To avoid irreversible damage to global ecosystems, new “green” technologies are needed. Some of those are still far from commercial maturity. In such cases, governments may create temporary rents to make investments “artificially” attractive. The creation of such rents, however, involves...

This Discussion Paper presents a normative concept of green industrial policy, which is defined as encompassing any policy measure aimed at aligning the structure of a country’s economy with the needs of sustainable development within established planetary boundaries. The paper elaborates on...

Mitigating climate change by reducing carbon emissions is one of the biggest and most complex issues the world has ever faced. Technological innovation plays a major role in taking on this challenge. Old and new industrial powers alike are increasingly reforming their policy frameworks to...

The diffusion of supermarkets in developing countries has profound implications – not only for existing retail stores and informal vendors but also for millions of producers and intermediary traders in the respective supply chains, and for consumers in these countries. Overall, societies are...

Structural change towards diversification and competitiveness is important to make our economies productive, wealthy and sustainable. In market economies, structural change is essentially driven by private entrepreneurs who challenge incumbents with new business ideas and take risks to implement...

In Afrika fehlen produktive Arbeitsplätze. Das Hauptproblem ist dabei nicht Arbeitslosigkeit, sondern es sind Unterbeschäftigung, mangelnde Produktivität und prekäre Arbeitsbedingungen. In Ländern, in denen es keine nennenswerte Sozialhilfe gibt, können es sich nur wenige Menschen leisten,...

The last two decades have experienced hardly any improvement in the indicators for employment and poverty in the developing countries. Progress can be made only with an economic policy that creates the conditions required for economic growth centered on the private sector and at the same time...

Many traditional aid recipient countries have recently also become donors of development aid. In particular, anchor countries such as China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and Thailand are increasingly providing aid programs for needier developing countries. In some cases, however, this...

When Alice in Wonderland wonders which way she should take, the Cheshire Cat responds that it depends on where she wants to go! Researchers and policy-makers considering a country’s long-term development path also have to know where they want to go. Typically, they seek to determine the...

Around 2031, Africa’s working-age population will pass the 1-billion threshold. This growing workforce will require decent productive employment. So far, Africa’s economies have largely failed to create stable and well-paid jobs. For any one person working in the formal private sector, 10...