The UN is about to delete literacy and numeracy in early primary school from the list of Sustainable Development Goals because of a technical debate about measurement and a turf war between testing agencies. It shouldn’t.

Food insecurity is again a major topic of global concern. Decades of progress are under threat from the effects of climate change on agriculture along with supply chain dislocations linked to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An estimated 333 million people worldwide are now experiencin...

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gavi faces an unprecedented situation. Billions of dollars that it raised back in 2022 for COVAX—the global effort to provide COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries—remain unspent. These resources are substantial, exceeding the entire annual budget of ...

In a seminal paper, Claudia Goldin and Cecilia Rouse show that when musicians do a blind audition for symphony orchestra positions—they perform behind a curtain—women are more likely to be hired than men. But, when the curtain is up and the person hiring can see who is performing, men are more likel...

What a week, eh. In  the UK, the Covid inquiry is kicking into overdrive, with Matt Hancock in this week and Boris Johnson next week, leaving observers with the difficult task of distinguishing fact from… um… well, the other thing (at least, according to the other witnesses to the inquiry, and their...

The dirty secret of climate finance is that much of it is displacing traditional development aid. Calls for more climate finance are important, but if current practice is any guide, a large share of the funds will be taken from budgets that fund critical development priorities, such as health, educa...

When Gavi’s board meets in Accra, Ghana, next week, advancing discussions on a new five-year strategic period, known as “Gavi 6.0,” will be a top agenda item. But conversations about Gavi’s future direction are also taking place against the backdrop of a leadership transition and a rapidly changing ...