While progress in developing countries as a whole, in terms of growth, poverty reduc-tion, and several MDGs, has been quite good in recent years, fragile states lag behind in levels of MDG achievement. To understand the link between fragility and MDG progress, and also to identify the most...

It is common to oppose a secular Europe to a religious America. As representatives of cultural diversity and popular sovereignty, Parliaments are the best illustrations of mutual arrangements between politics and religion. Little data is available on religion at the EP, in contrast to the rich...

Understanding the development implications of agri-food value chains is crucial as they are a fundamental component of developing countries’ growth potential and could increase rural incomes and reduce poverty. This note reviews some of the implications of these global agri-food value chains...

The installation of electricity Smart Meters (SM) brings about new opportunities for enhancing the interaction between consumers, generators and energy service providers. SM are needed to exert certain sets of actions upon consumers aimed at producing changes in the functioning of the system...

This paper discusses a series of Numbers regarding the economic integration of intermittent renewables into European electricity markets. This debate has gained in importance following the large-scale deployment of wind farms and photovoltaic panels. As intermittent renewables constitute a...

Economists are political philosophers. This claim is defended based on an investigation of normative arguments made in economics textbooks. The paper aims to explain, reconstruct and contest the neoclassical vision implicit in mainstream economic trade theory. Analyzing arguments made by...

The objective of this paper is to analyse what targets and criteria should be followed for electricity transmission investments which would be beneficial for Europe. The paper indicates that there is serious underinvestment in the European transmission network from the overall welfare point of...

The increasing complexity, interdependence and acceleration of global developments, digital media and the growing share of global public goods, have all contributed to the publicitisation, sectoralisation and summitization of foreign policy worldwide. In this context, the Lisbon Treaty since...

The policy reforms initiated in India in the mid-1980s and expanded in 1991 helped support an expansion in India’s trade. Trade reforms since the mid-1990s have been piecemeal. This paper argues that without significant further reform and adoption of a focused trade strategy, the...