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Radiohead live
G and I saw Radiohead on Friday evening. The Greek Theater in Berkeley is a very intimate setting – the audience is close to the stage, and you can sit on concrete seats or on the grass. I felt a...
View ArticleAre Fair Trade cooperatives voluntary?
Alex Singleton at the Globalisation Institute reports that all is not well, in at least some fair trade cooperatives Sadly, for too many farmers in poor countries today, they are trapped in not...
View ArticleDo the right thing: buy flowers from Africa
Hilary Benn says that we should buy flowers imported from poor countries, even if we are concerned about the environment: some recent research by Cranfield University – who compared the emissions from...
View ArticleTradable missions permits for aid agencies?
One of the unconscionable practices in international aid is the “mission” – a team of experts from donor countries who fly out to the developing country to supervise the way that aid is used. For large...
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If not now, when? (Agricultural trade reform)
If we can’t get an agreement on cutting food tarriffs and limiting market-distorting agricultural subsidies now, while food prices are surging (see graph), then when we will ever?…
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Microfinance Open Book Blog
David Roodman at the Center for Global Development has begun an “open book” about microfinance. He is publishing chapters as he goes, with space for readers to comment. As well as an interesting way of...
View ArticleReduce meat not air travel
We hear a lot about the impact on carbon emissions and climate change of travel, especially by air, but very little about the impact of the livestock industry, which has been estimated to be...
View ArticleCharging the poor for services
Tim Harford has an interesting article in this weekend’s Financial Times about private health and education in developing countries: Imagine that your daily earnings were less than the price of this...
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Adair Turner: who are you calling economically illiterate?
Adair Turner, Chair of the Financial Services Authority, says that the FSA should not be expected to curb city bonuses: Lord Turner, head of the Financial Services Authority, said it was “economic...
View ArticleTobin Tax and International Development
It worries me that people who are interested in reducing world poverty leap so readily on the Tobin Tax bandwagon. There are three questions to answer: should we spend more on reducing global poverty?...
View ArticleWhat will happen to your pet after the rapture?
I love this idea for making money from people who believe that the rapture is coming: We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed...
View ArticleTime for more Advance Market Commitments?
Over on Huffington Post, Seth Berkley and Orin Levine make a plea for the United States to consider an Advance Market Commitment for an AIDS vaccine: Traditionally it has taken up to 20 years for new...
View ArticleTransplants and free riders
I’ve just watched Steve Jobs at the Apple event today. I was glad he paid tribute to the man whose liver he received, and that he called on others to register as organ donors. But it is less...
View ArticleWhen is innovative finance good for development?
There are bad reasons and good reasons for supporting the use of innovative finance for development. Unfortunately, some development advocates seem williing to back any proposal that they think might...
View ArticleShould we stop poaching health workers from developing countries?
Not according to Michael Clemens at the Center for Global Development. Read his “Think Again” piece in Foreign Policy. Here’s a sample: This common idea that skilled emigration amounts to “stealing”...
View ArticlePneumonia
On the first World Pneumonia Day, spare a thought for the mothers and fathers of the five thousand children who will be killed today by pneumonia. Pause for a moment in silent thanks to the staff of...
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Does corruption cause poverty, or is it the other way round?
Daniel Kaufmann and Mushtaq Khan talk about corruption in the latest edition of Development Drums. Though they come from quite different points of view, there is quite a lot of convergence between...
View ArticleIs a wall to keep people out better than a wall to keep people in?
Martin Wolf in the Financial Times says he is calling for “a debate” about immigration but his article is, in truth, a thinly-veiled diatribe against immigration on the grounds that it harms the...
View Article“Don’t let anyone tell you that what’s right is impossible”
Michael Clemens from the Center for Global Development talks about immigration – which he describes as “The Biggest Idea in Development that No One Really Tried“. In this TED-talk style video, he...
View ArticleMarkets and aid
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...
View ArticleInnovation and prizes
There was an interesting article in last week’s Economist about the use of prizes to promote innovation. It was supportive of the idea in general, but it seemed to gloss over the economic arguments....
View ArticleCould donor proliferation lead to better aid?
Tim Harford had an interesting article in the FT in August arguing that we are better off in most walks of life if there is experimentation and a multiplicity of approaches. But how do we value...
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A new smart sanction which deserves to be tried
A younger me arrives at the South African Department of Finance I first became aware of the problem of ‘odious debt’ when I was seconded from the UK Treasury to work for the government of Nelson...
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Follow the money: illicit financial flows
This post first appeared on Views from the Center. When I joined CGD to start our Europe programme, I said there were two particular reasons why we need more of CGD’s approach in Europe: first, there...
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Follow the money: illicit financial flows
When I joined CGD to start our Europe programme, I said there were two particular reasons why we need more of CGD’s approach in Europe: first, there is more to development than aid; and second, as...
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The Economics of Enough [Development Drums]
Diane Coyle is my guest on the latest edition of Development Drums, talking about her book The Economics of Enough: How to Run the Economy as If the Future Matters. Diane argues that we face a series...
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Migration and Development [podcast]
In the latest Development Drums podcast, my colleague Michael Clemens explains why migration is important for development. In a wide-ranging discussion, Michael addresses concerns about the impact on...
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How committed is Europe to development really?
This joint post with Alice Lépissier and Liza Reynolds first appeared on Views from the Center. It announces the launch of the Europe Beyond Aid initiative and presents a summary of the research and...
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Guns & economics
It won’t be any surprise that I am in favour of gun control, in the US and elsewhere. I don’t propose to set out the arguments here. But economists have made two interesting suggestions in recent weeks...
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It’s the politics, stupid
One of the things I learned in a quarter of a century as a civil servant is that the public has a great deal of common sense. Any minister or department which thinks it knows better than the broad...
View ArticleDevelopment Impact Bonds: what do YOU think?
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center. On the eve of the Social Impact Investment summit in London this Thursday, 6th June, I am excited that CGD and Social Finance are releasing a...
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Why are taxes on capital income lower than taxes on labour income?
Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the 21st Century, has touched a nerve. His central point is that if returns to capital are bigger than the growth of the economy, then inequality will rise...
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A twenty-first century development policy
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center. It drives me crazy that so many people equate development policy with foreign aid. That’s why I welcome this week’s landmark report from the...
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How should donors work with the private sector?
This blog post, jointly written with Theo Talbot, first appeared on the CGD website. Spot the odd one out: Tanzania’s Morogoro Shoe Factory: Underwritten by the World Bank in the 1970s to supply the...
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Financing for development – where the treasure is buried
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center under a different title. It caused Duncan Green to ask this question on twitter, which amused me: Good test for ppl who still see politics as...
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On World Humanitarian Day: Could We Do Better with Cash?
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center. This week we mark a poignant anniversary. August 19th was named World Humanitarian Day in memory of the bombing twelve years ago of the UN...
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Here’s a simple way to help refugees: give them cash
This article first appeared on the Telegraph Online on 7 September 2015. The tragic reality faced by millions of people fleeing Syrian conflict were driven home this week as we were confronted with...
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Transforming Humanitarian Aid with Cash Transfers: High Level Panel Report
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center. The High Level Panel on Humanitarian Cash Transfers, which I chaired, published our report this week. We concluded that the international system...
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Global goals can deliver on 2C and new development finance – here’s how
This article by Alex Evans, Alice Lépissier and Owen Barder first appeared in The Guardian on 25 September 2015. It summarises this new CGD Policy Paper by the same authors. What if there were an...
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Give us the courage to change the things we can – the serenity prayer for...
This blog post first appeared on Views from the Center. As my friends know, I’m not religious – indeed, I fall into the ‘militant atheist’ category – but as my day job is trying to promote peace and...
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