In the early part of the 20th century, women sought and gained many legal rights, including the right to vote as part of the 19th Amendment. Their entry into the workforce, into occupations previously reserved for men, and into the social and political life of the nation should be celebrated. The biggest remaining challenge is…

The recent economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unmatched by anything in recent memory. Social distancing has resulted in massive layoffs and furloughs in retail, hospitality, and entertainment, and millions of the affected workers—restaurant servers, cooks, housekeepers, retail clerks, and many others—were already at the bottom of the wage spectrum. The economic catastrophe of…

Joshua Meltzer, Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development program: Just when you thought that it couldn't get a whole lot worse, it keeps getting worse. In some way, that’s not particularly surprising. Unfortunately, with the failure to extend waivers to the EU, Canada, and Mexico, regarding new U.S. tariffs, Section 232 tariffs on…

When inflation targeting came to Canada, it was the government not the Bank of Canada that proposed it. Why? Three possible explanations come to mind. First, perhaps the government thought it was a fundamentally good idea. Second, the government was in the process of introducing a new goods and services tax, which would boost headline…

The growing unilateralism and weaponization of trade policy by President Trump have turned into the most grievous risk for a rules-based international system that ensures fairness, reciprocity and a level playing field for global trade. If this trend continues, trade policy will end up being decided by interest groups with enough access to influence and…

Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) has been an outspoken advocate of free trade and a critic of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which recently passed in the House of Representatives. In this episode of Dollar & Sense, he joins host David Dollar to explain why. Sen. Toomey explains where he believes reforms to NAFTA are needed…

As 2019 winds down, all eyes will soon turn to the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The cycle promises to dominate the news throughout next year, covering everything from the ongoing impeachment proceedings to health-care reform and more. While education traditionally may not be considered a top-tier issue in national elections, as Brookings’s Doug Harris has…

“Shhhhhh.” This is perhaps the sound most associated with libraries. Yet, libraries are also portals to the world outside that take us to faraway places and spur new ideas. Libraries offer community gathering spaces where neighbors without internet access can complete job applications and families can gather for story time. But as times have changed,…

High-quality early learning experiences—those filled with stimulating and supportive interactions between children and caregivers—can have long-lasting impacts for children, families, and society. Unfortunately, many families, particularly low-income families, struggle to find any affordable early childhood education (ECE) program, much less programs that offer engaging learning opportunities that are likely to foster long-term benefits. This post…

“Holistic development” is the watchword when setting educational goals for students. However, what this means in practice differs from country to country and culture to culture. The underlying sentiments, though, are similar: We all want to ensure that our young citizens are equipped to think critically and creatively, and to solve problems in an increasing…

As Wall Street takes a pounding from the COVID-19 pandemic, the stock we place in teachers is on the rise. If you didn’t appreciate the expertise, labor, and dedication that teachers patiently pour into our children most days of the week, then you probably do now. To help reduce the spread of the coronavirus, districts…

On March 16, television producer and author Shonda Rhimes tweeted “Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.” Six hundred thousand likes and 100,000 retweets later, it is safe to say her message resonated with the public.…

The year 2020 was always going to be critical for climate change. In the United States, a presidential election will likely present two candidates whose climate policies are diametrically at odds. Around the world, countries are required to submit updated plans to the United Nations in order to comply with the Paris Agreement in a…

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…

The year 2020 was always going to be critical for climate change, but the coronavirus pandemic dramatically altered the picture in some respects. Earlier this week, Brookings hosted a virtual event on COVID-19 and climate change, moderated by Samantha Gross, and featuring Brookings Senior Fellow Todd Stern, Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Stéphane Hallegatte of the World Bank, and Pablo Vieira of…

The Medicare Part D program allows plans to negotiate rebates directly with  manufacturers, often in exchange for preferential placement on the plan’s formulary. These rebates have grown from about 10 percent of Part D spending in 2007 to about 22 percent in 2017. While these rebates help keep Part D premiums low, they do so…

Auto-enrollment into health insurance coverage is an attractive policy that can drive the U.S. health care system towards universal coverage. It appears in coverage expansion proposals put forward by 2020 presidential candidates, advocates, and scholars. These approaches are motivated by the fact that at any given time half of the uninsured are eligible for existing…

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 million Americans were uninsured, but half of this population is eligible for insurance coverage through Medicaid or for financial assistance to buy coverage on the health insurance marketplace. Auto-enrollment is a method by which individuals are placed automatically into the health insurance coverage they are qualified for, and it has…

On March 16, television producer and author Shonda Rhimes tweeted “Been homeschooling a 6-year old and 8-year old for one hour and 11 minutes. Teachers deserve to make a billion dollars a year. Or a week.” Six hundred thousand likes and 100,000 retweets later, it is safe to say her message resonated with the public.…

While COVID-19 is invisible to the eye, one very visible sign of the epidemic is people wearing face masks in public. After weeks of conflicting government guidelines on wearing masks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that people wear nonsurgical cloth face coverings when entering public spaces such as supermarkets and public…

Jordan’s quick response to the COVID-19 outbreak has made many Jordanians, including myself, feel safe and proud. The prime minister and his cabinet’s response has been commended globally, as the epicenter in the country has been identified and contained. But at the same time, such accolades have been focused on the males, erasing the important…

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,…

As Ramadan begins, Pakistan has loosened social distancing restrictions on gatherings in mosques, allowing communal prayers to go forward during the holy month. David Rubenstein Fellow Madiha Afzal explains how Prime Minister Imran Khan's political compromise with the religious right and cash assistance programs for the poor help burnish his populist image, while leaving it…

When policymakers consider how to respond to a public health crisis, they tend to think in terms of quarantines, medical equipment supplies, and travel restrictions. Yet they too often miss a vital factor that countries like South Korea and Singapore recognized long ago—that public communications are just as crucial. Effective communication increases compliance with public…

On April 2, as Nigeria’s megacity Lagos and its capital Abuja locked down to control the spread of the coronavirus, the country’s military announced a massive operation — joining forces with neighboring Chad and Niger — against the terrorist group Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province. This spring offensive was…

The Brookings Doha Center (BDC) hosted a webinar discussion on April 29, 2020 about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on migrant workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Panelists explained migrant workers’ response to the virus, how the present situation will impact future labor conditions, and the difficulties of reporting on the ground. The…

This week in Class Notes: Both Senator Warren's wealth tax and a popular alternative – a Swiss-style tax on household wealth – would have miniscule effects on income inequality. The ACA Medicaid expansion substantially increased insurance coverage and improved access to health care among unemployed workers. An increased tendency for men and women to remain single may have contributed…

This week in Class Notes: Male students are significantly more likely than female students to ask for regrades in college. Higher minimum wages have large, positive effects on child health, with the greatest benefits between ages 1-5. The Social Security Annual Earnings Test reduces the employment rate of affected Americans by at least 1.2 percentage points. Our top chart shows…

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…

Africa’s extreme vulnerability to the disruption of international supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to reduce the continent’s dependence on non-African trading partners and unlock Africa’s business potential. While African countries are right to focus their energy on managing the immediate health crisis, they must not lose sight of finalizing the Africa…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Tucked in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act – the sweeping economic relief package signed into law on March 27, 2020 – are a pair of provisions addressing payment for COVID-19 testing. The first of these (Sec. 3201) clarifies a requirement enacted in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed a week…

Auto-enrollment into health insurance coverage is an attractive policy that can drive the U.S. health care system towards universal coverage. It appears in coverage expansion proposals put forward by 2020 presidential candidates, advocates, and scholars. These approaches are motivated by the fact that at any given time half of the uninsured are eligible for existing…