The Center for Studies on Economic Development, CEDE, one of the first and foremost centers for economic and social research and consultancy in Colombia, gave life to TREES to address inequalities and obstacles to development from a global South perspective. Through three interconnected components—Research, Teaching, and Outreach—TREES aims to engage a broad community of researchers, students, institutions, and countries dedicated to investigating and promoting more equitable growth policies while reinventing the economic systems of nations.
Read the news CEDE receives funding from the Ford Foundation.
The Research component, led by Leopoldo Fergusson, director of CEDE and co-founder of TREES, aims to delve into topics that allow understanding the multiple dimensions of inequality and create the conceptual foundations guiding the actions of the Teaching and Outreach components. For this, there were two key motivations:
- Recognizing contextual differences: Realities in countries of the global South significantly differ from those in the global North. This implies the need to pose specific questions according to the social context of each country.
- Regional perspective: What is considered urgent in a country of the global South, such as Colombia, may vary considerably compared to countries in the global North, like the United States. This is why the approach to research and solutions must adapt to these differences.
A clear example of the above is the causes of inequality. Fergusson explains it this way: 'One thing is inequality in the United States, which has grown in recent years, driven by super salaries of CEOs of companies with enormous market power and growth capacity, versus inequality in the labor market of countries like Colombia, where 50% of the population is informal, and where inequality possibly has more to do with other dynamics and less with super salaries.'
This is why the Research component starts with a deep understanding of the context. It focuses on analyzing urgent issues for the global South, from the perspective of researchers located in these countries who are willing to propose alternative ways of understanding inequalities, even in conversation with other disciplines. 'This is an initiative built and conceived from economics, but with absolute openness and a desire to transgress disciplinary boundaries: to welcome people from other disciplines, to learn from other disciplines, and to contribute to other disciplines. I believe that some of the projects we are already funding reflect that,' affirms Fergusson.
To achieve its goals, the Research component opens calls such as the TREES Research Grant Fund to support new research, conducts its own research, provides opportunities for students like the TREES Research Lab, promotes spaces to share the progress and results of research like the Brown Bag Seminars, and creates multimedia products to communicate the findings of the research.
Currently, TREES is progressing with its own research agenda, consisting of five projects addressing these topics:
- Effects of public education on employment in contexts of inequality and segregation.
- Environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean: how pollution disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations.
- Street violence and segregation on Twitter during the protests in Colombia in 2021.
- "Antisocial" norms and their relationship with prosperity in the global South."
- Labor market policies in a context of informality.
The Research component will continue to focus on studying the specific realities of the region, based on novel questions and approaches. As Fergusson puts it: 'We know where we start, but not where we will end up,' as the goal is to gather unexplored perspectives, foster new collaborations, and provide society with insights for a broader and multidisciplinary understanding of inequalities.
