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Célestin Monga

Célestin Monga

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Célestin Monga, a former managing director at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and a former senior economic adviser at the World Bank, is Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and a former vice president and chief economist at the African Development Bank Group. He is the co-editor, (with Justin Yifu Lin) of The Oxford Handbook of Structural Transformation and the co-author (with Justin Yifu Lin) of Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries.

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  1. Rethinking Debt Sustainability in Africa
    op_monga1_ISSOUF SANOGOAFP via Getty Images_CFAfranc Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images

    Rethinking Debt Sustainability in Africa

    Mar 3, 2023 Célestin Monga shows why analysts need a more holistic framework for assessing African countries' “balance sheets.”

  2. An Africa Roadmap for Biden
    monga9_JEWEL SAMADAFP via Getty Images_biden africa JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images

    An Africa Roadmap for Biden

    Jan 27, 2021 Célestin Monga explains how the new administration can engage constructively with the continent on three levels.

  3. The Great Services Illusion
    monga8_EYERUSALEM JIREGNAAFP via Getty Images_ethiopiafactory Eyerusalem Jiregna/AFP via Getty Images

    The Great Services Illusion

    Sep 8, 2020 Célestin Monga offers four reasons why industrialization remains the key to poorer countries’ development.

  4. The Misguided War on Global Value Chains
    monga7_STRAFP via Getty Images_chinamanufacturingcoronavirus STR/AFP via Getty Images

    The Misguided War on Global Value Chains

    May 5, 2020 Célestin Monga shows why dismantling cross-border supply networks in response to the COVID-19 pandemic would be self-defeating.

  5. Economic Policies to Combat COVID-19 in Africa
    monga6_BADRU KATUMBAAFP via Getty Images_africaugandapharmacylinecoronavirus Badru Katumba/AFP via Getty Images

    Economic Policies to Combat COVID-19 in Africa

    Mar 27, 2020 Célestin Monga proposes four sets of measures to help mitigate the pandemic’s economic impact on the continent.

  1. afrasmussen17_TOFIK BABAYEVAFP via Getty Images_armeniaazerbaijanconflict Tofik Babayev/AFP via Getty Images

    The Other Conflict on Europe’s Doorstep

    Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns that Azerbaijan may be preparing to renew its military aggression against neighboring Armenia.
  2. varoufakis101_Justin SullivanGetty Images_svb Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Let the Banks Burn

    Yanis Varoufakis

    The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far.

    shows why the current private system is unfixable – and why we don’t need to tolerate it anymore.
  3. roach151_ TIMOTHY A. CLARYAFP via Getty Images)_svb collapse TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)

    How China Benefits from Another US Banking Crisis

    Stephen S. Roach thinks America’s latest financial trouble will reinforce a narrative of terminal national decline.
  4. op_schell1_Andrea VerdelliGetty Images_xijinping Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images

    Xi Jinping’s Chinese Tragedy

    Orville Schell interviewed by Irena Grudzińska Gross

    Like Vladimir Putin, China's leader is so steeped in a narrative of victimhood and fearful of appearing weak that it is hard to imagine him ever leading China out of the mess he has created. He could well be remembered as the leader who squandered history's most remarkable economic success story.

    about the country's increasingly worrisome trajectory, both at home and abroad.
  5. zizek16_ Frank Rumpenhorstpicture alliance via Getty Images_chatbot Frank Rumpenhorst/picture alliance via Getty Images

    Artificial Idiocy

    Slavoj Žižek fears that the rise of powerful chatbots will spell the death of irony and nuance in human thought.
  6. kabubomariara1_Per-Anders Pettersson  Contributor Getty Images_research africa Per-Anders Pettersson / Contributor Getty Images

    Localizing Development Research

    Julia Kaufman & Jane Wanjiku Mariara explain why funders should be providing more long-term resources to researchers in developing countries.
  7. eeckhout1_Feature ChinaFuture Publishing via Getty Images_digitalrenminbi Feature China/Future Publishing via Getty Images

    The Simplest Fix for Banking

    Jan Eeckhout explains how central bank digital currencies would end bank runs and banks' excessive risk-taking.
  8. chellaney161_ARUN SANKARAFP via Getty Images_blinken lavrov ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images

    America’s Interest in Ending the Ukraine Crisis

    Brahma Chellaney explains why prolonging the conflict risks realizing the West’s worst geopolitical nightmare.
  9. krueger61_Tom WilliamsCQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images_Intelsemicronductors Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

    America’s Industrial Policy Is Counterproductive

    Anne O. Krueger laments that the Biden administration is adding red tape to an inefficient subsidy program.

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