Working Papers

In 2015, a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will succeed the Millennium Development Goals as reference goals for international development for the period 2015-2030. Education was identified as a standalone goal (SDG4). Epistemic communities have documented a number of links between education and other SDG areas, and policy makers have long recognized many of them. Based on an exhaustive content analysis of 40 global reports, this paper examines how well such links are represented in flagship publications of the United Nations system. Taken together, the reports identify links between education and all the SDGs, with the notable exception of SDG 14 on oceans. For most of the…

This paper synthesizes the evidence of a negative correlation between income inequality and environmental quality. It shows that inequality exerts adverse impact on environmental outcomes through several channels, including the household, community, national, and international channels. These channels however overlap with one another and can thus reinforce the impact of inequality. Other dimensions of inequality, in particular gender inequality, also impact environmental quality negatively. The concept of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is not that helpful in explaining the negative correlation between inequality and environmental quality. The findings of the paper suggest that…

In 2014, UN Member States proposed a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as reference goals for the international development community for the period 2015-2030. The proposed goals and targets can be seen as a network, in which links among goals exist through targets that refer to multiple goals. Using network analysis techniques, we show that some thematic areas covered by the SDGs are well connected among one another. Other parts of the network have weaker connections with the rest of the system. The SDGs as a whole are a more integrated system than the MDGs were, which may facilitate policy integration across sectors…

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were introduced to monitor implementation of the United Nations Millennium Declaration which set out a vision for inclusive and sustainable globalization based on human rights principles. This paper critically assesses the MDG experience including their policy purpose, ethical commitments, political origins, and consequences. It proposes that post-2015 goals should be based on principles of equity, sustainability and human security and address key contemporary challenges such as climate change, unemployment, inequality and global market instability.

During the last decade, the world economy has experienced a worsening in financial stability, food prices, income inequality and environmental conditions. Seven development strategies are evaluated to determine which could help solve ‘quadruple crisis’. These strategies are assessed using a common methodology which first documents the economic, social, environmental and food security policies adopted, and then assesses their outcomes using 11 performance indicators. The strategies are then ranked on the basis of their overall success score. While all strategies produced some positive results, the East Asian Miracle and the new Latin American development approach generated the greatest…

To achieve the greatest possible human welfare, the Stockholm Environment Institute’s Climate and Regional Economics of Development (CRED) model calls for rapid reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to keep cumulative 21st century carbon dioxide emissions below 2,000 Gt. We explain why as some other models claim very slow emission reductions are best. We make three changes to the basic assumptions of the well-known DICE model to include the most recent estimates of economic damages from climate change, express greater concern about the well-being of future generations, and expect rich countries to invest in emissions and poverty reduction in poorer countries.