There was nothing unconstitutional about yesterday’s decision by the House of Lords.

XKCD teases the innovation fetish in international development.

Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank, says that the world is moving closer to the historic goal of ending poverty by 2030: This is the best story in the world today — these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty … This new forecast of poverty falling into the single digits should give us new momentum and help us focus even more clearly on the most effective strategies to end extreme poverty. It will be extraordinarily hard, especially in a period of slower global growth, volatile financial markets, conflicts,… Read More »We are the first generation in human history … again

The Free Exchange column in this week’s Economist discusses the work of the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Cash Transfers.

How emissions trading can both tackle climate change and generate development finance. (This article by Alex Evans, Alice Lépissier and Owen Barder first appeared in The Guardian on 25 September 2015) 

The latest Development Drums features Todd Moss, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Development and a bestselling fiction author.

A High Level Panel on Humanitarian Cash Transfers, which I chaired, has concluded that much more humanitarian aid should be provided as cash, rather than as vouchers or in-kind; and that this change should be used to bring about broader reforms of humanitarian aid.

There is an article by Theo Talbot and me in the latest edition of ECDPM’s Great Insights Private Sector Matters. We argue that rather than subsidising inputs or reducing risk to leverage private finance for development, it would be more effective for public sector actors such as donors to provide subsidies linked to a firm’s success or performance in terms of development impact. (This is a shorter and more accessible version of our recent CGD Working Paper.) You can read the article here.

Rather than giving refugees food, shelter, water and medical care, it is often better to give them cash.

World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity to celebrate the courage of humanitarian workers, but also to think about how to improve the system. I am chairing a High Level Panel looking at the role of cash transfers in humanitarian aid.