Thinking Aloud: Volume I, Issue 12

As Thinking Aloud steps into its 12th month, we present to you a special issue on ‘Post 2015 Development Agenda’. This issue presents six articles with a strong common message that better economic policies and improvement in the quality of institutions will be very crucial in the post 2015 development era. The first article on “How to end global hunger?”, using panel regressions for 117 countries for the period https://iabdm.org/ambien/ between 1990 and 2010, depicts that hunger could be reduced through economic growth, increased food production, improved sanitation facilities, and rise in health expenditure together with ensuring government stability. The second article on “How to enhance gender equality?” constructs a ‘Gender Equality Index’ for 165 countries for the period 2000-2010, and the panel regression results reveal that economic growth doesn’t necessarily bring gender equality, whereas infrastructural advancement, public expenditures on health and education, bureaucracy quality and reduction in internal conflict are very crucial. The third article titled “What makes doing business easier?”, using panel regressions for 146 countries for the period between 2004 and 2013, shows that economic growth, trade openness, reduced cost of lending and improvement in political and economic institutions are important for the ease of doing business. The fourth article on “How to ensure water and sanitation for all?”, using panel regressions for 107 countries for the period between 1990 and 2010, shows that ensuring water and sanitation for all would require economic growth and infrastructural development, together with the rise in bureaucracy quality, democratic accountability and government stability. The fifth article on “What matters most for environmental performance?’, using panel regressions for 167 countries for the period between 2002 and 2012, shows that economic growth, infrastructural development, health expenditure, urbanization, together with improvement in bureaucracy quality have important positive impacts on environmental performance. The sixth article on “Why do countries differ in educational attainment?”, using panel regressions for 144 countries for the period between 1980 and 2010, shows that a strong nexus between economic policies and institutional development can help attaining educational development.