Great article by economist Brent Neiman on the various levels of errors in the determination of tariffs on US trading partners. Even if you were to consider the aims of the tariffs worthy, and ignore the flaws in the approach, they don't use the right coefficients 1/2 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/o...

Neo-Nazi terrorist and convicted mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, cited this same Napoleon quote in his manifesto.

Changing the role of SDRs is para 54e of the zero draft. The proposal calls for some reforms to SDRs including
- faster issuance mechanism
- faster rechannelling by countries not using them
- better targetting of the allocation to those in need

Arauz & Weisbrot @ceprdc.bsky.social write on this

Egg prices are directly linked to avian flu- H5N1- spreading on poultry farms with high lethality in chickens. If you want cheaper eggs, then deal with the disease. That requires science, public health & vet experts.

Worth noting that despite the diplomatic spat with #Colombia being 'resolved', the delegation from the country to our UN event in NYC were unable to travel to the US, and UNDP colleagues from Colombia were deported back to the country instead of being with us today!

Live from the #ColumbiaDialogues on Public Finance for the SDGs in New York.Many great sessions on what the importance of the Financing for Development Conference in helping drive development across the world,and creating new processes for cooperation/coordination. www.taxforsdgs.org/event/2025-d...

The IADB recently published a book on #taxexpenditures in the Caribbean. While having it's heart in the right place, making the point that tax expenditures are not key drivers of investment and growth and large drains on DRM, it has a lot of issues 1/n publications.iadb.org/en/publicati...

The @who.int recently held a fundraising round during G20 meetings, but despite the meetings being in Brazil, NO COUNTRY FROM THE AMERICAS made any pledges. How embarassing is that for the region? www.globalhealthhub.de/de/news/deta...

As I prepare to leave Lesotho, I want to share the experience of the power of the industry in undermining alcohol and tobacco taxation. The country passed a new tobacco and alcohol levy, on top of an existing specific tax,but saw strong pushback after it was implemented allafrica.com/stories/2021...

In more normal coverage, @cnn.com covered a more unusual angle of Ozempic, which touches both on priority setting in health as well as health taxes. Addressing obestiy can get people back into work, but this would likely increase unemployment, not decrease it 1/N edition.cnn.com/2024/11/17/u...

As an opening message, and not linked to my main area of development work, I thought I should share that I recently finished reading "The Wizard and the Prophet" by @charlescmann.bsky.social and it was probably the most important book I have read in the last 10 years. It is perfect for our time.