Alle afleveringen
351 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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S4 Ep18: Harnessing technology to boost African agriculture
8 mei 2024 · 18 min
Agriculture makes up a large share of employment and GDP in Africa, but crop yields remain stubbornly low. VoxDev has published Issue 2 of Agricultural Technology in Africa, which reviews what the published literature can – and cannot – explain about this stagnation. Chris Udry, one of the editors, tells Tim Phillips about the impact of this stagnation on living standards in Africa, and insights from recent research that can potentially make a difference. Lees meer
Read the VoxDevLit: https://voxdev.org/voxdevlit/agricultural-technology-africa
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S4 Ep17: Increasing learning at scale in Ghana
1 mei 2024 · 26 min
How can we take what we learn in educational RCTs and apply it at scale to many
schools, maybe in many countries? Adrienne Lucas talks to Tim Phillips about the
project she was part of to improve learning in Ghana, the difference between small-
and large-scale trials, and the challenge of implementing policies results without
perfect compliance or daily monitoring. Lees meer -
S4 Ep16: Electricity shortages and unemployment in Africa
24 april 2024 · 21 min
In high-income countries, we take a reliable electricity supply for granted. But in parts
of the world where that reliable electricity supply isn’t available, what is the effect of
frequent power outages on employment? Justice Tei Mensah of The World Bank tells
Tim Phillips about how power cuts translate to job cuts. Lees meer -
S4 Ep15: The global learning crisis
17 april 2024 · 30 min
In September 2022 António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, convened the Transforming Education Summit by telling education stakeholders from around the world that education is “beset by inequalities and struggling to adjust to the needs of the 21st century”. Their task: to tackle the global learning crisis by transforming their education systems. Robert Jenkins of UNICEF talks to Tim Phillips about the progress that has been made to solve what he calls “the global learning crisis”. Lees meer
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S4 Ep14: How does cultural distance shape conflict?
10 april 2024 · 30 min
What determines how a war is fought, and who chooses to fight it? Eleonora Guarnieri of the University of Exeter talks to Tim Phillips about how cultural distance influences whether, and how, sexual violence is used as a weapon of war – and its role in civil conflict in Africa. Lees meer
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S4 Ep13: Further education in low- and middle-income countries
3 april 2024 · 29 min
If you go to college in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC), how does it help you, and what do you get from it? Two questions that would seem to have obvious answers – but these questions may be more complicated for policymakers to answer than they seem. Jishnu Das tells Tim Phillips that “the demographic dividend seems to be turning into a demographic nightmare” – and what researchers and policymakers can do about it. Lees meer
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S4 Ep12: The psychology of poverty
20 maart 2024 · 19 min
Does being rich make us happy, or is it being richer than other people that matters? Will interventions that alleviate poverty also improve someone’s well-being? If we can improve a person’s mental health, does this have an economic effect too? Johannes Haushofer and Daniel Salicath tell Tim Phillips what we know so far about these questions, and how future research can help us understand the psychology of poverty. Lees meer
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S4 Ep11: Selecting political candidates in Sierra Leone
13 maart 2024 · 16 min
Who should select political candidates, the people or the party? Abou Bakarr Kamara and Niccoló Meriggi talk to Tim Phillips about an experiment in Sierra Leone that convinced two major political parties to adopt a primary system for candidate selection. Did that mean that different candidates stood in the election, and that different MPs were chosen? Lees meer
Photo: Carol Sahley/USAID
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S4 Ep10: Universal basic income in Kenya
6 maart 2024 · 25 min
Universal basic income – UBI – has always been more an economic thought experiment than serious policy idea. It’s now being taken seriously, but any large-scale implementation would need solid empirical evidence to justify the cost. Tavneet Suri tells Tim Phillips about the surprising insights from the early stages of a decade-long test of UBI in Kenya, and what we expect to learn as the experiment progresses. Lees meer
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S4 Ep9: Labour market dynamics in LMICs
27 februari 2024 · 21 min
The process that economists call labour market dynamics lets workers improve their lives by switching jobs. But do our assumptions about it apply in LMICs? Because if the dynamics are different, then maybe the policies should be different as well. Kevin Donovan and Todd Schoellman tell Tim Phillips about the surprising evidence they discovered about labour market flows, and why it might lead us to rethink job creation policy in LMICs. Lees meer
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S4 Ep8: Humanitarian aid and the costs of inaction
21 februari 2024 · 29 min
The need for humanitarian relief is at record highs, while support from the international community is dwindling. Should we divert funding from development policies designed to deliver growth to focus on the most efficient ways to provide humanitarian assistance instead? And, if we did, what would those policies be? Arif Husain of the UN WFP tells Tim Phillips about the growing funding gap for aid, the urgent need to improve global food security, and the consequences if we choose not to act. Lees meer
Photo credit: doganmesut - stock.adobe.com
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S4 Ep7: AI, entrepreneurs, and development
14 februari 2024 · 26 min
How useful is generative AI in helping entrepreneurs become more successful? Rem Koning is one of a team of researchers who created an AI mentor for entrepreneurs in Kenya. He tells Tim Phillips about which questions the mentor was asked, and which businesses profited from its AI-driven advice. Lees meer
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S4 Ep6: Mobile money markets and financial inclusion
7 februari 2024 · 20 min
Mobile money has created many opportunities for users. But its fees can be expensive. One solution: create competition between mobile money providers in Africa through interoperability. But if we reduce the profitability of providers, might it also reduce network coverage, and therefore financial inclusion too? Nicola Limodio tells Tim Phillips about the upside and downside of competition in Africa’s mobile money market. Lees meer
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S4 Ep5: Macro development: The emerging agenda
31 januari 2024 · 18 min
Recorded at CEPR Paris Symposium 2023: How can macroeconomics (and macroeconomists) contribute to what we know about development policy? Lees meer
The availability of better data has given fresh impetus to the use of macroeconomic models to explain the development process in LICs. Doug Gollin and Paula Bustos talk to Tim Phillips about this emerging agenda, what questions it is helping to answer, and the challenges of the next generation of research.
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S4 Ep4: State capacity and the development of the US
24 januari 2024 · 21 min
What is the role of state capacity in economic development? Nicola Mastrorocco spent five years digitalising civil service records from a century of economic development in the US, showing how a century of bureaucracy changed the US, and what this tells us about how a state bureaucracy evolves. Lees meer
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S4 Ep3: Industrial policy for economic development
17 januari 2024 · 21 min
Research shows that policymakers have consistently endorsed the use of industrial policy. And now economists are increasingly talking about – and researching – the benefits of it too. Dani Rodrik talks to Tim Phillips about what we know about its effectiveness, and the evolving policy agenda that it represents. Lees meer
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S4 Ep2: Place-based policies and development
10 januari 2024 · 26 min
How does place-based policy work, and what can it deliver? Gordon Hanson has spent many years studying the economic importance of where people live, and what policy can do to improve those places. He talks to Tim Phillips and what has historically succeeded and failed in US cities, and how that knowledge can be applied elsewhere. Lees meer
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S4 Ep1: Education markets and systems in LMICs
3 januari 2024 · 30 min
What is the fairest and most efficient way to improve not just access to education, but outcomes too? Should policymakers focus on a broader markets and systems approach to education reform? Emiliana Vegas and Asim Khwaja tell Tim Phillips about what a markets and systems approach to delivering education reform is, and what it has already achieved in Pakistan and Chile. Lees meer
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S3 Ep45: How should economic researchers give policy advice?
19 december 2023 · 32 min
Researchers want to maximise the development impact of their advice. Stefan Dercon tells Tim Phillips, that to do this, they need to consider the local political constraints and opportunities, and not be “The sort of technocrat that says ‘’nothing to do with me, it’s someone else’s problem’.” Lees meer
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S3 Ep44: How can policy respond to rising seas?
14 december 2023 · 21 min
While the news agenda is grabbed by droughts, hurricanes and wildfires, the inexorable rise in sea level is less easy to see. But it will affect billions of people living in coastal regions in our lifetimes. What are the possibilities for, and costs of, adaptation? Allan Hsiao discusses how low-lying cities like Jakarta will cope. Lees meer
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S3 Ep43: The social cost of carbon
12 december 2023 · 21 min
What is the social cost of carbon? What can it tell us about the effects of, and the feasibility of policies to cope with, climate change? Michael Greenstone tells Tim Phillips about how the process of assigning a value to the cost of emissions, and how that can help us to think clearly about the choices we make. Lees meer
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S3 Ep42: Bridging the divide between micro and macro research
6 december 2023 · 19 min
Macroeconomic development policies can be effective to combat poverty. But a lot of research uses smaller-scale RCTs and experiments. Can macro theory and micro empirical research complement one another? Francisco Buera and Joseph Kaboski tell Tim Phillips how this can work in practice, and how it can lead to better policy. Lees meer
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S3 Ep41: Global value chains and development
29 november 2023 · 46 min
The rapid spread of GVCs has revolutionised the manufacture and supply of … everything. We can point to trade statistics to show that. But what aspects of the relationship between producers and buyers aren’t captured in these statistics? Long-time observers of GVCs Julia Cajal Grossi and Rocco Macchiavello explain to Tim Phillips how supply chains really work. Lees meer
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S3 Ep40: Renewable energy in LMICs
21 november 2023 · 15 min
In developing countries, electricity is still mostly generated from fossil fuels. So how quickly can that change? And what policies are needed to speed innovation in renewables and the transition to using them? John Van Reenen of the London School of Economics and Mar Reguant of Northwestern talk to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep39: The inequality of environmental damage
15 november 2023 · 21 min
We tend to discuss changes to the natural environment in big, global numbers. But the impact of those changes is felt in different ways by different people in different places. Tamma Carleton and Reed Walker talk to Tim Phillips about the inequality of environmental damage, and how more detailed data and analysis can help policymakers target their interventions. Lees meer
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S3 Ep38: Pollution and regulation in LMICs
8 november 2023 · 24 min
Where there are no markets for clean air or drinkable water, can regulation step in? The latest lecture in the Bread-ICG lecture series on environmental economics explored the challenges of environmental regulation in developing economies. Rohini Pande and Nick Ryan talk to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep37: Skill versus voice in local development
1 november 2023 · 22 min
When the state is weak, autocratic traditional chiefs control the provision of public goods. If they don’t have the technical skills that these tasks need, can delegation to technocrats or inclusive decision-making improve outcomes? Katherine Casey tells Tim Phillips about the results of an experiment in Sierra Leone. Lees meer
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S3 Ep36: International climate action
25 oktober 2023 · 16 min
Policies and commitments to tackle climate change emerge from global meetings and conferences. In our latest episode examining policy for environmental economics in development, Bard Harstad talks to Tim Phillips about how economics can help us make (and stick to) international commitments. Lees meer
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S3 Ep35: Finance and climate resilience
11 oktober 2023 · 27 min
In future we’re going to have to cope with a more volatile climate, but how can we increase the resilience of the most vulnerable communities? An analysis of droughts in the US in the 1950s shows how the financial sector can help communities to adapt to large climate shocks – and what happens when credit is not available. Raghuram Rajan and Rodney Ramcharan talk to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep34: The economics of conservation in LMICs
4 oktober 2023 · 28 min
In the second of our episodes examining policy for environmental economics in development, Seema Jayachandran and Ben Olken talk to Tim Phillips about how to reduce pollution and increase conservation, while protecting the livelihoods of the global poor. Lees meer
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S3 Ep33: Environmental economics and policy in LMICs
27 september 2023 · 32 min
In the first of a series of episodes that investigates policy for environmental economics in development, Kelsey Jack and Robin Burgess introduce the topic to Tim Phillips, and its implications for adaptation, natural capital conservation, and innovation. Lees meer
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S3 Ep32: Political economy and development
20 september 2023 · 31 min
The study of institutions and political power is a strand of development research that in recent years has taught us a lot about – in the name of the famous book – Why Nations Fail, but also what improves their chances of success. James Robinson talks to Tim Phillips about what he and his fellow researchers have discovered, and which directions for future research are the most exciting. Lees meer
Photo credit: Jeremy Weate
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S3 Ep31: Decentralised governance in developing countries
13 september 2023 · 29 min
In the last 30 years many governments have attempted to shift service delivery away from a central bureaucracy to local administrations. How well has it worked, and what do we know about the right and wrong way to decentralise? Dilip Mookherjee talks to Tim Phillips. Photo credit: Julien Harneis Lees meer
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S3 Ep30: Targeting health incentives in India
6 september 2023 · 23 min
Most policies are one-size-fits-all. But in some cases, we can do better. How can we design an intervention that incentivises people to manage their diabetes and hypertension, and does it deliver better results for both the patient and the policymaker? Ariel Zucker of UC Santa Cruz tells Tim Phillips about an experiment to deliver personalised healthcare in India. Lees meer
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S3 Ep29: Air pollution and infant mortality
30 augustus 2023 · 20 min
Poor air quality is a danger to children’s health, but most of what we know about the effects are from wealthy countries or large cities. A multidisciplinary study has estimated the impact of air quality on child health for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with surprising policy conclusions. Jennifer Burney talks to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep28: Putting research into practice at the Inter-American Development Bank
23 augustus 2023 · 25 min
The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean are facing some tough economic problems. What policies will improve prospects for people who live in the region? Eric Parrado, Chief Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank, talks to Tim Phillips about how IDB puts research into practice. Lees meer
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S3 Ep27: Unpacking anti-poverty programmes
16 augustus 2023 · 23 min
Multifaceted graduation programmes can permanently change the lives of desperately poor people. But which components of these programs are the most important? And would any of these single interventions work just as well if they were tried on their own? Robert Osei tells Tim Phillips whether individual facets might be sufficient to help people graduate permanently from poverty. Lees meer
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S3 Ep26: Politics and participatory development in Ghana
9 augustus 2023 · 20 min
Should the community have a greater say in determining how aid is spent? Participatory development aid has the goal of making sure that governments can’t misuse aid to buy approval. It’s an important idea, but Kate Baldwin tells Tim Phillips that it may be much more complicated in practice than in theory. Lees meer
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S3 Ep25: Research into practice: DIME
2 augustus 2023 · 30 min
The challenge of creating evidence-based policy inspired Arianna Legovini of the World Bank to create an entirely new model of impact evaluation: The Development Impact Evaluation (DIME) group generates operationally relevant data and research that has vastly expanded our knowledge of which interventions work, how they work, and how best to implement them. She tells Tim Phillips how DIME puts research into practice. Lees meer
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S3 Ep24: Understanding rural-urban migration in the developing world
26 juli 2023 · 24 min
Programs that incentivise rural workers to migrate to cities in Bangladesh for seasonal work have been successful. But why don’t more people migrate in this way, and why do some choose not to return to the city? Mushfiq Mobarak tells Tim Phillips about what the researchers discovered when they looked closely at the data, and how that should change policy to encourage migration. Lees meer
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S3 Ep23: Globalisation and the ladder of development
19 juli 2023 · 27 min
Thinking about development as a ladder is a useful metaphor, but is it true? Can every country climb, or does trade push some countries up the ladder, and some countries down? David Atkin of MIT used this idea as a starting point to investigate the interaction between global trade and development, and he tell Tim Phillips what he discovered. Lees meer
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S3 Ep22: Duflo: Development in the 21st century
12 juli 2023 · 24 min
In the first of a series of podcasts recorded at the PSE-CEPR Policy Forum at the Paris School of Economics, Esther Duflo talks to Tim Phillips about how development economics can respond to the challenges of the 21st century, the link between climate justice and corporate taxation, and why development economics is like cooking a ragoût. Lees meer
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S3 Ep21: Cost-effective ways to improve global learning
5 juli 2023 · 25 min
In a world of limited resources, which interventions to help kids learn offer the best value for money? A new report evaluates the evidence and gives some clear policy recommendations about what is, and is not, a policy “smart buy”. Rachel Glennerster talks to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep20: Expanding higher education empowered women in Egypt
7 juni 2023 · 21 min
Increasing access to education, specifically higher education, can lead to better life chances, particularly for women. But how large is the benefit, and what changes? Ahmed Elsayed talks to Tim Phillips about what we can learn from Egypt’s post-revolution expansion of public university education. Lees meer
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S3 Ep19: The rise and fall of local elections in China
31 mei 2023 · 33 min
When dictators introduce local elections, more democracy at the local level may mean less control for the rulers. For a time in rural China, elected village leaders implemented government policy, favouring popular policies, while pushing back against those that villagers didn’t like. Nancy Qian tells Tim Phillips how even in a dictatorship, democratic choices can sometimes shape local lives. Lees meer
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S3 Ep18: Promoting national integration in Nigeria
24 mei 2023 · 24 min
When a country’s borders encompass several distinct ethnic groups, how does it create a national identity? A program in Nigeria assigns graduates to different ethnic regions for a year. Does this make them prouder to be Nigerian, and do they give up some of their ethnic identity if that happens? Oyebola Okunogbe talks to Tim Phillips. Lees meer
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S3 Ep17: Do public works programs have sustained impacts?
17 mei 2023 · 27 min
How effective are workfare programs at achieving their goals? Do they provide a way for participants to change their lives, or just short-term extra income? Eric Mvukiyehe and Subha Mani have analysed the outcomes of recent programs, and they tell Tim Phillips what workfare does well, and whether the programs sustain their successes. Lees meer
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S3 Ep16: Public works programs in fragile economies
10 mei 2023 · 31 min
Public works programs – workfare – are used in many fragile and conflict-affected countries to offer a safety net to poor and vulnerable households. But how large is their impact, do men and women benefit equally, and do they have a wider social benefit? Arthur Alik-Lagrange tells Tim Phillips about the impact of one program in the Central African Republic. Lees meer
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S3 Ep15: Rebel governance and development in El Salvador
3 mei 2023 · 26 min
El Salvador’s civil war ended a generation ago, but what is its legacy in the regions that were occupied by guerrillas? The economy can recover, but is there longer-lasting damage to institutions and trust? Mica Sviatschi talks to Tim Phillips about how El Salvador is still divided by conflict. Lees meer
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S3 Ep14: How childcare empowers women
26 april 2023 · 22 min
Better access to childcare may make it easier for women to get jobs outside the home, get better jobs, or make more money doing the job they have already. All desirable outcomes, but how easy are they to achieve? Selim Gulesci talks to Tim Phillips about a J-Pal Policy Insight that pulls together the research on these topics. Lees meer