Development | Council on Foreign Relations

China

Tracking China’s Investment in Airports

This interactive map tracks China’s growing network of investments in overseas airports. Users can plot the location of each airport and view satellite images alongside detailed information on which Chinese entities are involved in each project, the share of Chinese ownership (if any), the total dollar value of Chinese investment and the physical attributes of the runways, among others.

Tracker by Zongyuan Zoe Liu January 16, 2025 Asia Program
China

China’s Growing Influence in Latin America

For more than two decades, China has developed close economic and security ties with many Latin American countries, including Brazil and Venezuela. But Beijing’s growing sway in the region has raised concerns in Washington and beyond.

Backgrounder by Diana Roy January 10, 2025
RealEcon

AGOA at a Crossroads

The question is not whether the act will survive under a second Trump administration, but how it will evolve.

Article by Richard Morrow December 10, 2024 RealEcon

Experts in this Topic

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies

Bloomberg Chair in Global Health; Senior Fellow for International Economics, Law, and Development; and Director of the Global Health Program

Zongyuan Zoe Liu

Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies

Inu Manak

Fellow for Trade Policy

A. Michael Spence

Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Saudi Arabia

Letter From Saudi Arabia: How the Kingdom Is Focused Inward

The Saudis are determined to prevent the distractions of their dangerous neighborhood from getting in the way of Vision 2030 and the rapid modernization of their country.

Article by Michael Froman November 22, 2024
Development

RealEcon Welcomes Assistant Administrator Michael Schiffer to discuss USAID Priorities in the Indo-Pacific

Bilateral development assistance has long been an important tool of American leadership. But today it faces budgetary constraints and a number of potentially conflicting objectives, including promoting sustainable development, addressing humanitarian crises, and supporting U.S. strategic goals. As part of the CFR RealEcon initiative's focus on U.S. development policy, Michael Schiffer, Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), discussed these questions and the Agency’s work across the dynamic Asian region in a private roundtable with CFR members in late October.

Article October 31, 2024
Climate Change

Understanding the Global Push for Climate Finance

Countries will collectively need to spend trillions of dollars to reach their decarbonization goals and protect the most vulnerable nations from climate disasters, but experts say that current funding levels lag behind what’s required to stave off and adapt to the worst effects of climate change.

Backgrounder by Clara Fong October 23, 2024

China

China’s Central Bank is Becoming the Developing World’s “Payday Lender”

With the developing world’s growing use of costly and opaque “payday loans” from China’s central bank, the IMF and World Bank need to demand far greater transparency from Beijing.

Post by Benn Steil and Elisabeth Harding October 22, 2024 Geo-Graphics
Global

What Are the UN Sustainable Development Goals?

The United Nations’ ambitious development agenda aims to protect people and the planet via seventeen goals. But experts say governments aren’t doing enough to implement them.

Backgrounder by Clara Fong and Diana Roy September 18, 2024
China

Tracking China’s Control of Overseas Ports

This interactive map tracks China’s growing maritime influence through investments in strategic overseas ports. Users can plot the location of each port and view satellite images alongside detailed information on the share of Chinese ownership, the total amount of Chinese investment, and the port’s suitability for use by the Chinese military.

Tracker by Zongyuan Zoe Liu August 26, 2024 Asia Program
RealEcon

The Climate Reform Agenda: How China Enables and Undermines U.S. Leadership at the World Bank

The U.S. relies on multilateral institutions like the World Bank to support its foreign policy goals, but the need to compromise with other shareholders can undermine success.

Article by Karen Virginia Mathiasen August 6, 2024 RealEcon
Haiti

Haiti’s Troubled Path to Development

Hobbled by foreign interventions, political instability, and natural disasters, the former French colony is paralyzed by multiple crises.

Backgrounder by Diana Roy and Rocio Cara Labrador June 25, 2024
RealEcon

Mobilizing Clean Energy Financing through the Multilateral Development Banks

A new paper published by the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR) puts forward an ambitious agenda for innovation in clean energy finance.

Post by Brad W. Setser , Tess Turner and Michael Weilandt June 24, 2024 Follow the Money
Economics

Global Growth Tracker: World Economies by GDP

This tracker charts the economic growth performance through time of ninety-one countries around the globe.

Article by Benn Steil June 12, 2024 Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies
Guatemala

Latin America’s Demographic Opportunity Plus Arévalo’s First Four Months

Latin America’s openness to migration may offset downsides of aging populations; Arévalo’s reform agenda for Guatemala inches forward, but roadblocks are multiplying.

Post by Will Freeman and Shannon K. O'Neil May 28, 2024 Latin America’s Moment
Global Health Program

In-Person DC Roundtable: Falling Global Fertility and Its Implications for Climate Change, Political Stability, and Economies

New fertility forecasts from the Global Burden of Disease Study stress our world's trajectory towards a low-fertility future. By 2050, fertility rates in three-quarters of countries will not sustain their populations, increasing to ninety-seven percent of countries by 2100. At the same time, relatively high fertility rates in low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa will continue to drive population growth, leading to a ‘demographically divided world.’ Please join our speakers, Ann Norris, senior fellow for women and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and Christopher J. Murray, director of the institute that oversees the Global Burden of Disease Study, for a discussion about the latest regional fertility data and how national governments can prepare for projected threats to health, economies, food security, the environment, and geopolitical stability brought on by these demographic changes.

Event with Christopher J. Murray, Ann Norris and Thomas J. Bollyky May 13, 2024 Global Health Program