Tobin 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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View ArticleClik here to view.
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...
View Article
