Women make a significant contribution to West Africa's food economy, perpetuating a long tradition of commerce and participating in cross-border trade and regional outreach. Their activities face numerous obstacles but also present important opportunities, highlighted in this report through an...

Trade and investment in natural mineral resources hold great potential for generating income, growth and prosperity, sustaining livelihoods and fostering local development. However, a large share of these resources is located in conflict affected and high-risk areas. In these areas, exploitation...

Regulatory decisions are vital at nearly every stage of resolving the health crisis and its social and economic effects. The current situation makes the need for trusted, evidence-based, internationally co-ordinated and well-enforced regulation particularly acute. While “emergency”...

All countries need vaccines but not all can produce them. Vaccine production is highly specialised, subject to comparative advantages, and concentrated in few countries, making trade a vital means to deploying vaccines broadly. Keeping markets open by reducing tariffs, streamlining trade-related...

While the impacts of COVID-19 are still unfolding, experience so far shows the importance of an open and predictable international trade environment to ensure food can move to where it is needed. The biggest risk for food security is not with food availability but with consumers’ access to...

The goods needed to vaccinate, protect and test during the COVID-19 pandemic are produced across many different countries. This brief tells the tale of three products ‒ vaccines, face masks and tests ‒ and highlights the role of trade in the fight against COVID-19. International markets and...

Saving Electricity in a Hurry describes some of the recent power blackouts – from Norway to New Zealand and from Tokyo to Arizona – and the policies these regions used to quickly reduce their power consumption. It shows that countries can quickly reduce electricity consumption without...

Blackouts are normally the result of imbalances in electricity supply and demand. A brief blackout is mostly an inconvenience, but persistent shortfalls--those lasting days, weeks, or months--can cause economic disruption and danger to human life in our technology-rich societies. This...