European Development Policy

Each year, CGD’s Commitment to Development Index (CDI) rates 27 of the world‘s richest countries on their commitment to sustainable and fair policies towards poorer countries. This blog looks at why Germany’s performance is only mediocre, why the Finns do so much better, and how Germany’s policies could become more coherent, sustainable and fair. 

Global policymaking is at risk, threatening the international liberal order which has, for all its faults and lacunae, served the world well since the second world war. There has never been a period of such rapid progress in the human condition. The policies and international cooperation that have brought all this about are not always easy. Our Commitment to Development Index, the 14th annual edition of which is published today, measures the progress of the world’s industrialised economies towards policies that contribute to make this world better for everyone.

If the UK leaves the EU customs union, it will need new trade policies for poor countries as well as with major trading partners. This post kicks off a discussion of what that policy should look like by assessing which country currently has the best trade-for-development policy in the World.