Future Development

Containers and trucks are seen following a snowfall at the port of Qingdao, Shandong province, China February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. - RC1AA7D4CB70

Trade at the G-20 Osaka Summit: Jaw, jaw beats war, war

Simon J. Evenett and Johannes Fritz · Wednesday, June 26, 2019

The fierce urgency of now: Toward a new multilateralism

Kevin P. Gallagher and Richard Kozul-Wright

Monday, June 24, 2019

Workers inspect railway tracks, which serve as a part of the Belt and Road freight rail route linking Chongqing to Duisburg, at Dazhou railway station in Sichuan province, China March 14, 2019. Picture taken March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. - RC1563D032A0

Winners and losers along China’s Belt and Road

Indermit Gill, Somik V. Lall, and Mathilde Lebrand

Friday, June 21, 2019

Children play football at the graveyards (City of the Dead) called locally "Zawiyyet al-Mayyiteen" in Minya Governorate, Upper Egypt January 8, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - RC1217CE1350

More than half of the world’s poor are children

Katharina Fenz and Kristofer Hamel

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Office buildings under construction stand behind the Angolan central bank building in the capital, Luanda, in this January 20, 2010 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/Files - GF10000382251

Stressful speculations about public debt in Africa

Indermit Gill, Kenan Karakülah, and Shanta Devarajan

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Syrian refugee Omayma al Hushan, 14, who launched an initiative against child marriage among Syrian refugees, speaks to her friends about her initiative at a school in Al Zaatari refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria, April 21, 2016. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed - GF10000397998

Forced displacement and child marriage: A growing challenge in MENA

Omer Karasapan and Sajjad Shah

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

A flotilla of boats takes part in the "Parade For Equality", ahead of WorldPride, an event promoting LGBT issues, on the Nervion River in front of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Bilbao, Spain June 24, 2017. REUTERS/Vincent West - RC1B841435A0

Cities: The labs for Sustainable Development Goal innovation

Anthony F. Pipa

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

A worker inspects solar panels at a solar Dunhuang, 950km (590 miles) northwest of Lanzhou, Gansu Province September 16, 2013. China is pumping investment into wind power, which is more cost-competitive than solar energy and partly able to compete with coal and gas. China is the world's biggest producer of CO2 emissions, but is also the world's leading generator of renewable electricity. Environmental issues will be under the spotlight during a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which will meet in Stockholm from September 23-26. REUTERS/Carlos Barria BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE - GF20000056392

Will the G-20 provide the urgent leadership needed on climate action?

Amar Bhattacharya

Friday, June 14, 2019

Young entrepreneurs look at their computers at a resting area inside the University Students Venture Park, in Shanghai, China, July 29, 2015. The University Students Venture Park in northern Shanghai was designed as an incubator for college students considering a startup. The lobby is decked out in a sunny palette and garnished with inspiring slogans about creativity; outside a large sign reads "Dream Community". Picture taken July 29, 2015. To match INSIGHT CHINA-ENTREPRENEURS/ REUTERS/Aly Song - GF10000241676

Why are we so pessimistic?

Wolfgang Fengler

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Rebecca Palai withdraws her medication at an ATM pharmacy which allows patients with chronic illnesses to receive repeat medication within three minutes, in Alexander township, South Africa, March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko - RC1C011CB2B0

Can technology improve service delivery?

Shanta Devarajan

Friday, June 7, 2019

Migrant worker Wang Jun carries scrap material she collected from debris of demolished buildings at the outskirts of Beijing, China October 1, 2017. Picture taken October 1, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter - RC1FA1BF06B0

Uncertainty in ending extreme poverty

Fabian Mendez Ramos

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

A woman uses a hand pump to collect drinking water on Ghoramara Island, India, September 22, 2018. Picture taken on September 22, 2018. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri - RC138069BE00

The future of aid: How the global development business is evolving

Thursday, May 30, 2019

A man carries buckets of water at a vegetable field, near a new residential compound, in Hefei, Anhui province, November 13, 2013. The Chinese Communist Party said it would work to deepen fiscal and tax reform, establish a unified land market in cities and the countryside, give farmers more property rights, and develop a sustainable social security system - all seen as necessary for putting the world's second-largest economy on a more stable footing. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA - Tags: AGRICULTURE SOCIETY POLITICS) - GM1E9BD1HLE01

Is inequality really on the rise?

Ana Revenga and Meagan Dooley

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

A customer stands by as a vendor calculates at a shop near the village of al-Jaraib, in the northwestern province of Hajjah, Yemen, February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah SEARCH "YEMEN HUNGER" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. - RC18893184D0

Global poverty reduction has slowed down—again

Homi Kharas, Kristofer Hamel, Martin Hofer, and Baldwin Tong

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Manufacturers work at an assembly line of Vingroup's Vsmart phone in Hai Phong,Vietnam December 4, 2018. REUTERS/Kham - RC16DDBFE340

How can Vietnam avoid the middle-income trap?

Sebastian Eckardt and Vu Viet Ngoan

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Contributors

Homi Kharas

Interim Vice President and Director - Global Economy and Development

Shanta Devarajan

Senior Director, Development Economics - World Bank

Shanta_WB

Wolfgang Fengler

Lead Economist, Trade and Competitiveness - World Bank

wolfgangfengler

Indermit Gill

Nonresident Senior Fellow - Global Economy and Development

About Future Development

This blog was first launched in September 2013 by the World Bank in an effort to hold governments more accountable to poor people and offer solutions to the most prominent development challenges. Continuing this goal, Future Development was re-launched in January 2015 at brookings.edu.

For archived content, visit worldbank.org »