He responded, “What Governor Carter? I don’t know any Governor Carter.”It was of course the President-elect, Jimmy Carter, seeking advice across the political aisle. Hess, who first came to Brookings… Full Article
9 Reagan to Bush: Brookings and the 1988-89 Presidential Transition By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Even though the 1988 transition featured a handover from a two-term president (Ronald Reagan) to his own vice president (George H.W. Bush), experts at Brookings recognized that even an intra-party transition between political allies suffered from a lack of communication between outgoing presidential aides and their counterparts in the new administration.Lawrence Korb, who was at… Full Article
9 Europe's Crisis, Europe's Future By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 05 May 2014 00:00:00 -0400 Brookings Institution Press 2014 144pp. The eurozone crisis started in Greece in 2009–10, spread into Ireland and Portugal, and, from there, quickly spread to the larger economies of Spain and Italy. By the autumn of 2011, it threatened the entire global financial system. In Europe’s Crisis, Europe’s Future, an international group of economic analysts provides an insightful view of the crisis. How did mismanagement of a crisis in a marginal economy spark such a wildfire? After all, Greece is responsible for only 2% of the eurozone’s total GDP, yet the crisis in Athens threatened to grow into a worldwide contagion. Individual chapters describe: the onset, evolution, and ramifications of the euro crisis from the perspective of three countries especially hard hit—Greece, Italy, and Spain; the concerns, priorities, and impacts in continental leaders France and Germany; the effects and lessons in key policy contexts—national and international finance and social policies. A concluding chapter by Kemal Derviş discusses the possibility of a renewed vision for the European Union in the 2020s, one that would accommodate the needs of greater political integration in the eurozone within a larger European Union where some countries, such as the United Kingdom, will keep their national currencies. Contents Introduction: Kemal Derviş and Jacques Mistral (Brookings) Country Perspectives 1. Greece, by Theodore Pelagidis and Michael Mitsopoulos (Brookings) 2. Spain, by Angel Pascual-Ramsay (Brookings and ESADE Business School) 3. Italy, by Domenico Lombardi (Centre for International Governance Innovation) and Luigi Paganetto (University of Rome) 4. France, by Jacques Mistral 5. Germany, by Friedrich Heinemann (Center for European Economic Research) Cross-Cutting Issues 6. The Financial Sector, by Douglas Elliott (Brookings) 7. Social Policies, by Jacques Mistral Conclusion by Kemal Derviş ABOUT THE EDITORS Kemal Derviş Jacques Mistral Ordering Information: {9ABF977A-E4A6-41C8-B030-0FD655E07DBF}, 978-0-8157-2554-1, $28.00 Add to Cart Full Article
9 "È un momento delicato, ma passerà, hanno troppo bisogno uno dell'altro" By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -0400 Editor's Note: In an interview with La Repubblica's Rosalba Castelletti, Jonathan Laurence discussed the significance of the revelations that the United States has continued to spy on Germany, and what they mean for the future of the transatlantic relationship. "È un momento delicato, ma non penso che la Germania abbia interesse ad esagerare le tensioni con gli Stati Uniti". A sostenerlo è Jonathan Laurence, professore di Scienze politiche al Boston College ed esperto di Relazioni transatlantiche presso il think tank Brookings Institution di Washington. Professor Laurence, quest'episodio come inciderà sulle relazioni tra i due Paesi? "La situazione è tesa. Berlino stavolta non ha espresso solo la consueta indignazione, ma ha compiuto un atto formale con l'espulsione del capo dei servizi segreti, perché è la terza volta che il popolo tedesco apprende di essere spiato dagli americani. La prima volta è successo con il Datagate, la seconda con l'intercettazione del cellulare della cancelliera e ora con due spie tedesche al soldo degli americani". In cosa differisce quest'ultimo caso dai precedenti? "Non si tratta di programmi d'alta tecnologia, ma di spionaggio più "vecchia maniera": documenti in cambio di soldi. Stavolta poi non c'è in ballo un problema di sicurezza internazionale. È un nuovo colpo per la reputazione Usa perché ancora una volta si dimostra indifferente alla sensibilità europea riguardo alla raccolta di dati". E i tedeschi sono forse i più sensibili, visto che hanno sperimentato lo spionaggio della Gestapo e della Stasi... "Di fatti. L'attuale cancelliera ha fatto il suo debutto in politica proprio dopo il crollo della Stasi. Ecco perché dobbiamo aspettarci che la Germania dichiari a gran voce la sua collera". Cosa può fare l'amministrazione Usa per riparare? "Qualcosa di più che cercare infruttuosi colloqui bilaterali o accordi di non spionaggio reciproco. La Germania non è ingenua, sa che i servizi americani hanno bisogno di operare soprattutto dopo il 2001, ma vuole che si lavori insieme. Non credo però che cerchi il conflitto. Berlino e Washington hanno bisogno l'una dell'altra sia sulle sanzioni contro la Russia in merito alla crisi Ucraina sia sull'accordo di libero scambio". Authors Jonathan LaurenceRosalba Castelletti Publication: La Repubblica Image Source: © Axel Schmidt / Reuters Full Article
9 Benghazi's sliding doors By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 21 Oct 2015 09:50:00 -0400 Editor’s Note: The following is a transcript of the House of Representatives’ Special Select Committee hearing on the Benghazi scandal, taking place in a parallel universe not very far away. It is satire, obviously, but perhaps only because of an almost random quirk of fate. Representative Trey Gowdy: I would like to call this hearing to order. We are gathered today to get to the bottom of the horrific events of March 18 to 25, 2011, when over 100,000 inhabitants of Benghazi were cruelly killed in the worst act of genocide since Rwanda. Libya has since descended into a catastrophic civil war on a par with Syria, and yet Colonel Gadhafi is still in power. Worse, the situation has exacerbated extremism and threatens to spur Islamic terrorism throughout the region. The recent intervention of Russian forces in the Libyan civil war ensures that any chance the United States had of ending Gadhafi’s cruel tyranny has been missed. This was the greatest moral and strategic failure of U.S. foreign policy in 20 years. And yet there has been little or no accountability. Former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was even promoted to Secretary of State, while former National Security Council staffer Samantha Power stepped down, apparently in quiet protest at the president and Secretary Hillary Clinton’s weak and morally vacuous policy. Ms. Power's new sequel "A Problem From Hell" has now been made into the Oscar-winning movie "Hotel Benghazi." This scandal, this moral failing is now seared into the conscience of our nation. This Special Select Committee was stood up 18 months ago and has been working diligently since that day to build on the work of multiple other congressional inquiries to get at the truth of this national shame. We know that the Obama administration had intelligence about the risk of genocide in Benghazi but it decided not to act. Indeed, the entire world knew. The questions we want answered are: What did the administration know about the approaching genocide? And when did it know it? We are joined by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Madam Secretary, we appreciate you taking time off from the campaign trail. I understand you have a short statement. Secretary Hillary Clinton: Thank you, Representative Gowdy. This is my fourth time appearing before the U.S. Congress on this issue; 37 members of my staff and family have appeared, and my dog is currently fighting a subpoena. So I will keep this brief. While we deeply regret the Benghazi genocide, we must remember that we had incomplete information about Colonel Gadhafi's intentions. We were faced with a difficult choice: Should we intervene to stop an uncertain atrocity, committing U.S. troops to an uncertain mission with no exit plan and no vital national interest? Or should we try to shape events without the use of U.S. forces, using the many other tools at our disposal? We decided that U.S. military intervention was not prudent. We were worried about a failed state and losing U.S. personnel on the ground. The administration instead sought to mobilize the international community to prevent any genocide and ultimately to bring Gadhafi and his henchmen to justice at the International Criminal Court. We continued throughout my tenure as secretary of state—and until this day—to work to bring the civil war to an end and to help the moderate Libyan opposition to overthrow the regime. We made some tough calls and we must acknowledge that we were not always right. Knowing what we know now, I wish that we had acted more forcefully. Indeed, I was personally in favor of a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. But hindsight is twenty-twenty and the president decided to stay out. Representative Gowdy: Madam Secretary, with all due respect, Gadhafi's intention was quite clear. Just days before the slaughter he said, and I quote: “All of these germs, rats and scumbags, they are not Libyans.” He told them "It's over…We are coming tonight…We will find you in your closets, ” adding: “We will show no mercy.” U.S. NGOs on the ground provided detailed information of troop movements. What more evidence did you need of imminent war crime? Why did you not act? Isn’t the role of the secretary of state to persuade the president? If something went wrong, I would be the first to say war is unpredictable and involves risk. I am confident the Congress would have fully supported you. Secretary Clinton: Congressman, with all due respect, Congress at the time steadfastly opposed our intervention. Had we acted and had the aftermath been messy—as we fully expected—I have no doubt that you would be calling me here to account for that, noting that our own assessments showed we had no capacity to bring stability to Libya. What if we had lost U.S. military personnel or diplomats? What if a U.S. overthrow of the Gadhafi regime merely led to more and different chaos and violence, as we saw in Iraq? Representative Gowdy: Madam Secretary, the greater shame is clearly inaction in the face of a moral imperative. I can assure you, and I feel confident I speak for all of my colleagues, that had you acted, we would have had your back, come what may. If something went wrong, I would be the first to say war is unpredictable and involves risk. I am confident the Congress would have fully supported you. Secretary Clinton: Thank you Congressman, but you will excuse me if I still have some doubts on that score. I guess we’ll never know. Authors Thomas Wright Full Article
9 20191205 Inter-American Dialogue Vanda Felbab-Brown By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 05 Dec 2019 21:13:54 +0000 Full Article
9 Mexican cartels are providing COVID-19 assistance. Why that’s not surprising. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:06:03 +0000 That Mexican criminal groups have been handing out assistance to local populations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through Mexico has generated much attention. Among the Mexican criminal groups that have jumped on the COVID-19 “humanitarian aid” bandwagon are the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Viagras, the Gulf Cartel, and… Full Article
9 AMLO’s feeble response to COVID-19 in Mexico By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 20:39:27 +0000 Like many other populist leaders around the world, including Donald Trump, Jair Bolsanaro in Brazil, and Imran Khan in Pakistan, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (commonly known as AMLO) has mostly taken a dangerously dismissive and outright irresponsible attitude toward the coronavirus. Late into March, he failed to adopt any necessary preparation for the… Full Article
9 Explained: Why America's deadly drones keep firing By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 21 May 2015 12:00:00 -0400 President Obama's announcement last month that earlier this year a “U.S. counterterrorism operation” had killed two hostages, including an American citizen, has become a fresh occasion for questioning the rationales for continuing attacks from unmanned aerial vehicles aimed at presumed, suspected, or even confirmed terrorists. This questioning is desirable, although not mainly for hostage-related reasons connected to this incident. Sometimes an incident has a sufficient element of controversy to stoke debate even though what most needs to be debated is not an issue specific to the incident itself. More fundamental issues about the entire drone program need more attention than they are getting. The plight of hostages held by terrorists has a long and sometimes tragic history, almost all of which has had nothing to do with drones. Hostage-taking has been an attractive terrorist tool for so long partly because of the inherent advantages that the hostage-holders always will have over counterterrorist forces. Those advantages include not only the ability to conceal the location of hostages—evidently a successful concealment in the case of the hostages mentioned in the president's announcement—but also the ability of terrorists to kill the hostages themselves and to do so quickly enough to make any rescue operation extraordinarily difficult. Even states highly skilled at such operations, most notably Israel, have for this reason suffered failed rescue attempts. It is not obvious what the net effect of operations with armed drones is likely to be on the fate of other current or future hostages. The incident in Pakistan demonstrates one of the direct negative possibilities. Possibly an offsetting consideration is that fearing aerial attack and being kept on the run may make, for some terrorists, the taking of hostages less attractive and the management of their custody more difficult. But a hostage known to be in the same location as a terrorist may have the attraction to the latter of serving as a human shield. The drone program overall has had both pluses and minuses, as anyone who is either a confirmed supporter or opponent of the program should admit. There is no question that a significant number of certified bad guys have been removed as a direct and immediate consequence of the attacks. But offsetting, and probably more than offsetting, that result are the anger and resentment from collateral casualties and damage and the stimulus to radicalization that the anger and resentment provide. There is a good chance that the aerial strikes have created more new terrorists bent on exacting revenge on the United States than the number of old terrorists the strikes have killed. This possibility is all the more disturbing in light of what appears to be a significant discrepancy between the official U.S. posture regarding collateral casualties and the picture that comes from nonofficial sources of reporting and expertise. The public is at a disadvantage in trying to judge this subject and to assess who is right and who is wrong, but what has been pointed out by respected specialists such as Micah Zenko is enough to raise serious doubt about official versions both of the efforts made to avoid casualties among innocents and of how many innocents have become victims of the strikes. The geographic areas in which the drone strikes are most feasible and most common are not necessarily the same places from which future terrorist attacks against the United States are most likely to originate. The core Al-Qaeda group, which has been the primary target and concern in northwest Pakistan, is but a shadow of its former self and not the threat it once was. Defenders of the drone strikes are entitled to claim that this development is in large part due to the strikes. But that leaves the question: why keep doing it now? The principal explanation, as recognized in the relevant government circles, for the drone program has been that it is the only way to reach terrorists who cannot be reached by other tools or methods. It has been seen as the only counterterrorist game that could be played in some places. That still leaves more fundamental questions about the motivations for playing the game. Policy-makers do not use a counterterrorist tool just because the tool is nifty—although that may be a contributing factor regarding the drones—but rather because they feel obligated to use every available tool to strike at terrorists as long as there are any terrorists against whom to strike. In the back of their minds is the thought of the next Big One, or maybe even a not so big terrorist attack on U.S. soil, occurring on their watch after not having done everything they could to prevent it, or doing what would later be seen in hindsight as having had the chance to prevent it. The principal driver of such thoughts is the American public's zero tolerance attitude toward terrorism, in which every terrorist attack is seen as a preventable tragedy that should have been prevented, without fully factoring in the costs and risks of prevention or of attempted prevention. Presidents and the people who work for them will continue to fire missiles from drones and to do some other risky, costly, or even counterproductive things in the cause of counterterrorism because of the prospect of getting politically pilloried for not being seen to make the maximum effort on behalf of that cause. This piece was originally published by The National Interest. Authors Paul R. Pillar Publication: The National Interest Image Source: © Handout . / Reuters Full Article
9 Michael O'Hanlon discusses the future of American warfare By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 09 Oct 2015 15:00:00 -0400 Also in this podcast: Russ Whitehurst discusses the cost of universal education for preschool, and David Wessel comments on the current state of the economy "To use some of the time honored clichés, 'The enemy may get a vote too.' Or the Bolshevik line, 'You may not have an interest in war, but war may have an interest in you' I paraphrase that to say we may not, at the moment, have an interest in counterinsurgency and stabilization missions, but they may have an interest in us… we can't be like the ostrich putting our head in the sand just because we're tired of these kinds of wars. They might come back, whether we like it or not." says Senior Fellow Michael O'Hanlon about his new book, "The Future of Land Warfare." After learning about the various scenarios that might necessitate land warfare, we'll hear Russ Whitehurst, senior fellow in Economic Studies and Editor of the Evidence Speaks project, discuss the cost of universal Pre-K. "The question is: what should the nation or states do to increase participation rates to a universal level?" Whitehurst asks in this project. "And what I've found by looking at the evidence is that actually people haven't provided very good evidence on how many children are presently served." Also, stay tuned to hear expert David Wessel update us on one of the nation's most alarming economic problems – wage stagnation. Show Notes: Read more about O'Hanlon's book, "The Future of Land Warfare" The future of the U.S. army Toward a "Reaganov" Russia: Russian Security Policy after Putin Obama the Carpenter: The President's National Security Legacy What role will evidence play in the 2016 election? Do we already have universal preschool? Why public school vouchers could have bi-partisan appeal Hutchins Roundup: wealth inequality, student borrowing, and more Subscribe to the Brookings Cafeteria on iTunes, listen on Stitcher, and send feedback email to BCP@Brookings.edu. Authors Michael E. O'HanlonFred DewsBill Finan Image Source: © Kim Hong-Ji / Reuters Full Article
9 How instability and high turnover on the Trump staff hindered the response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 18:04:06 +0000 On Jan. 14, 2017, the Obama White House hosted 30 incoming staff members of the Trump team for a role-playing scenario. A readout of the event said, “The exercise provided a high-level perspective on a series of challenges that the next administration may face and introduced the key authorities, policies, capabilities, and structures that are… Full Article
9 Charts of the Week: Housing affordability, COVID-19 effects By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 18:37:39 +0000 In Charts of the Week this week, housing affordability and some new COVID-19 related research. How to lower costs of apartment building to make them more affordable to build In the first piece in a series on how improved design and construction decisions can lower the cost of building multifamily housing, Hannah Hoyt and Jenny… Full Article
9 Putting women and girls’ safety first in Africa’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 15:12:51 +0000 Women and girls in Africa are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Although preliminary evidence from China, Italy, and New York shows that men are at higher risk of contraction and death from the disease—more than 58 percent of COVID-19 patients were men, and they had an… Full Article
9 Africa in the news: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, COVID-19, and AfCFTA updates By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 11:30:14 +0000 Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan political updates Ethiopia-Eritrea relations continue to thaw, as on Sunday, May 3, Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, and Presidential Advisor Yemane Ghebreab, visited Ethiopia, where they were received by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. During the two-day diplomatic visit, the leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and regional issues affecting both states,… Full Article
9 Africa in the news: COVID-19, Côte d’Ivoire, and Safaricom updates By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 02 May 2020 11:30:23 +0000 African governments take varying approaches to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 As of this writing, Africa has registered over 39,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,600 deaths, with most cases concentrated in the north of the continent as well as in South Africa. African countries have enacted various forms of lockdowns, external and internal border closures,… Full Article
9 Contemplating COVID-19’s impact on Africa’s economic outlook with Landry Signé and Iginio Gagliardone By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 23:05:26 +0000 Full Article
9 Who’s afraid of COVID-19? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 15:30:02 +0000 Humans are bad at assessing risk even in the best of times. During a pandemic—when the disease is unfamiliar, people are isolated and stressed, and the death toll is rising—our risk perception becomes even more distorted, with fear often overwhelming reason. This is a recipe for disastrous policy mistakes. To be sure, the danger posed… Full Article
9 Turning back the Poverty Clock: How will COVID-19 impact the world’s poorest people? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 16:43:10 +0000 The release of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook provides an initial country-by-country assessment of what might happen to the world economy in 2020 and 2021. Using the methods described in the World Poverty Clock, we ask what will happen to the number of poor people in the world—those living in households with less than $1.90… Full Article
9 Figures of the week: The costs of financing Africa’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 16:21:13 +0000 Last month’s edition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s biannual Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, which discusses economic developments and prospects for the region, pays special attention to the financial channels through which COVID-19 has—and will—impact the economic growth of the region. Notably, the authors of the report reduced their GDP growth estimates from… Full Article
9 Putting women and girls’ safety first in Africa’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 15:12:51 +0000 Women and girls in Africa are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Although preliminary evidence from China, Italy, and New York shows that men are at higher risk of contraction and death from the disease—more than 58 percent of COVID-19 patients were men, and they had an… Full Article
9 Africa in the news: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, COVID-19, and AfCFTA updates By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 11:30:14 +0000 Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan political updates Ethiopia-Eritrea relations continue to thaw, as on Sunday, May 3, Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, and Presidential Advisor Yemane Ghebreab, visited Ethiopia, where they were received by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. During the two-day diplomatic visit, the leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and regional issues affecting both states,… Full Article
9 Turkey and COVID-19: Don’t forget refugees By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 18:13:49 +0000 It has been more than a month since the first COVID-19 case was detected in Turkey. Since then, the number of cases has shot up significantly, placing Turkey among the top 10 countries worldwide in terms of cases. Government efforts have kept the number of deaths relatively low, and the health system so far appears… Full Article
9 Playful learning in everyday places during the COVID-19 crisis—and beyond By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 20:19:31 +0000 Under normal circumstances, children spend 80 percent of their waking time outside the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic has quite abruptly turned that 80 percent into 100 percent. Across the U.S., schools and child care centers have been mandated to close, and children of all ages are now home full time. This leaves many families, especially… Full Article
9 Figures of the week: Perceptions of COVID-19 in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 02 Apr 2020 17:59:43 +0000 On March 17, GeoPoll released the results of their survey deployed to determine perceptions and understanding of COVID-19 in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria. South Africa currently has the highest number of diagnosed cases of the virus of any African country, and, while the number of diagnosed cases is currently low in Nigeria and Kenya,… Full Article
9 Africa in the news: COVID-19, Côte d’Ivoire, and Safaricom updates By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 02 May 2020 11:30:23 +0000 African governments take varying approaches to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 As of this writing, Africa has registered over 39,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,600 deaths, with most cases concentrated in the north of the continent as well as in South Africa. African countries have enacted various forms of lockdowns, external and internal border closures,… Full Article
9 How school closures during COVID-19 further marginalize vulnerable children in Kenya By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 15:39:07 +0000 On March 15, 2020, the Kenyan government abruptly closed schools and colleges nationwide in response to COVID-19, disrupting nearly 17 million learners countrywide. The social and economic costs will not be borne evenly, however, with devastating consequences for marginalized learners. This is especially the case for girls in rural, marginalized communities like the Maasai, Samburu,… Full Article
9 How will COVID-19 change our schools in the long run? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 24 Apr 2020 14:59:18 +0000 In the midst of an unprecedented crisis, it can be hard to see more than a few days into the future. It’s as if we were wandering around in a dense (and deadly) fog. Some commentators are predicting that this will change the way we live; one even predicts that it will “change us as… Full Article
9 Avoiding the COVID-19 slump: Making up for lost school time By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 14:53:48 +0000 In 1996, Harris Cooper of Duke University and his colleagues first reported on the effects of what came to be known as summer slide, or summer slump. Over the summer months, when children are not in school, those from under-resourced communities tend to lose roughly 30 percent of the gains they made in math during… Full Article
9 During COVID-19, underperforming school districts have no excuse for standstill on student learning By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 17:14:22 +0000 During the COVID-19 pandemic, only 44% of school districts are both providing instruction online and monitoring students’ attendance and progress. Kids in these districts have a good chance of staying on grade-level during the coronavirus shutdown. Kids in the majority of districts, which are either providing no instruction or offering instruction but not tracking progress,… Full Article
9 Supporting students and promoting economic recovery in the time of COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 16:00:37 +0000 COVID-19 has upended, along with everything else, the balance sheets of the nation’s elementary and secondary schools. As soon as school buildings closed, districts faced new costs associated with distance learning, ranging from physically distributing instructional packets and up to three meals a day, to supplying instructional programming for television and distributing Chromebooks and internet… Full Article
9 COVID-19 is hitting the nation’s largest metros the hardest, making a “restart” of the economy more difficult By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 01 Apr 2020 19:16:34 +0000 The coronavirus pandemic has thrown America into a coast-to-coast lockdown, spurring ubiquitous economic impacts. Data on smartphone movement indicate that virtually all regions of the nation are practicing some degree of social distancing, resulting in less foot traffic and sales for businesses. Meanwhile, last week’s release of unemployment insurance claims confirms that every state is seeing a significant… Full Article
9 Businesses owned by women and minorities have grown. Will COVID-19 undo that? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 16:03:36 +0000 There are two small business crises in the United States. The first—the sudden shock to small businesses induced by COVID-19—is acute and immediate. Our recent analysis indicates that over 50% of small businesses with employees (an astounding 4 million establishments) face immediate or near-term risks due to the pandemic. The second crisis—the structural racial and… Full Article
9 Redesign required: Principles for reimagining federal rural policy in the COVID-19 era By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 17:03:29 +0000 The COVID-19 crisis is testing America’s resilience. The rapidly accelerating economic fallout makes concrete the risks for a national economy built on the success of just a few key economic centers. When the nation turns to the work of recovery, our goal must be to expand the number and breadth of healthy communities, jump-starting a… Full Article
9 COVID-19 | Rakesh Mohan on the Indian economy and battling the slowdown By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 10:54:28 +0000 Full Article
9 How the Sustainable Development Goals can help cities focus COVID-19 recovery on inclusion, equity, and sustainability By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:04:49 +0000 Prior to COVID-19, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were gaining traction among local governments and city leaders as a framework to focus local policy on ambitious targets around inclusion, equity, and sustainability. Several cities published reports of their local progress on the SDGs in Voluntary Local Reviews (VLR), echoing the official format used by countries… Full Article
9 Global solutions to global ‘bads’: 2 practical proposals to help developing countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 14:51:01 +0000 In a piece written for this blog four years ago—after the Ebola outbreaks but mostly focused on rising natural disasters—I argued that to deal with global public “bads” such as climate change, natural disasters, diseases, and financial crises, we needed global financing mechanisms. Today, the world faces not just another global public bad, but one… Full Article
9 Can public policy incentivize staying at home during COVID-19? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 12:30:59 +0000 More than a quarter of the world’s people are in quarantine or lockdown in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Tens of millions are required to stay at home, with many of them laid off or on unpaid leave. Given the highly contagious nature of the virus and the absence of a vaccination or cure, the… Full Article
9 Funding the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines: The need for global collective action By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:14:09 +0000 On February 20, the World Bank and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which funds development of epidemic vaccines, cohosted a global consultation on funding the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines. We wrote a working paper to guide the consultation, which we coauthored with World Bank and CEPI colleagues. The consultation led to… Full Article
9 Leveraging e-commerce in the fight against COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 15:04:42 +0000 E-commerce—defined broadly as the sale of goods and services online—is emerging as a key pillar in the global fight against COVID-19. Online grocery shopping and telemedicine, for instance, are helping to avoid in-person contact and reduce the risk of new infections. Video chats, movie streaming, and online education make physical distancing measures more bearable. In… Full Article
9 Hard times require good economics: The economic impact of COVID-19 in the Western Balkans By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 21:09:53 +0000 Like in other parts of the world, the Western Balkans are suffering a heavy blow as the novel coronavirus spreads. Governments are sending people home, and only a few businesses are allowed to operate. What began as a health shock has required a conscious—and necessary—temporary activity freeze to slow the spread of infection, leading to… Full Article
9 COVID-19 has revealed a flaw in public health systems. Here’s how to fix it. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 16:22:44 +0000 To be capable of surveilling, preventing, and managing disease outbreaks, public health systems require trustworthy, community-embedded public health workers who are empowered to undertake their tasks as professionals. The world has not invested in this cadre of health workers, despite the lessons from Ebola. In a new paper, my co-authors and I discuss why, and… Full Article
9 The unreal dichotomy in COVID-19 mortality between high-income and developing countries By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 16:23:05 +0000 Here’s a striking statistic: Low-income and lower-middle income countries (LICs and LMICs) account for almost half of the global population but they make up only 2 percent of the global death toll attributed to COVID-19. We think this difference is unreal. Views about the severity of the pandemic have evolved a lot since its outbreak… Full Article
9 Turning back the Poverty Clock: How will COVID-19 impact the world’s poorest people? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 16:43:10 +0000 The release of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook provides an initial country-by-country assessment of what might happen to the world economy in 2020 and 2021. Using the methods described in the World Poverty Clock, we ask what will happen to the number of poor people in the world—those living in households with less than $1.90… Full Article
9 How COVID-19 is changing law enforcement practices by police and by criminal groups By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 07 Apr 2020 13:00:16 +0000 The COVID-19 outbreak worldwide is affecting not just crime as I explained last week, but also law enforcement: How are police responding to COVID-19 and its knock-on effects on crime? What effects does the pandemic have on criminal groups and the policing they do? Where have all the coppers gone? Globally, police forces are predominantly… Full Article
9 Mexican cartels are providing COVID-19 assistance. Why that’s not surprising. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:06:03 +0000 That Mexican criminal groups have been handing out assistance to local populations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through Mexico has generated much attention. Among the Mexican criminal groups that have jumped on the COVID-19 “humanitarian aid” bandwagon are the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, Los Viagras, the Gulf Cartel, and… Full Article
