News

Aoife Hanley Moderated Africa’s Fintech Panel at the Kiel-CEPR African Conference

12th December 2025
KCG Secretary
Public Contributions
Public Contributions
International African experts, policymakers, business professionals and representatives of NGOs came together at the second KIEL-CEPR African Economic Development Conference (AEDC) “Understanding the Shifting Landscape of African Economic Development” held on November 13 and 14, 2025 in Berlin. During the conference, participants discussed a wide range of topics related to African economic development, including education, state capacity, aid, finance, natural resources and climate, among others[...]

Research Grant Extended: Kiel Research Project on Environmental Impact of Global Producers in China

31st July 2025
KCG Secretary
Further KCG Projects
Further KCG Projects
In recent years, marked by growing economic tensions and geopolitical conflicts, foreign direct investment (FDI) in individual—often authoritarian—countries such as China has come under increasing scrutiny. At the same time, China as one of the world’s most attractive destinations for FDI in the past decades, is nowadays the largest emitter of Carbon dioxide (CO2)[...]

New Project on Global Affiliate Structure of German Firms and their Resilience against Shocks

18th July 2025
KCG Secretary
Further KCG Projects
Further KCG Projects
For decades, the world experienced extensive trade liberalization and deepening globalization, during which firms built and expanded their global production networks. However, this trend began to reverse following the 2008 financial crisis, as national policies have increasingly shifted toward protectionism. This trend has been further intensified due to natural disasters, climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and, particularly, geopolitical events such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rising tensions between the US and China[...]

New Policy Brief on Significance and Policy Implications of EU-U.S. Services Trade

17th July 2025
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
Trade in services is an important component of international trade and is becoming increasingly more important with growth rates exceeding the rates with which goods trade increases. This is also true in the bilateral U.S. – EU relationship: Trade in services, and especially trade in digitally deliverable services, is a highly important element of the economic relations between the U.S. and the EU. And it is growing much faster than goods trade between the two economies. Despite its importance, trade in services has received much less attention in political and public discussions on the transatlantic trade relationship[...]

Special Economic Zones Policies Contribute to Urbanization and Inclusive Growth in Africa

1st July 2025
KCG Secretary
Publications
Publications
Fishing boats on the shore of Cape Coast, Ghana
There has been an increasing number of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in Africa since the early 1990s. While there were only around 20 SEZs in the early 1990s in Africa, the number amounted to more than 200 zones all over Africa in 2021. These zones are established to “promote local economic development and reduce regional disparities” (Abagna et al., 2025: 1). In policy debates and academic research, little attention has been paid so far to the impact of SEZ on the households’ welfare development in Africa[...]