Greater integration of Africa and the European Union’s (EU) digital markets would be a boon to both regions. But to achieve this, both regions would have to adapt. 

Aid alone will not resolve the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Without a functioning financial system, many Afghans will remain unable to buy essential goods, including food and medicine. Humanitarian actors seeking to relieve the effects of these shortages will struggle to move money into and w...

As Afghanistan enters its harsh winter season, a massive humanitarian disaster appears increasingly likely. Facing food shortages, rising prices, and a breakdown in public services, millions of ordinary Afghans need immediate assistance as their country veers toward economic collapse.

Going digital can greatly improve the efficiency of public services. But just as well-designed digital applications can strengthen the citizen-state relationship, poorly designed or ill-conceived applications can weaken that relationship by creating unnecessary complexity, reducing  transparenc...

Bitcoin has failed to live up to the hype that it would democratize finance by enabling cheap, instantaneous, and secure payments that could be conducted without having to rely on stodgy old financial institutions like banks and credit card companies. And the Bitcoin network’s spiraling energy needs...

Relying on biased information undermines the effectiveness of evidence-based policymaking. A potential source of bias in many datasets is that most of the world’s data scientists—i.e., the people who collect, organize, analyze data, and make decisions—are men.

Global debates about data governance standards have primarily reflected the priorities and needs of rich countries, with less wealthy countries left in the role of “standards takers.” More needs to be done to ensure that digital governance policies pursued by the world’s largest economies do not cre...