Sustainable global development should focus on bang per buck

What's the best way for the United Nations to help the developing world? Right now, the organisation is in the process of setting its global development agenda for the next 15 years - and the most important thing to do is to set goals which it can actually achieve, and to work out what the best way to spend its money is. Economics may well show the way.

President Trump recently hosted “Technology Week” at the White House, focusing on “modernizing government technology and stimulating the technology sector.”

Behind this string of photo-ops is the unfortunate reality that Trump’s 2018 budget request has proposed the steepest funding cuts for federal research and development in US history.

The proposed budget would reduce funding for the Agricultural Research Service in the Department of Agriculture by 26 percent, which would lead to the closure of 17 research centers.

New Zealand is being lauded for introducing the world’s first Wellbeing Budget, which aims to shift the focus from GDP toward the “wellbeing of people.” Those with a grudge against the GDP indicator – in particular greens, who blame economic growth for harming the environment – see this as an exciting new opportunity to stop chasing dollars and start caring about people.