By Brian Webster, Alan Gelb, and Anit Mukherjee
Shifting the payment of social transfers from cash to direct deposit via bank or mobile money accounts can directly improve efficiency for governments and convenience for beneficiaries. It may also produce positive spillovers such as boosting financial inclusion and empowering women. But do these spillovers materialize, and under what circumstances?
By Udaibir Das
The Trevor Manuel G20 Africa Expert Panel Report reframes Africa’s constraints as a single system of mispricing, debt compression and governance asymmetry. Its proposals for refinancing, collective bargaining and International Monetary Fund quota reform mark the first coordinated attempt to shift power within the international financial architecture.
By Udaibir Das
Ubuntu economics does not invoke moral claims. It advances a structural argument: Africa’s demographic momentum, mineral endowments and ecological assets are central to global prosperity, and instability in the region imposes system-wide costs. The reform frameworks are now primarily in place. The question is whether the political and institutional conditions of 2026 permit their implementation.
By Piyush Verma and Telmen Altanshagai
Mongolia is not just a customer or supplier—but a co-partner in building new regional supply-chains, new corridors and new resource-alliances. It speaks to a future where India is not simply plugged into global energy markets, but co-creating them.
By Udaibir Das
While stability prevails in institutional titles, resilience prevails in policy content. This shift influences the oversight and allocation of approximately $470tn in global financial assets. This has structural implications and affects public accountability.
By Shayak Sengupta, Peter Adams, Thomas Deetjen, Puneet Kamboj, Swati D'Souza, Rahul Tongia, and Inês Azevedo
Electricity consumption and emissions of states in India are similar to differences between those of entire countries.
By Shayak Sengupta, Thomas Spencer, Neshwin Rodrigues, Raghav Pachouri, Shubham Thakare, Peter Adams, Rahul Tongia, Inês Azevedo
As electricity demand and living standards in India increase, the country will plug in new technology like electric vehicles and air conditioners.
By Tapas Peshin, Shayak Sengupta, and Inês Azevedo
Compared to their conventional counterparts, electric vehicles may reduce greenhouse gas emissions in many states in India, but also increase air pollution from electricity generation because most Indian coal plants do not control their air pollution emissions.
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