Development Futures - What to expect at COP29

In this episode, we explore what might happen at COP29, the upcoming UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. With global emissions at record highs and climate impacts intensifying, this year’s conference will focus on setting a new climate finance goal to drive global climate action. The Lowy Instit…

Development Futures: The case for an Indo-Pacific Economic Resilience Bank

Eighty years ago, the Bretton Woods agreement shaped the global financial system to build a better world. While its institutions remain vital, they are struggling to meet today’s challenges — climate change, economic insecurity, and a multi-trillion-dollar development financing gap. In this podcast…

Development Futures: A climate loss and damage fund that works

In this episode, we delve into the United Nations Loss and Damage Fund, the most concrete effort to address restitution for those impacted by climate change. As the recently appointed board begins crafting a global fund to financially support climate victims, much remains unresolved, including comp…

Development Futures: The world’s addiction to GDP

Can we measure national success beyond economic growth? Professor Robert Costanza speaks with the Lowy Institute’s Alexandre Dayant about why countries need to move away from gross domestic product as the measure of economic prosperity and factor in other complementary gauges of success. In a time …

Development Futures: Angus Deaton on what economists got wrong

Angus Deaton, the 2015 Nobel Prize-winning economist, has dedicated four decades to studying poverty, inequality, health, wellbeing, and economic development. Recently, he strongly criticised his own profession, arguing that economists have overlooked the power dynamics inherent in capitalism. In …

Development Futures: Bert Hofman on China’s economy

China is facing many economic problems, at home and abroad. The two are connected. Weak demand at home has contributed to a sharp rise in Chinese manufacturing exports, especially in green technologies such as electric vehicles. Surging Chinese exports have in turn prompted a backlash from the Unit…

Development Futures: Richard Baldwin on how globalisation and robotics will impact developing economies

Today, the dynamic duo of globalisation and robotics, which international economist Richard Baldwin calls “globotics”, is disrupting the service sector and professional jobs faster than ever. Digital technology is empowering “white-collar robots” to take over many service sector and professional jo…

Development Futures: Where to next on climate and development?

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for sustainable development around the world. Large developing economies, particularly in Asia, are now major sources of global emissions but need external assistance to accelerate their transition to clean energy. Meanwhile, many poor and vulnerable …

Development Futures: Dani Rodrik on hyper-globalisation, geopolitics and the future of development

As we usher in the new year, the global economy is at a turning point. From confronting an economic development crisis and addressing the good-jobs dilemma, to navigating the climate transition and charting a course towards a more sustainable and equitable form of globalisation, 2024 promises to be…

Development Futures: David Victor on how to make climate policy work

Many of the most economically efficient policies to reduce emissions, such as carbon pricing, have proven difficult to implement. In this episode of Development Futures, the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre Research Fellow Michelle Lyons speaks with Professor David Victor from UC Sa…