Afleveringen
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Civil war – the latest in a long series of armed conflicts – broke out in Sudan in April
2023. Today, more than half of the population needs humanitarian aid, and almost 15
million people have been displaced. The war has also devastated the digital
infrastructure in Sudan, deepening the crisis. African Renaissance Ventures is a VC firm
that backs entrepreneurs who use technology to solve major development challenges.
Magdi Amin tells Tim Phillips about how its infrastructure might be restored, and the
risks to Sudan’s population if it is not.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/rebuilding-sudans-digital-infrastructure-amidst-conflict -
Bangladesh's development story in the 21st century is often regarded as a model of
resilience and progress. But on 5 August 2024, student-led protests and public unrest
caused Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s prime minister, to resign and flee to India. An
interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, took over. Six months on, Bangladesh’s
political and economic future is unclear. Imran Matin, Executive Director, BRAC Institute
of Governance and Development (BIGD), is one of the experts in Bangladesh who are
attempting to discover and communicate a clearer picture of the country’s present – and its options for the future. He talks to Tim Phillips about how evidence-based policy can give the country a path forward. -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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With populist politicians taking power around the world, policymakers are relying less
on research and expertise, as their political narratives prioritise emotion and identity
over facts. This may have long-term consequences for global development: not least
in the US, where the Agency for International Development has been dismantled,
with thousands of staff laid off. Critical development programs have been halted, and
the future of US foreign assistance is in limbo. In the latest episode of the
collaboration between Yale’s Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, host Catherine
Cheney asks Rory Stewart, former UK Secretary of State for International
Development, Stefan Dercon of the University of Oxford and formerly chief
economist of the UK Department for International Development, and Trudi Makhaya,
former economic advisor to the President of South Africa, how we can ensure that
facts and evidence still matter in policymaking.
Check out the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/development-dialogues-future-evidence-based-policymaking-and -
What are the price impacts of cash transfer programs? Do they raise prices as well
as incomes? And what is the impact on people in the community who don’t receive
the transfer? Eeshani Kandpal of the Center for Global Development is one of the
researchers who has investigated this topic. She talks to Tim Phillips about the
conclusions of her own research, the insights of other economists, and the
implications for policy. -
How does a healthy ecosystem benefit humanity? How does the normal functioning
of the economy impact natural habitats and animal populations? And what are the
costs and benefits of conservation? Eyal Frank of the University of Chicago works at
the intersection of economics and conservation. He speaks to Tim Phillips about how
economic growth often has a hidden environmental cost.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/economics-ecosystems-how-nature-and-economies-interact -
The Reducing Conflict and Improving Performance in the Economy (ReCIPE)
programme, established in April 2024, aims to provide a better understanding of the
links between conflict, economic growth, and public policies. One of its many themes
is on what happens post-conflict: peacemaking, peacebuilding, and reconstruction.
Salma Mousa and Lisa Hultman, theme leaders, talk to Tim Phillips about why
peacebuilding must always be both bottom-up and top-down if it is going to work.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/peacemaking-peacebuilding-and-post-war-reconstruction -
Published this week: the latest VoxDevLit covers microfinance. After many decades,
microfinance is pervasive and popular in developing countries but is often
controversial. What have we learned about what works, how it works, and who it
helps – and what is there still to understand? Authors Simon Quinn, Muhammad
Meki, and Jing Cai talk to Tim Phillips about the problems of evaluation, the
surprising uses to which microfinance has been put, and the lessons that
policymakers can learn from the story of microfinance so far.
Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/finance/what-have-we-learned-about-microfinance
Read and download the VoxDevLit from our new look website here: https://voxdev.org/voxdevlit/microfinance -
In 2018, “Unorthodox policies for unorthodox times” was the title of the first in a
series of blogs published by the International Growth Centre. The authors argued
that the environment for development had changed, and so development policies
should change too. Seven years on, as delegates gather in Davos for the 2025
Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, how prescient was the analysis in
these articles, and what does this mean for future growth policy? Tim Dobermann
and Francesco Caselli talk to Tim Phillips about which “unorthodox policies” the
delegates to Davos should be discussing this week.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-can-countries-develop-their-economies-changed-world -
Many development economists would argue that the most important innovation of
the last two decades has been a commitment to use only rigorous evidence for
policy, and usually what they mean is evidence generated by RCTs. But are
systematic reviews of the results a useful guide to policy? And should development
economics continue to be focusing so much on the programmes that flow from RCT-
driven research? Lant Pritchett of LSE talks to Tim Phillips about the nature of
“rigorous” evidence in development economics, and the future of the discipline itself.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/rethinking-evidence-and-refocusing-growth-development-economics -
For more than 30 years, optimists about technology have been telling us that the
internet is transforming our economies. What is the evidence that this has happened,
or is happening, in low- or middle-income countries? And if the promise has not been
fulfilled, why not? Lin Tian is one of the authors of a new paper that examines the
evidence so far. She talks to Tim Phillips about what the research is telling us.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-does-internet-connectivity-impact-developing-economies -
Chris Woodruff has pioneered academic research into businesses, large and small, in low-income countries, He is also a non-executive Director of British International Investment (BII), a development finance institution and impact investor that partners with more than 1,500 businesses in emerging economies, with assets of £8.1 billion. Chris talks to Tim Phillips about what he has learned from his association with BII into how research can inform policy and investment – and whether economists worry too much about external validity.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/firms/role-evidence-development-finance-institutions -
In the second episode of the collaboration between Yale’s Economic Growth Center
and VoxDev, Catherine Cheney speaks to Amit Khandelwal of the Yale Jackson
School of Public Affairs, Isabela Manelici of the London School of Economics, and
Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute, As globalisation faces new headwinds,
they discuss the outlook for those countries that didn’t reap the trade benefits from
the spread of globalisation, and the new challenges for LMICs. -
When citizens demand change and feel they are not being heard, they protest on the
streets. Thanks to social media and TV coverage, we see protests every night on the
news. But has the frequency or the character of protests changed? Who is
protesting, and what makes them take to the streets? David Yang and Noam
Yuchtman are two of the authors of a new review of the literature on protests. They
tell Tim Phillips what they discovered.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/why-do-protests-matter-exploring-their-causes-and-lasting -
In our final episode based on this year’s BREAD-IGC virtual PhD-level course on the
economics of cities in low and middle-income countries, Matthew Kahn of USC and
Siqi Zheng of MIT focus on sustainable urbanisation. They tell Tim Phillips about how
cities can adapt in the face of climate change, both its inhabitants and its buildings.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/migration-urbanisation/how-urban-environment-can-adapt-climate-change -
If you’re applying for a job, you want to know what you’re good at, and be able to
prove it to the recruiter. If doing the recruiting, you want some evidence about who
the best candidates would be. In low- or middle-income countries, this information is
often in short supply. How does this affect who gets a job, and the hiring process? In
the latest in our collaborations with J-Pal to discuss their policy insights, Marianne
Bertrand of Chicago Booth School, also Co-Chair, Labor Markets at J-Pal, and
Stefano Caria of the University of Warwick, tell Tim Phillips about the impact of skills
signals on employment.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/labour-markets/helping-jobseekers-signal-their-skills-cost-effective-strategy-benefitting -
There are more than 1.4 million papers about cash transfers. They inspired Ugo
Gentilini, lead economist for social protection at the World Bank, to spend five years
researching the surprisingly long and rich history of these cash transfers. The
resulting book, called “Timely Cash: Lessons From 2,500 Years of Giving People
Money”, shows that the political and ethical debates that cash transfers inspire are
centuries, sometimes millennia, old. In a special episode to mark the launch of his
book, Ugo explains to Tim Phillips how we can draw on history to understand the
current, sometimes heated, debates about why, when, and where cash transfers
should be used.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/history-cash-transfers -
Where does electricity come from? In developing countries, the power sector uses
long-term, rigid contracts called power purchase agreements (PPAs) between a
private generator and government-owned utilities. These PPAs are not usually
competitive, their terms – including payment guarantees by which suppliers get paid
even when there is no demand – are often secret, they can last for up to 30 years,
and they guarantee the use of fossil fuels far into the future. Sugandha Srivastav
tells Tim Phillips about how the privatisation of electricity generation has created a
way to move money “from the public coffers to vested interests”.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/why-pakistan-locked-overpriced-and-environmentally-damaging-power-sector -
Can better data analysis improve the way that a government functions. The
Government Analytics Handbook, published by the World Bank, is both a practical
how-to guide and a fascinating insight into how administrators can improve the
quality of government analytics. Daniel Rogger and Christian Schuster are the
editors. They talk to Tim Phillips about the challenges, the potential – and their work
to create a community of analysts.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/public-economics/how-government-analytics-can-improve-public-sector-implementation -
As cities grow and spread, the uses to which land is put, and the value of that land,
will also change. The challenges of urban planning, construction and renewal are
complicated. But the way we address those challenges has profound impacts for the
people who live, and will live, in that physical city. Vernon Henderson and Maisy
Wong of University of Pennsylvania explain to Tim Phillips how cities adapt, change
and grow – and how that affects the lives and prospects of the people who live in
them. -
Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and so it has never been
more important to increase the resilience of small-scale farmers. What does
research tell us are the most effective interventions and policies to do this? In the
latest of our special episodes to discuss J-PAL policy insights, Tavneet Suri talks to
Tim Phillips about how we can strengthen the resilience of farmers to climate
change.
Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/financing-climate-adaptation-what-works-what-doesnt-and-can-carbon-credits - Laat meer zien
