Economics
The interesting question in development is not whether aid works or does not work. Not surprisingly, the answer is that some aid works and some doesn’t. A more interesting question is: what kind of aid works best?
Nick… Continue reading
Someone working on the budget process in a developing country contacted me with the following question:
I noticed in your most recent post you mention that you are a budget wonk. I am currently working in [the budget section of… Continue reading
On the Oxfam blog, Max Lawson has an excellent guest post telling the story of how Malawi has used an extensive programme of fertilizer subsidies to generate seven years of economic growth, reduductions in poverty and child deaths.
Max cites… Continue reading
A perennial question in development economics is whether economic growth, by itself, is enough to reduce poverty.
The question came up in the most recent edition of Development Drums. Claire Melamed argued that the fact that so many of… Continue reading
Shanta Devarajan asks if we have found Development 3.0
Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, describes in an important new blog post the evolution of development policy in terms of changing ideas about market failures and government… Continue reading
Development activists should not try to bypass the systems of democratic control of spending priorities, nor should they advocate taxes which do not make good tax policy on either distributional or microeconomic grounds.
Continue readingWe would get three or four times as much bang for our buck - in terms of climate change benefits - from population policies and girls' education as we would from the most cost-effective investments in forest management, and in addition we'd get the broader economic and social benefits for the people of developing countries.
Continue reading
Peter Gill's new book, Famine and Foreigners
Peter Gill talks on the latest Development Drums podcast about his new book, Famine and Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid.
The Ethiopian famine of 25 years ago killed more than 600,000… Continue reading
On World Food Day let us remember Sen's insight that hunger is not a problem of food production but of poverty. The fact that most poor people work in agriculture suggests that a good way to escape poverty is to get out of agriculture. So the best way to reduce hunger and help people out of poverty may be to focus not on improving agriculture, but rather on helping people who want to leave agriculture into more rewarding work.
Continue reading
A story of characteristic Ethiopian honesty, from Dessie.
Continue readingRegular readers will have noticed that things have been quiet around here for a while. I’ll be back to blogging properly in a while.
In the meantime, I am dead impressed by this collection of very accessible briefs from the… Continue reading
An interesting Economist article about the uses of prizes to promote innovation is a missed opportunity to explain the economic logic of prizes for innovations for developing countries. The reported comments by Tachi Yamada at the Gates Foundation about the value of market success do not seem to take account of the shortcomings of the system of patents and markets when it comes to developing drugs for diseases that mainly affect developing countries, nor to the problem of ensuring access in developing countries for new drugs.
Continue readingEsther Duflo explains in a TED talk how we can bring aid evaluation from the “middle ages” to the 21st century.
It is extraordinary how much resistance there is within development agencies to rigorous evaluation of development interventions.
A new article published in The Lancet by Chunling Lu with Chris Murray, Dean Jamison and others, has caused quite a stir in development circles. They use data on health aid and government spending on health to estimate that… Continue reading
Thim Harford lambasts the Robin Hood Tax campaign:
The basic proposition of the RHT is that it is a tiny tiny tax which will raise a humongous sum of money. Nobody is really going to have to pay it… Continue reading
Laura Freschi at AidWatch lists four ways in which the brain drain from Africa is a good thing. Her analysis includes (a) gains to the migrants; (b) gains to the migrants’ families; (c)the benefits of exchange of ideas; and (d)… Continue reading
No less a scholar than Bill Nighy urges us to support a “Robin Hood Tax” to take money from the bankers and speculators and give to the poor.
The Robin Hood tax appears at first sight to be a way… Continue reading
One argument that aid sceptics like to use – often without really understanding it – is that aid damages recipient countries through a macroeconomic effect known as “Dutch Disease”. The issue has been raised again in a new working… Continue reading
I am grateful to Oxfam’s Duncan Green for his fair and thoughtful review of my paper about improving aid, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid.
I’m glad that Duncan and Chris, his Oxfam colleague, endorse a… Continue reading
Owen Barder is the Europe Director at the Center for Global Development. He writes here about development, economics, politics, computers, running, and anything else that interests him. He also hosts Development Drums.
Tax, trade, transparency … & turfApril 23, 2013
1 comments
For the first time ever (World Bank edition)April 19, 2013
4 comments
The Europe Development DigestApril 16, 2013
0 comments
Are rich countries ‘getting away with murder’ by massaging aid figures?April 11, 2013
0 comments
Global wealth inequalityApril 8, 2013
1 comments
Waste not, want notApril 1, 2013
0 comments
Hello Owen, Stumbled on your website by accident…I’m currently trying to arange a visa for someone I work...May 16, 2013
Dear Biniam, Please refere to the following link. http://www.ethiotelecom.et/new s/news.php?id=85April 25, 2013
Hi all, I have the expereiance that blackberry phones will not work directly with the Ethio-telecom GPRS...April 25, 2013
Hi! The service provider in Ethiopia, Ethio – Telecom states the APN settings are the following: APN : etc.com...April 9, 2013
Interesting ideas, I wrote some thoughts on them here,April 24, 2013
”Today for the first time ever, I felt so relieved after I realized I wasn’t looking out making...April 19, 2013
Barack Obama (2/2013): “So the United States will join with our allies to eradicate such extreme poverty in...April 19, 2013
Owen: Where are we going with this? Is this a refutation of the power law of wealth distribution?April 10, 2013
Hey Abita check out my website as I may need a guide like you to help me run bike tours there, we just did...April 5, 2013
Hey Jeff enjoy the riding there–I have run several bike tours there out of Toronto and I love riding...April 5, 2013
Hi guys I totally disagree with your assessment of the children. I have ridden from Adiss to Lalibela 5...April 5, 2013
Hi Owen The long format works well for me because (like Robb) I enjoy getting into the substance and...April 1, 2013