Multilateral development banks have not kept pace with changes to the global financial environment. For middle-income countries like India, accessing knowledge and technology is now a bigger challenge than raising capital, which suggests that these institutions must rethink their operating model. By Tanu M Goyal and Shekhar Aiyar

The need for massive upfront investments and the likelihood of significant job displacement imply remarkable parallels between the AI buildout and the green transition. In both cases, the state has an important role to play in guiding market forces on behalf of the public good. By Gernot Wagner and Adam Michael Bauer

As Laos prepares to graduate from the United Nations’ least developed country category, the bigger challenge is no longer escaping poverty but building a future defined by clean space and green growth. By Anoulak Kittikhoun

The vast minority of middle-income countries graduate to high-income status. Past strategies that prioritised physical capital must give way to a quality of growth approach premised on investment in human and natural capital. By Vinod Thomas