This paper by PERI economist Nancy Folbre reviews recent research on unpaid care work in the Global South. The projects that Folbre reviews use a range of research methods to compare women’s unpaid care burdens in several developing countries. The results show that programs designed to increase women’s opportunities to earn income are typically hampered by inadequate provision for child care, leading to increased economic stress and longer work days. This research supports arguments that developing countries should invest more heavily in social and physical infrastructure to improve the productivity of unpaid work and reduce the burden placed on women as family caregivers.

This study by PERI Co-Director Gerald Epstein and co-authors Andrew Baker and Juan Montecino suggests that the total cost of lost growth potential for the UK caused by 'too much finance' between 1995 and 2015 is in the region of £4.5 trillion. This total figure amounts to roughly 2.5 years of the average GDP across the period.  The paper's findings suggest that the UK suffers from a form of 'finance curse': a development trajectory of financial over-dependence involving a crowding out of other sectors and a skewing of social relations, geography, and politics.

Recent progress in narrowing gender gaps in education, health, and political representation is not matched by similar improvements in labor market outcomes for women, or more broadly, women’s economic empowerment.  This paper by PERI economist James Heintz addresses the complex links between factors that shape women’s labor market participation and their economic empowerment. It reviews and synthesizes research findings from the Growth and Economic Opportunity Program to shed light on why development gains have yet to translate into more and better employment for women in some regions, and why employment gains seen in others have failed to empower women.