COVID-19 and development - effects and new realities for the Global South

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Monday 6 September 13:20-13:40 Hoa Ho How work has changed with COVID-19: Evidence from loan officers in India Timothy Köhler COVID-19 in the context of extreme unemployment and inequality: Estimating the effects of South Africa’s national lockdown...

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Industrialization Trends in the Developing World: New Evidence from the GGDC/UNU-WIDER Economic Transformation Database Presenters: Emmanuel Mensah & Hagen Kruse, Groningen Growth and Development Centre (GGDC), University of Groningen, the...

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The World Income Inequality Database (WIID) provides the most comprehensive set of income inequality statistics available and can be downloaded for free. The WIID can be used to better understand income inequality trends and how they interplay with...

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In this capacity development session you will recieve an introduction to UNU-WIDER's Government Revenue Database (GRD) and the 2021 update with an overview of its key variables as well as some examples of using the GRD in research. This will be a...

Plenary session

In this keynote address, Professor Oriana Bandiera presents new research on the differences in productivity between rich and poor countries, and the implications of COVID-19 for the extreme poor in low-income countries.

Plenary session

In this lecture, Professor Lindberg presents the latest findings from the V-Dem Institute on the trends for democracy and autocracy in the world, and the effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had for rights and freedoms.

Plenary session

The closing panel will bring together a set of leading thinkers to discuss how COVID-19 changed development. The panel will take stock on what has been learnt about the effect of the pandemic on lives and livelihoods of citizens in developing...

Plenary session

This WIDER Development Conference Special Session will commemorate the life and work of Professor Benno Ndulu, Chair of the Board of UNU-WIDER, who passed on 22 February 2021 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The panel will recall his many contributions as...

Plenary session

The availability of accurate and timely data is essential for sound policy making in the Global South. More and better data can be an accelerator for sustainable development. However, the pandemic has stymied government efforts to collect reliable...

Parallel session

This session explores how risks associated with Covid-19 affect observed behavior and stated preferences in the Global South. M. Hilmy and B. Archibong study revealed preferences using field experiments, while S. Amuakwa-Menza, J. Magat, and A...

Parallel session

This panel brings experts together with professional backgrounds in Africa, Asia and Latin America to reflect on the lessons that can be drawn from the worldwide covid crisis about global health governance. How to evaluate the global health...

Parallel session

The Covid-19 pandemic caused one of the worst economic contractions, social disruptions, and psychosocial distress in living memory. The full impact on lives lost, livelihoods disrupted, and economies reeled into recession in Africa is yet to be...

Parallel session

In July 2020, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) awarded funding to PEP for COVID-19 Responses for Equity (CORE), a new COVID-19 crisis recovery research initiative. Through this initiative, PEP is working with local...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all segments of society, highlighting the interconnected nature of the pandemic and broader sustainability challenges as it sweeps across sectors and boundaries. Its impacts are widespread in both economic and non...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic has had dramatic effects on lives and education systems including widespread school closures. The school closures come on top of a pre-existing learning crisis and threatens to further widen learning gaps, leaving even more...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted upon the way that production is organised and the way in which consumption takes place. There has been a much greater reliance on remote work and an increased use of automation technologies in many sectors, allowing...

Parallel session

While the pandemic had an immediate and disproportionate negative impact on the livelihoods of most informal workers, it has been widely assumed that their livelihoods would recover once the initial government restrictions were lifted and the...

Parallel session

This session discusses the labour market implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated policies from a macro- and microeconomic perspective. The panel of speakers will present evidence from large cross-country datasets to provide novel...

Parallel session

Parallel session

This panel discusses the impacts of the pandemic in South East Asia with 3 research papers covering Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. The pandemic has had differential impacts – in mortality and morbidity – but also in terms of the impact of...

Parallel session

This session is convened by ODI and Southern Voice and discusses appropriate macro-responses to COVID-19 to promote a including a responsible economic stimulus, a stable financial sector and a revival in exports. Chaired by Andrea Ordonez, Director...

Parallel session

The papers in this session offer a significant insight into the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the firms and market sector in developing countries. The paper on Ethiopia uses primary data collected just before the start, and a few months into the...

Parallel session

This section presents several studies about the effects of COVID-19 on human capital. The papers use different methodologies, provide insights for different countries, and complement each other. Abay et al. (2021) for Ethiopia and Dessy et al. (2021)...

Parallel session

While the need for protecting the vulnerable has increased dramatically in the last few years, most developing countries face considerable fiscal constraints. The pandemic has further exacerbated this situation and policymakers are confronted with...

Parallel session

This session explores topics related to political stability and health governance in light of the Covid-19 pandemic in various contexts. The panel addresses important questions on health-seeking behaviours, the varied effects of social distancing...

Parallel session

While the pandemic has presented undeniable challenges to public health and the global economy, we still have limited understanding of its political implications. How has the pandemic, and its related policy response, affected violence, rebellion...

Parallel session

The pandemic has affected people’s lives across the globe. One major concern is how much people’s incomes suffered, leading to greater poverty and inequality. Public policies such as taxes and benefits can help bolster societies against the worst of...

Parallel session

The evolving category of ‘essential services’ has found new meaning in the context of a global pandemic. The role of many groups of informal workers as ‘essential service’ providers or ‘essential workers’ has been highlighted. While the roles of...

Parallel session

The pandemic has exerted a heavy toll on Latin America and the Caribbean. Although the region houses 9% of the world's population, it accounts for 20.1% of COVID cases and 32.2%. The causes for this disproportionate impact of the pandemic are yet to...

Parallel session

Exceptional periods such as the pandemic pose major risks for democracy and human rights. In response to the pandemic, over one hundred countries have declared national emergencies, empowering governments to act in ways they would not normally...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing social and economic crisis has set the progress of fighting poverty back more than 10 years. It has increased inequalities and devastated economies. Financing the recovery will need increased domestic resource...

Parallel session

The pandemic is affecting people’s lives all over the world in many different ways. It has exacerbated inequalities in the labour market, disproportionally affecting the health, employment and earnings of those most vulnerable. It has highlighted the...

Parallel session

The social and economic effects of COVID-19 in developing countries have been material. But these impacts have varied substantially across sectors and some activities have even seen gains. Furthermore, government responses have varied, in some cases...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to one of the worst global economic crises in recent times. As businesses have been suffering, unemployment is on the rise with millions of people struggling to remain their livelihoods. Moreover, nationwide lockdowns...

Parallel session

This session covers research on the impact of COVID-19 and associated social protection measures on poverty and inequality in Africa and South America. The studies broadly confirm that the lockdown measures implemented in early 2020 have had...

Parallel session

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated policy measures are predicted to worsen food insecurity and increase absolute poverty in low- and middle-income countries. The papers in this session explore how the pandemic and the lockdowns have shaped food...

Parallel session

This session on gender and employment discusses the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and containment measures, on women’s opportunities, employment dynamics, time-use and wellbeing in a set of countries with already wide gender gaps...