CSIS’s Daniel F. Runde recently sat down with Alexandre Lazarow, a venture capitalist who has spent his career working at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development in the private, public, and social sectors. He is currently with Cathay Innovation, a global firm that invests across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Previously, Alex …
Continue reading Out Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley
The Issue The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is an important agency for advancing U.S. foreign policy interests, creating jobs, and fostering the private sector in developing countries. As part of its new authorities designated in the 2018 Build Act, the DFC can now carry out equity investments and technical assistance and is mandated …
The Issue In late 2019, the novel coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China. It is generally agreed that it originated from animal consumption in a market. Increased human interaction with wildlife—be it through the destruction of habitats, the consumption of animals, or other means—increases exposure to diseases, and 58 percent of all pandemics are zoonotic in origin, transmitted through an …
Continue reading Post-pandemic Natural Resource Management in the Indo-Pacific
Historically, creative industries have been more resilient to economic shocks than other sectors of the global economy. In the face of the 2008 financial crisis, global trade declined by 12 percent, yet trade in creative goods and services continued to grow. The Covid-19 epidemic is no exception when it comes to the recovery of the …
Continue reading Creative Economies in the Indo-Pacific and Covid-19
The Issue In recent years, democracy has been under siege as its global appeal has waned, and authoritarian coercion and pressure have risen. The Covid-19 global pandemic will become yet another vehicle for great power competitors, such as China, to further exacerbate existing democratic backsliding, corruption, and disinformation. The Indo-Pacific region is important to U.S. interests and …
Covid-19 has exacerbated preexisting disparities in rural economies in terms of jobs, poverty levels, access to markets and finance, infrastructure and connectivity, education quality, and healthcare provisions. Rural economies have the potential to create meaningful economic opportunities in the future, yet rural development needs to go beyond the notion of improving agricultural productivity; it must …
Continue reading How Impact Investments Can Strengthen Rural Economies in the Age of Covid-19
At the time of publishing this document, the coronavirus pandemic (or Covid-19) has claimed nearly 900,000 lives and destroyed the livelihoods of several millions of people around the world. Given the contagious nature of this disease, it was not too long before the deadly public health crisis led to a devastating economic turmoil. The impending …
Introduction It is in the interest of the United States to explore the creation of an enterprise fund for the West Bank and Gaza as part of its continuing efforts to foster peace and prosperity in the Middle East. With the growth of joint Israeli-Palestinian ventures and people-to-people exchanges facilitated by an enterprise fund, the …
Continue reading Should the United States Create a West Bank/Gaza Enterprise Fund (WGEF)?
Covid-19 has caused major disruptions to the global economy and international trade flows. Dropping productivity associated with the pandemic is projected to drag GDP growth in developed countries to -5 percent over the course of 2020. This staggering loss will wipe out four years of a steady growth in productivity. As countries reel from the economic downturn, …
Key Takeaways There is an increased political push across the board for international development institutions to operate in low-income countries and, in particular, fragile and conflict-affected states. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) is also mandated to focus its investments in these difficult contexts and is now equipped with a better set of development …
Continue reading The DFC: Delivering Technical Assistance in High-risk Contexts
Daniel Runde 