19 Figures of the week: The costs of financing Africa’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 16:21:13 +0000 Last month’s edition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s biannual Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa, which discusses economic developments and prospects for the region, pays special attention to the financial channels through which COVID-19 has—and will—impact the economic growth of the region. Notably, the authors of the report reduced their GDP growth estimates from… Full Article
19 Putting women and girls’ safety first in Africa’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 15:12:51 +0000 Women and girls in Africa are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Although preliminary evidence from China, Italy, and New York shows that men are at higher risk of contraction and death from the disease—more than 58 percent of COVID-19 patients were men, and they had an… Full Article
19 Africa in the news: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, COVID-19, and AfCFTA updates By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 11:30:14 +0000 Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan political updates Ethiopia-Eritrea relations continue to thaw, as on Sunday, May 3, Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, and Presidential Advisor Yemane Ghebreab, visited Ethiopia, where they were received by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. During the two-day diplomatic visit, the leaders discussed bilateral cooperation and regional issues affecting both states,… Full Article
19 Making sense of the monthly jobs report during the COVID-19 pandemic By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 18:43:02 +0000 The monthly jobs report—the unemployment rate from one survey and the change in employer payrolls from another survey—is one of the most closely watched economic indicators, particularly at a time of an economic crisis like today. Here’s a look at how these data are collected and how to interpret them during the COVID-19 pandemic. What… Full Article
19 Students have lost learning due to COVID-19. Here are the economic consequences. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 15:41:11 +0000 Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the US economy has nearly ground to a halt. Tens of millions of workers are now seeing their jobs and livelihoods disappear—in some cases, permanently. Many businesses will never reopen, especially those that have or had large debts to manage. State and federal lawmakers have responded by pouring trillions of… Full Article
19 The COVID-19 crisis has already left too many children hungry in America By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 17:11:13 +0000 Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has increased in the United States. This is particularly true for households with young children. I document new evidence from two nationally representative surveys that were initiated to provide up-to-date estimates of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the incidence of food insecurity. Food insecurity… Full Article
19 Supporting students and promoting economic recovery in the time of COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 16:00:37 +0000 COVID-19 has upended, along with everything else, the balance sheets of the nation’s elementary and secondary schools. As soon as school buildings closed, districts faced new costs associated with distance learning, ranging from physically distributing instructional packets and up to three meals a day, to supplying instructional programming for television and distributing Chromebooks and internet… Full Article
19 20190618 Axios Chris Meserole By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 18 Jun 2019 19:12:31 +0000 Full Article
19 20190728 Vox Jung Pak By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sun, 28 Jul 2019 16:05:43 +0000 Full Article
19 How Gulf states can lead the global COVID-19 response By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 08:36:04 +0000 As the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, it is becoming clear that no unified international response is in the works. Indeed, international organizations have been undermined by national actions, such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s shortsighted decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization (WHO). In lieu of global coordination, the buck has been passed down… Full Article
19 Webinar: Public health and COVID-19 in MENA: Impact, response and outlook By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 11:47:01 +0000 The coronavirus pandemic has exacted a devastating human toll on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with over 300,000 confirmed cases and 11,000 deaths to date. It has also pushed the region’s public healthcare systems to their limits, though countries differ greatly in their capacities to test, trace, quarantine, and treat affected individuals. MENA governments… Full Article
19 Webinar: How federal job vacancies hinder the government’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:52:41 +0000 Vacant positions and high turnover across the federal bureaucracy have been a perpetual problem since President Trump was sworn into office. Upper-level Trump administration officials (“the A Team”) have experienced a turnover rate of 85 percent — much higher than any other administration in the past 40 years. The struggle to recruit and retain qualified… Full Article
19 How instability and high turnover on the Trump staff hindered the response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 18:04:06 +0000 On Jan. 14, 2017, the Obama White House hosted 30 incoming staff members of the Trump team for a role-playing scenario. A readout of the event said, “The exercise provided a high-level perspective on a series of challenges that the next administration may face and introduced the key authorities, policies, capabilities, and structures that are… Full Article
19 How might COVID-19 affect the global economy? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 09 Mar 2020 15:25:46 +0000 As COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, Warwick J. McKibbin joined us from his home in Australia to discuss how the novel coronavirus may disrupt the global economy. McKibbin, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, authored a recent report outlining seven different scenarios of how COVID-19 might evolve and the implications each scenario would… Full Article
19 How will the Chinese economy rebound from COVID-19? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:32:00 +0000 What effect has COVID-19 had on the Chinese economy and phase one of the U.S.-China deal? Could the United States or other nations draw lessons from China’s response to the virus? David Dollar is joined in this episode of Dollar & Sense by Dexter Roberts, former China Bureau Chief for Bloomberg Businessweek, to discuss these… Full Article
19 How will COVID-19 reshape America’s logistics workforce? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 06 Apr 2020 10:01:40 +0000 What effect will the COVID-19 pandemic have on the 9.2 million Americans working in logistics? Adie Tomer joins David Dollar to discuss the geographic distribution of logistics workers, their role in supply chains, the lack of protection for essential workers, and the necessity to create a more equitable social contract for America’s labor force. http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/13855505… Full Article
19 The politics of Congress’s COVID-19 response By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:30:25 +0000 In the face of economic and health challenges posed by COVID-19, Congress, an institution often hamstrung by partisanship, quickly passed a series of bills allocating trillions of dollars for economic stimulus and relief. In this episode, Sarah Binder joins David Dollar to discuss the politics behind passing that legislation and lingering uncertainties about its oversight… Full Article
19 How to ensure Africa has the financial resources to address COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 09:31:32 +0000 As countries around the world fall into a recession due to the coronavirus, what effects will this economic downturn have on Africa? Brahima S. Coulibaly joins David Dollar to explain the economic strain from falling commodity prices, remittances, and tourism, and also the consequences of a recent G-20 decision to temporarily suspend debt service payments… Full Article
19 A modern tragedy? COVID-19 and US-China relations By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 20:29:42 +0000 Executive Summary This policy brief invokes the standards of ancient Greek drama to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential tragedy in U.S.-China relations and a potential tragedy for the world. The nature of the two countries’ political realities in 2020 have led to initial mismanagement of the crisis on both sides of the Pacific.… Full Article
19 Addressing COVID-19 in resource-poor and fragile countries By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 09 May 2020 09:00:18 +0000 Responding to the coronavirus as individuals, society, and governments is challenging enough in the United States and other developed countries with modern infrastructure and stable systems, but what happens when a pandemic strikes poor and unstable countries that have few hospitals, lack reliable electricity, water, and food supplies, don’t have refrigeration, and suffer from social… Full Article
19 20190927 NPR Dionne By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 27 Sep 2019 19:15:05 +0000 Full Article
19 20191004 NPR Dionne By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 04 Oct 2019 20:51:53 +0000 Full Article
19 Webinar: How federal job vacancies hinder the government’s response to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 20:52:41 +0000 Vacant positions and high turnover across the federal bureaucracy have been a perpetual problem since President Trump was sworn into office. Upper-level Trump administration officials (“the A Team”) have experienced a turnover rate of 85 percent — much higher than any other administration in the past 40 years. The struggle to recruit and retain qualified… Full Article
19 Double tipping points in 2019: When the world became mostly rich and largely old By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 09 Oct 2019 21:01:03 +0000 When it comes to economic development, positive change is typically gradual and only noticeable over long periods of time; by contrast negative developments—economic crises—are often rapid and spectacular. This creates a biased narrative that focuses on negative news, while positive trends go unnoticed because they are less dramatic. In this blog, amid an atmosphere of… Full Article
19 Can the US sue China for COVID-19 damages? Not really. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 14:58:58 +0000 Full Article
19 Clouded thinking in Washington and Beijing on COVID-19 crisis By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 18:41:17 +0000 In 2015, an action movie about a group of elite paratroopers from the People’s Liberation Army, “Wolf Warrior,” dominated box offices across China. In 2020, the nationalistic chest-thumping spirit of that movie is defining Chinese diplomacy, or at least the propaganda surrounding it. This aggressive new style is known as “wolf warrior diplomacy,” and although… Full Article
19 A modern tragedy? COVID-19 and US-China relations By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 20:29:42 +0000 Executive Summary This policy brief invokes the standards of ancient Greek drama to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic as a potential tragedy in U.S.-China relations and a potential tragedy for the world. The nature of the two countries’ political realities in 2020 have led to initial mismanagement of the crisis on both sides of the Pacific.… Full Article
19 Health care priorities for a COVID-19 stimulus bill: Recommendations to the administration, congress, and other federal, state, and local leaders from public health, medical, policy, and legal experts By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:50:44 +0000 Full Article
19 COVID-19 is expanding further into Trump country By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 15:59:26 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic has already shown a dispersion away from the nation’s most urban and densely populated counties to suburban, somewhat whiter, and less politically Democratic parts of the country. Yet the group of counties that newly qualify as areas with a high prevalence of COVID-19 cases are even more dispersed, and represent places where… Full Article
19 Which city economies did COVID-19 damage first? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 29 Apr 2020 20:42:45 +0000 Since the United States first witnessed significant community spread of the coronavirus in March, each week has brought a fresh round of devastating economic news. From skyrocketing unemployment claims to new estimates of contracting GDP in the first quarter of 2020, there has been little respite from the growing awareness that COVID-19 is exacting unprecedented… Full Article
19 American workers’ safety net is broken. The COVID-19 crisis is a chance to fix it. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 19:37:44 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing some major adjustments to many aspects of our daily lives that will likely remain long after the crisis recedes: virtual learning, telework, and fewer hugs and handshakes, just to name a few. But in addition, let’s hope the crisis also drives a permanent overhaul of the nation’s woefully inadequate worker… Full Article
19 As states reopen, COVID-19 is spreading into even more Trump counties By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 15:18:02 +0000 Even as the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, America has begun to open up for some business and limited social interaction, especially in parts of the country that did not bear the initial brunt of the coronavirus. However, the number of counties where COVID-19 cases have reached “high-prevalence” status continues to expand. Our tracking of these… Full Article
19 20190506 El Pais Daniel Kaufman By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 06 May 2019 20:24:38 +0000 Full Article
19 Trans-Atlantic Scorecard – October 2019 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:38:07 +0000 Welcome to the fifth edition of the Trans-Atlantic Scorecard, a quarterly evaluation of U.S.-European relations produced by Brookings’s Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE), as part of the Brookings – Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Initiative. To produce the Scorecard, we poll Brookings scholars and other experts on the present state of U.S. relations… Full Article
19 Brookings Trade Forum: 1999 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Growing economic integration has become a major concern among policymakers and international institutions in the 1990s. In light of this concern, the practitioners and academics contributing to the Brookings Trade Forum 1999 have focused on key aspects of governing in a global economy. This is the second in the Brookings Institution series of annual volumes… Full Article
19 20191113 Chicago Tribune West By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2019 16:37:26 +0000 Full Article
19 The Arab Spring is 2011, Not 1989 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: The Arab revolutions are beginning to destroy the cliché of an Arab world incapable of democratic transformation. But another caricature is replacing it: according to the new narrative, the crowds in Cairo, Benghazi or Damascus, mobilized by Facebook and Twitter, are the latest illustration of the spread of Western democratic ideals; and while the “rise… Full Article
19 The House moved quickly on a COVID-19 response bill. These 4 takeaways explain what’s likely to happen next. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 16 Mar 2020 13:08:38 +0000 The House has passed an emergency spending measure supported by President Trump to begin dealing with the health and economic crises caused by the coronavirus. By a vote of 363 to 40 early Saturday morning, every Democrat and roughly three-quarters of Republicans supported the bill to provide temporary paid sick and family medical leave; bolster funding for health, food security and unemployment insurance… Full Article
19 The politics of Congress’s COVID-19 response By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 09:30:25 +0000 In the face of economic and health challenges posed by COVID-19, Congress, an institution often hamstrung by partisanship, quickly passed a series of bills allocating trillions of dollars for economic stimulus and relief. In this episode, Sarah Binder joins David Dollar to discuss the politics behind passing that legislation and lingering uncertainties about its oversight… Full Article
19 The places a COVID-19 recession will likely hit hardest By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 19:45:13 +0000 At first blush, it seems like the coronavirus pandemic is shutting down the economy everywhere, equally, with frightening force and totality. In many respects, that’s true: Across the country, consumer spending—which supports 70% of the economy—is crashing in community after community, as people avoid stores, restaurants, movie theaters, offices, and other public places. Already, the… Full Article
19 Stimulus steps the US should take to reduce regional economic damages from the COVID-19 recession By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:15:34 +0000 The coronavirus pandemic seems likely to trigger a severe worldwide recession of uncertain length. In addition to responding to the public health needs, policymakers are debating how they can respond with creative new economic policies, which are now urgently needed. One strategy they should consider is both traditional and yet oddly missing from the current… Full Article
19 The robots are ready as the COVID-19 recession spreads By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 24 Mar 2020 18:27:54 +0000 As if American workers don’t have enough to worry about right now, the COVID-19 pandemic is resurfacing concerns about technology’s impact on the future of work. Put simply, any coronavirus-related recession is likely to bring about a spike in labor-replacing automation. What’s the connection between recessions and automation? On its face, the transition to automation may… Full Article
19 COVID-19 is hitting the nation’s largest metros the hardest, making a “restart” of the economy more difficult By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 01 Apr 2020 19:16:34 +0000 The coronavirus pandemic has thrown America into a coast-to-coast lockdown, spurring ubiquitous economic impacts. Data on smartphone movement indicate that virtually all regions of the nation are practicing some degree of social distancing, resulting in less foot traffic and sales for businesses. Meanwhile, last week’s release of unemployment insurance claims confirms that every state is seeing a significant… Full Article
19 How cities and states are responding to COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 03 Apr 2020 09:00:49 +0000 As Congress passes multi-trillion dollar support packages in response to the economic and physical shocks of the coronavirus pandemic, what are state and local governments doing to respond? What kinds of economic and other assistance do they need? What will be the enduring impact of this crisis on workers and certain industries? On this episode,… Full Article
19 Will COVID-19 rebalance America’s uneven economic geography? Don’t bet on it. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 13 Apr 2020 18:51:16 +0000 With the national economy virtually immobilized as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it might seem like the crisis is going to mute the issue of regional economic divergence and its pattern of booming superstar cities and depressed, left-behind places. But don’t be so sure about that. In fact, the pandemic might intensify the unevenness… Full Article
19 How COVID-19 will change the nation’s long-term economic trends, according to Brookings Metro scholars By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 17:00:28 +0000 Will the coronavirus change everything? While that sentiment feels true to the enormity of the crisis, it likely isn’t quite right, as scholars from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program have been exploring since the pandemic began. Instead, the COVID-19 crisis seems poised to accelerate or intensify many economic and metropolitan trends that were already underway, with huge… Full Article
19 The next COVID-19 relief bill must include massive aid to states, especially the hardest-hit areas By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 15:32:57 +0000 Amid rising layoffs and rampant uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a good thing that Democrats in the House of Representatives say they plan to move quickly to advance the next big coronavirus relief package. Especially important is the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) seems determined to build the next package around a generous infusion… Full Article
19 The effect of COVID-19 and disease suppression policies on labor markets: A preliminary analysis of the data By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:20:54 +0000 World leaders are deliberating when and how to re-open business operations amidst considerable uncertainty as to the economic consequences of the coronavirus. One pressing question is whether or not countries that have remained relatively open have managed to escape at least some of the economic harm, and whether that harm is related to the spread… Full Article
19 What COVID-19 means for America’s child welfare system By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:00:20 +0000 The COVID-19 crisis has allowed a revealing look into the shortcomings of the U.S.’s child welfare system. While no institution has proved strong enough to operate effectively and efficiently under the unprecedented circumstances brought on by COVID-19, the crisis has unveiled holes in the child welfare system that call for both immediate and long-term action.… Full Article