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A comic strip abstract on politics and bureaucracy
To what extent do politicians really keep bureaucrats focused on delivering public services? Politicians may distort the technical processes of the executive for political gain. In a new research...
View ArticleThe origins of social boundaries
This is the first in an occasional series of blogs on social boundaries and identity. I’m interested in the topic for obvious reasons. Social boundaries and identities, at least in some forms (and...
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A one-page instruction manual for managing an effective public service
Here is a one-page instruction manual for managing an effective public service. It is based on a recent World Bank Policy Research Working paper by Imran Rasul, Martin Williams and myself. In both...
View ArticleWhat’s new in social protection – October edition
How long do the effects of cash transfers last? Apaper by Blattman et al found that after nine years from inception, cash grants for young-adults in Uganda had lasting impacts on assets and skilled...
View ArticleA BAD Conference
Last week, I attended a conference at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. It was BAD, and it was primarily about gender. (By BAD, I of course mean it was about “Behavioral...
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The best evidence for the best teachers: A World Teachers’ Day roundup
Happy World Teachers’ Day! No part of the school experience has greater potential to set students on a path to success than a great teacher. Likewise, researchers are constantly seeking to learn how...
View ArticleThe World Development Report 2019, The Changing Nature of Work, is finally...
Also available in: Español For the many of you who have accompanied us on this voyage, that its publication in its final version comes as no surprise will, I hope, not diminish the sense of...
View ArticleWhy the World Bank is adding new ways to measure poverty
The 2018 Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report shows how poverty is changing and introduces improved ways to monitor our progress toward ending it. The landscape of extreme poverty is now split in two....
View ArticleMeasuring the tricky things
Along with the Center for Experimental Social Science at Nuffield College at Oxford, eMBeD co-organized a conference called “Measuring the Tricky Things.” The lineup included Susan Fiske presenting a...
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Ending hunger to end poverty, ending poverty to end hunger
Last week we had World Food Day on October 16 and World Poverty Day on October 17. The good news from World Poverty Day is that there is global progress on reducing extreme poverty. Based on the...
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New cross-country research reveals (persisting) gender differences in...
The ability of people to enter jobs outside their own farm-household is extremely important for economic development and poverty reduction. In Sub-Saharan Africa, households derive a significant share...
View ArticleThe winter is coming: Crisis management should be prepared before a crisis...
2018: It has been 100 years since the Spanish flu pandemic and 10 years since the global financial crisis. The Spanish flu killed more than 50 million people, more than the two World Wars combined. It...
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Commodity Markets Outlook: Modest Oil Price Rise, Trade Uncertainty
Commodity prices have moved in different directions in recent months – energy prices rose while agriculture and metal prices fell – and are expected to rise or stabilize in 2019, according to the...
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Does monetary poverty capture all aspects of poverty?
Poverty is a complex concept. A widespread view argues that important aspects of poverty cannot be measured in monetary terms – in fact, to successfully address poverty, we need to measure it in all...
View ArticleWhat’s new in social protection – November edition
Can cash transfers increase voting in elections? An upcomingarticle by Conover et al estimates that participation of Colombia’s Familias en Accion conditional cash transfer (CCT) program increases the...
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Releasing the 2017 Global Findex microdata
It’s financial inclusion week—a series of events exploring "the most pressing actions needed to advance financial inclusion globally"—making this a perfect time to launch the 2017 Global Findex...
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Making room for Africa's urban billion
By 2050, more than a billion people will be living in African cities and towns. As more and more of the continent’s population – 60 percent of whom live in the countryside – move to urban areas,...
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Increasing performance transparency! Generating citizen participation!...
Running a local government is not sexy. It’s making sure that roads are maintained, there is water to drink, health clinics are stocked and staffed, and schools are equipped to teach. Often, it means...
View ArticleFor better returns on development investments, we need a better market
Financing for development is not a cost, it is an investment. An investment in sustainable cities, quality education, access to healthcare, decent jobs, efficient and responsible agriculture, and...
View ArticleCorporate tax avoidance in an era of changing firms
It is widely accepted that corporate tax avoidance is commonplace, but experts disagree over the precise amount of tax that corporations successfully avoid. One estimate for 2012 suggests that 50...
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