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Micro, small and medium enterprise upgrading in low- and middle-income countries: a literature review

Reeg, Caroline (2013)
Discussion Paper 15/2013

Drivers and constraints for adopting sustainability standards in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Sommer, Christoph (2017)
Discussion Paper 21/2017

To “make standards work” for SMEs and sustainable development, the challenges and incentives for take-up of sustainability standards need to be better understood. The paper analyses five country case studies to identify drivers and constraints for standard adoption by SMEs and to derive policy advice.

Protection and sustainable use of tropical forests. Points of departure in the Brazilian timber industry

Scholz, Imme (1999)
Briefing Paper 4/1999

The informalization of the Egyptian economy (1998–2012): a driver of growing wage inequality

El-Haddad, Amirah / May Mokhtar Gadallah (2021)
External Publications

Trade and foreign direct investment‐related impacts of Brexit

Latorre, Maria C. / Zoryana Olekseyuk / Hidemichi Yonezawa (2020)
External Publications

Employment creation through industrial policy in the MENA countries

Bonn, 21. September 2018

Lack of productive employment is one of the most pressing challenges of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). No other region in the world has such high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Policy makers across the region are extremely concerned about the problem but have not yet been able to identify an effective…

Cotton made in Africa: a case study of sustainable production through responsible consumption

Peltzer, Roger / Michael Brüntrup (2023)
Policy Brief 6/2023

Cotton made in Africa is a sustainability standard for the textile mass market, implemented from 2005 on as an international public-private-partnership. From this experience, many lessons can be learned - for CmiA itself, for value chain promotion with smallholders, and for supply chain regulation.

Improving employment and social cohesion among refugee and host communities through TVET: evidence from an impact assessment in Ethiopia

Getachew, Abis / Lisa Höckel / Jana Kuhnt / Abdirahman A. Muhumad / Armin von Schiller (2023)
Policy Brief 26/2023

Based on an impact assessment, this policy brief gives insight into the effect of an inclusive technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programme implemented by the GIZ on employment and social cohesion outcomes among refugee and host participants in Ethiopia.

The EU-China comprehensive agreement on investment: stuck half-way?

Berger, Axel / Manjiao, Chi (2021)
External Publications

The UN Climate Conference has to prove that the Paris Agreement is working

Bauer, Steffen (2021)
The Current Column, 25. October 2021

Five years after the Paris Climate Agreement entered into force and one year after the COVID-enforced hiatus, the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (“COP26”) will convene in the Scottish city of Glasgow on 31 October. At long last!

Weakening anti-deforestation regulation threatens EU’s credibility

Rodríguez de Francisco, Jean Carlo (2025)
The Current Column, 10. June 2025

On May 22, 2025, the International Day for Biological Diversity was celebrated under the theme “Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development”—a call to align human progress with the protection of ecosystems. Yet, just days later, the European Union stands at a troubling inflection point.

Impact investing: a promising niche solution?

Lindenberg, Nannette / Caroline Pöll (2014)
The Current Column, 16. June 2014

Two weeks after the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned against further social spending cutbacks in European countries in its World Social Protection Report 2014/2015 a group of politicians and experts from the fields of business, academia and finance is meeting in London to discuss ways of further developing the international market for social impact investments.

When authoritarianism embraces gentrification – the case of Old Damascus, Syria

Sudermann, Yannick (2015)
External Publications

Scaling up sustainable investment through blockchain-based project bonds

Chen, Yushi / Ulrich Volz (2022)
External Publications

To regulate or not to regulate? Jordan’s approach to digital ride-hailing platform Careem

Zintl, Tina (2022)
External Publications

Do social transfers benefit local economic development? The case of cash-for-work programmes in Jordan

Loewe, Markus / Tina Zintl (2021)
External Publications

ما هي العوامل التي تحدد الرتقاء بالمشاريع الصغيرة والمتوسطة في مصر؟ (Which factors constrain the upgrading of small and medium-size enterprises in Egypt?)

Loewe, Markus et al. (2015)
External Publications

Food security in times of crisis: poor developing countries are different

Brüntrup, Michael (2020)
Briefing Paper 9/2020

Until now, the Corona crisis is mainly fought through lockdown measures. In more wealthy countries, these have barely an immediate effect on food security. In poor countries, the situation is different: There, these measures threaten people immediately. The text discusses issues and consequences.

Diversity and implications of food safety and quality standards in Thailand and India

Hampel-Milagrosa, Aimée / Sarah Holzapfel (2016)
Briefing Paper 17/2016

To allow majority of Thai and Indian farmers to enter markets, we recommend increasing awareness about Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), upgrading infrastructure needed for standard adoption, and fostering institutional arrangements that allow large numbers of smallholders to adopt GAP standards.

What Uganda reveals about the benefits and drawbacks of foreign direct investment

Vrolijk, Kasper (2023)
External Publications

There is no consensus about the benefits and drawbacks in foreign direct investments. In the aggregate, is there an economic logic to attracting it? Kasper Vrolijk studies the case of Uganda and finds both positive technology spillovers and negative market competition, with the latter occurring mostly through domestic buyer-supplier linkages. The Ugandan case shows that policies that curb some of the negative effects may be needed.