Economic Research Forum (ERF)

Shanta Devarajan

Founding contributors

Shanta Devarajan
Professor of the Practice of International Development, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Shanta Devarajan is Professor of the Practice of International Development, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. He was previously the Senior Director for Development Economics (DEC) at the World Bank. His research covers public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment. His Ph.D. in economics is from the University of California, Berkeley.

Content by this Author

Fiscal policy for Covid-19 and beyond

Covid-19 has hit developing countries hard. This Brookings column suggests that the crisis could galvanise governments to reduce ‘leakages’ of public spending to beneficiaries other than those for whom it is intended. The objectives should be creating fiscal space to serve the poor better while setting the stage for recovery and sustained economic growth.

Creating jobs: East Asian success and MENA failure

Comparing the experiences of MENA and East Asia in recent decades reveals the delicate nature of the latter’s remarkable structural transformation: several parts of the economy had to be pulling in the same direction. This column explains how East Asia succeeded – and MENA failed – in generating productive employment.

Most read

Artificial intelligence and the renewable energy transition in MENA

Artificial intelligence has the potential to bridge the gap between abundant natural resources and the pressing need for reliable, sustainable power in the Middle East and North Africa. This column outlines the constraints and proposes policies that can address the challenges of variability of renewable resources and stress on power grids, and support the transformation of ‘sunlight’ to ‘smart power’.

Arab youth and the future of work

The Arab region’s labour markets are undergoing a triple transformation: demographic, digital and green. As this column explains, whether these forces evolve into engines of opportunity or drivers of exclusion for young people will hinge on how swiftly and coherently policy-makers can align education, technology and employment systems to foster adaptive skills, inclusive institutions and innovation-led pathways to decent work.

Digitalising governance in MENA: opportunities for social justice

Can digital governance promote social justice in MENA – or does it risk deepening inequality and exclusion? This column examines the evolution of digital governance in three sub-regions – Egypt, Jordan and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council – highlighting how data practices, transparency mechanisms and citizen trust shape the social outcomes of technological reform.

Wrong finance in a broken multilateral system: red flags from COP30-Belém

With the latest global summit on climate action recently wrapped up, ambitious COP pledges and initiatives continue to miss delivery due to inadequate commitments, weak operationalisation and unclear reporting systems. As this column reports, flows of climate finance remain skewed: loans over grants; climate mitigation more than climate adaptation; and weak accountability across mechanisms. Without grant-based finance, debt relief, climate-adjusted lending and predictable multilateral flows, implementation of promises will fail.

Why political connections are driving business confidence in MENA

This column reports the findings of a new study of how the political ties of firms in the Middle East and North Africa boost business confidence. The research suggests that this optimism is primarily driven by networked access to credit and lobbying, underscoring the need for greater transparency and institutional reform in corporate governance.




Linkedin