Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests are happening in many countries. They show that the USA is still a global leader – though not in a way that President Trump appreciates.

The new book by two of the economists who won last year’s Nobel Prize is quite radical. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo call for a paradigm change. They want their profession to consider empirical reality rather than indulging in fictional models. In particular, they resent TV economists who sell distorted platitudes as deep insights.

Humanity needs a united response to the novel coronavirus. In a brief essay, Jürgen Zattler has spelled out his personal views concerning the matter. He represents Germany on the Bank’s executive board. The complete essay was published by the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank, to coincide with this year’s virtual spring meetings of World Bank and IMF (14 April to 17 April). The meetings are taking place in a digital format. Here are some of Zattler’s important insights.

Because of the novel coronavirus, the international community must rise to unprecedented challenges – and it must do so in a coordinated manner.