Category: Global Development
COVID-19 Response: Reflections from the (Virtual) Trenches
Written by Rebecca Alcock // On June 3rd, 2018, a volcano erupted in the heart of Guatemala. At the time of the eruption, I was living and working in Guatemala as a field intern for Engineers Without Borders, supporting the pre- and post-implementation site assessments for infrastructure projects. Our team mobilized to rebuild crucial infrastructure in the communities surrounding the volcano and had the foresight to formally establish a response framework, which would pave the way for the substantial COVID-19 response efforts underway today. Continue reading
Data & Development: A Journey Without Maps
Troubled Waters for Emerging Markets
Written by Ryan McGuine // The global economy has faced a series of dramatic shocks related to the COVID-19 outbreak. While high-income countries have thrown money at their health systems and economies to dampen the hardship, many other countries lack the resources to do so. Continue reading
This is America
Sparked by the death of George Floyd, who was killed by police officers in Minneapolis, protesters marched against systematic racial bias and police brutality in cities throughout America last week. This is a site about global development, a field which typically avoids coverage of the USA. Nonetheless, its tools to study poverty and inequity are just as applicable in wealthy countries as they are in low- and middle-income ones. Continue reading
Long Story Short: Poverty, Development & Coronavirus
Poor Economics, Great Economists
Written by Ryan McGuine // In October, economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty." Until the 1980s, the field of development economics, which seeks to determine why some countries grow rich while others remain poor, was mostly concerned with big questions, debates about foreign aid were heavily ideological, and billions of dollars were spent on untested projects based on untested assumptions. Enter the Randomistas. Continue reading
Avoiding the Resource Curse
Written by Ryan McGuine // Economic history is full of countries with abundant stocks of natural resources exporting them to generate revenue. Despite this, economic history is short on countries that have successfully converted natural resource revenues into long-term, sustained economic growth. In fact, this effect is so pronounced that Jeffrey Sachs and Andrew Warner alleged that countries with bountiful supplies of natural resources actually grow more slowly than countries that do not — a phenomenon known as the "resource curse." Continue reading
Mr Kim Leaves Washington
Written by Ryan McGuine // In January, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim announced his plans to resign after six years in the role, and begin work at an independent infrastructure fund manager. This decision surprised many, since he was only recently re-elected for a second five year term in 2017. Dr Kim cited an opportunity to make a bigger impact in the private sector addressing the "infrastructure gap" as the main reason for his resignation. Continue reading
Technology Dynamics and Growth
Written by Ryan McGuine // According to the Solow Model, productivity growth is the key to long-term, sustained economic growth. Countries that lag behind the global technological leaders should be able to achieve rapid productivity growth by transplanting existing knowledge developed elsewhere, but available everywhere. But authors of a new paper propose replacing the concept of productivity as readily available knowledge with a two-part notion consisting of "technological adoption" and "intensity of use." Continue reading