The SDG Summit will take place on 18–19 September 2023 in New York. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called it the “centrepiece” of the UN’s work this year. Numerous reports for this year’s mid-term review of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs will lament the “lack of political will” to implement the SDGs. This research paper addresses the lack of analysis of country-level politics around the SDGs by assessing the political priorities of local elites in eleven countries. Alongside the specific findings for these countries, we present overarching conclusions on the significance of country-level politics for SDG implementation. Analysing political will and considering country-level constraints should be part of the mid-term review and inform the outcome of the summit.
We examine and offer causal evidence on the link between trade exposure and social cohesion using rich micro tax data and a natural experiment of exchange rate liberalization in Uganda. Our results show that exposure to exogenous exchange rate shocks has significant albeit economically small effects on social cohesion: it reduces trust, enhances participation, and has ambiguous effects on identity. These effects operate largely through the expenditure channel (or household exposure) and to a lesser extent through the earnings channel (captured by worker and firm exposure).
We examine and offer causal evidence on the link between trade exposure and social cohesion using rich micro tax data and a natural experiment of exchange rate liberalization in Uganda. Our results show that exposure to exogenous exchange rate shocks has significant albeit economically small effects on social cohesion: it reduces trust, enhances participation, and has ambiguous effects on identity. These effects operate largely through the expenditure channel (or household exposure) and to a lesser extent through the earnings channel (captured by worker and firm exposure).
We examine and offer causal evidence on the link between trade exposure and social cohesion using rich micro tax data and a natural experiment of exchange rate liberalization in Uganda. Our results show that exposure to exogenous exchange rate shocks has significant albeit economically small effects on social cohesion: it reduces trust, enhances participation, and has ambiguous effects on identity. These effects operate largely through the expenditure channel (or household exposure) and to a lesser extent through the earnings channel (captured by worker and firm exposure).
The economic and financial crisis of 2008 disrupted the European Union’s (EU) enlargement policy for the Western Balkans. At least since that time, the region has seen greater involvement by economic actors from non-EU countries such as China, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Their engagement has been most evident in the areas of direct investment, trade and energy security. Investments from these countries can increase the risk of “corrosive capital”, which could have a negative impact on the development of the rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans. In view of a visibly intensifying rivalry between the EU on the one hand and Russia and China on the other, the question therefore arises as to how the EU can react to and strategically counteract the intensified economic interconnectedness of the Western Balkans with these actors.