PERI researchers Lynda Pickbourn and Léonce Ndikumana, along with Janvier Nkurunziza, address a series of questions with respect to commodity dependent developing countries’ (CDDCs) efforts to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation measures into their policy frameworks.  Most generally, they ask how can CDDCs meet their development goals while also fulfilling their commitments to climate change mitigation. They argue that CDDCs should embrace green industrial policies to position themselves as viable producers and exporters of green goods. Continued reliance on traditional commodities in an era of green transition may not be a viable long-term option.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) plays a central role in shaping the developmental trajectories of fiscally distressed countries through their ‘structural adjustment programs.’ These programs entail wide-ranging domestic policy reforms that influence local health and welfare systems. PERI researcher Lawrence King and co-authors find that, between 1990 – 2017, IMF programs lead to over 70 excess deaths from respiratory diseases and tuberculosis per 100,000 population and that IMF-mandated privatization reforms produced over 90 excess deaths per 100,000 population. As currently designed and implemented, these programs are evidently worsening population health and increasing global infectious disease burdens.

Mariana Mortágua and Izaura Solipa describe how the creation of the Banking Union in the Eurozone should be understood as part of a larger process of governing through financial markets in the region. They show how the Banking Union policies entail policymakers resorting to market-based instruments through which they form alignments with the interests of the region’s financial elites. This regulatory model will encourage riskier business models at the expense of smaller and more traditional banking systems, fostering too-big-to-fail institutions and further deepening the already major disparities among the individual Eurozone economies.