🆕 How global supply chains are built Today on Ideas in Development, Bill McRaith joins me to discuss his experience setting up factories from 90s China to Ethiopia today, what it's like to be pitched by governments & the mistakes they make + the future of the apparel industry.

Elite bargains for growth - Stefan Dercon joins Kurtis Lockhart to discuss elite bargains and kickstarting economic growth. Slightly different episode today, a repost of a recent episode on the Africa Urban Lab's podcast, very much an episode I wish I’d recorded!

We are live! Join to learn about the impacts of, and solutions to, air pollution: www.youtube.com/live/LcnyDGn...

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on Air Pollution is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editors Teevrat Garg (UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy) & Anant Sudarshan (Warwick Economics) summarise the economic evidence on air pollution. Read & download here: https://ow.ly/9WR150ZcCUO

🆕 Moving billions towards evidence @deankarlan.bsky.social joined me on Ideas in Development to discuss how he and his team moved ~1.7 billion in funding at USAID, the growth of embedded labs and how they work, and the two key gaps between research and policy.

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on Technology & Development is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editors Julieta Caunedo (Cornell University) & Tommaso Porzio (Columbia Business School) summarise economic research on technology and development. Read & download here: https://ow.ly/U2f450ZbJwK

🆕 Economic reform in Ethiopia and the foundations of growth For this wide ranging podcast, Kartik Akileswaran (Growth Teams) and I were joined by Mamo Mihretu who has worked across many of Ethiopia's recent economic reforms, including as the tenth governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia.

“There’s just very little serious attempt to deal with noise. People do these power calculations that are mostly, to be honest, made up or kind of reverse engineered. And we wouldn’t accept that in other areas of our statistical practice.”

I missed this but VoxDev @olihanney.bsky.social interviewed CGDev fellow and my wonderful past phd student @mrao.bsky.social about her work on the relationship between evidence and policy! So exciting to see this work getting more of the attention it deserves :)))) youtu.be/FNzZHYvhMG0

Oliver has chosen the coolest pull quote ever for me… I urge you all to pick up the phone if voxdev ever calls you because they know how to make you sound cool

🆕 Aggregating evidence, the research process, and empowering the public to understand research All that & more in this week's episode of Ideas in Development with @economeager.bsky.social. Really enjoyed discussing how we can improve the evidence base in economics by aggregating.

📢 Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental health risk, and its burden falls overwhelmingly on LMICs. In this VoxDevLit launch event on June 17th, Teevrat Garg & Anant Sudarshan will review the economic evidence on air pollution. Register➡️ https://ow.ly/WGlf50Z4CGN

🆕 The evidence gap on evidence use This week on Ideas in Development, @mrao.bsky.social @cgdev.org joined me to discuss evidence use, her research on how evaluations shape funding, and a key evidence gap in development economics ⤵️

The last piece of the first issue of In Development is out! There are 7.7 million people with opioid use disorder in India. Only 45,000 of them are receiving evidence-based treatment. Akshay Narayanan explains how this happened. indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/cheap-drug...

🆕 The end of the manufacturing escalator? @drodrik.bsky.social joined me to discuss why he has become a manufacturing skeptic, service-led growth & what industrial policy should look like for this new era. Really enjoyed this live conversation, available wherever you get your podcasts.

🆕 In 1973, two research institutes were founded that would dramatically alter their countries' development paths. Today on Ideas in Development, I'm joined by @karthiktadepalli.bsky.social to discuss ITRI in Taiwan and Embrapa in Brazil. Available wherever you get your podcasts ⤵️

Why has @drodrik.bsky.social changed his mind on manufacturing? Really excited for this live episode of the Ideas in Development podcast, taking place next week on Wednesday May 20th (2pm UK). Dani is joining me to discuss his evolving views, the evidence that changed his mind & more.

Here is the link: cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Many have expressed surprise (and dismay) at this. So I'm happy to have a chance to discus why I think manufacturing's promise for developing countries is fading with Oliver Hanney over at VoxDev. Bring your questions. cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...

Why has @drodrik.bsky.social changed his mind on manufacturing? Really excited for this live episode of the Ideas in Development podcast, taking place next week on Wednesday May 20th (2pm UK). Dani is joining me to discuss his evolving views, the evidence that changed his mind & more.

🆕 The perfect city? In the final episode of our series on cities, Ed Glaeser joined Kurtis Lockhart and I to discuss the perfect city, the demons of density and what makes cities work.

🆕 Understanding development in the long run Today on VoxDev, Jean-Paul Faguet (@lseid.bsky.social) & Fabio Sánchez (Universidad de los Andes) challenge the consensus that extractive institutions always harm long-run development: voxdev.org/topic/instit...

🆕 Leonard Wantchekon on youth, governance & Africa's urban future. Are African cities a powder keg of restless youth – or the most promising place to build prosperity, peaceful politics and shared civic life?

What’s holding back agriculture in Ghana? Today on VoxDev, Nkechi Owoo outlines why closing the technology gap will require coordinated policy action that addresses financing, infrastructure, and information constraints together, rather than in isolation: voxdev.org/topic/agricu...

🆕 The lies we sell I am sick of hearing the ‘foreign aid will reduce migration’ sales pitch. The best evidence we have suggests that foreign aid will not reduce migration. In fact, it will most likely increase it: olihanney.substack.com/p/the-lies-w...

Sharing research evidence with senior rather than junior staff significantly raises the chance it spreads through an organisation, but shifting peer beliefs about the evidence has no clear effect.

🆕 Boosting farmers' profits 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks w/ Tim, Craig McIntosh (UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy) discusses whether relaxing credit constraints can boost farmers profits: https://voxdev.org/topic/agriculture/boosting-farmers-profits

🆕 How does evidence diffuse through organisations? Today on VoxDev, Mahvish Shaukat (World Bank), Andreas Stegmann (Universität Münster) & Mattie Toma (University of Warwick) discuss how seniority influences evidence use in an organisation: https://ow.ly/fIXT50YRAos

🆕 How does organised crime take over a city – and can mayors act before it does? @chrisblattman.bsky.social joins Kurtis Lockhart and I on Ideas in Development to discuss: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKF3...

🆕 Why was Rwanda’s land reform so successful? Broken land markets are holding back cities across Africa. But not in Rwanda. In this episode of Ideas in Development, Kurtis Lockhart & I are joined by Thierry Hoza Ngoga to discuss all things land reform.

🆕 YIMBY goes global? How to build more housing in Africa This week on Ideas in Development, Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) & I are joined by Kecia Rust (CAHF Africa) to discuss the full housing chain in Africa – from land & finance to construction & rental markets. Links ⤵️

There is a paradox at the heart of governing cities in Africa. Mayors are responsible for building the infrastructure their fast-growing cities need. But most don't control the money this requires. Astrid Haas joins Kurtis Lockhart Africa Urban Lab & I to discuss urban finance.

🆕 When ethnic diversity helps development Today on VoxDev, Miriam Artiles (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) discusses economic exchange and inter-ethnic cooperation in colonial Peru: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/when-ethnic-diversity-helps-development

🆕 Military cooperation across borders reduced violence in the Sahel Today on VoxDev, Marion Richard (Nova SBE) & Oliver Vanden Eynde (Paris School of Economics) discuss how military cooperation can reduce jihadist violence in border regions: https://ow.ly/aLrV50YCb6P

🆕 The future runs through African cities 900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. This unprecedented urban transition is a defining development challenge of our time. Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) is joining Ideas in Development for 7 episodes on cities 🧵

🆕 Why ‘billions to trillions’ has failed to attract investment in infrastructure Today on VoxDev w/ Anusha Chari (UNC), Peter Blair Henry (Hoover Institution), Yanru Lee & Pablo Picardo (Banco Central del Uruguay): https://ow.ly/1lNP50YBCRl

🆕 The future runs through African cities 900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. This unprecedented urban transition is a defining development challenge of our time. Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) is joining Ideas in Development for 7 episodes on cities 🧵

Interested in understanding the economics of ongoing global conflicts, especially in developing countries? Here are 3 recent @voxdev.bsky.social articles you should check out👇

🆕 Cloudy with a chance of no clouds: Why weather forecasts are worse in low-income countries Today on VoxDev w/ Manuel Linsenmeier (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) & Jeffrey Shrader (Columbia | SIPA): https://ow.ly/vrhb50YAviw

There is no randomising a technological revolution On my Substack, I've written about why development economics needs to step up on the big questions in AI, what that might look like & what some of the big questions actually are. Keen to hear your thoughts! olihanney.substack.com/p/there-is-n...

🆕 Modern industrial policy: The Asian miracles’ blueprint for developing economies Today on VoxDev, Reda Cherif (IMF) & Fuad Hasanov (IMF) discuss principles of industrial policy for economic development: voxdev.org/topic/macroe...

I'm worried that the conversation on AI & jobs is missing the real 'patient zero' of job loss from AI. Fiverr-style service jobs in countries like Pakistan (e.g. logo design, basis coding etc.) seem particularly & imminently at risk, as @umarsaif discussed on the podcast ⤵️

🆕 AI policy in developing countries Being a technology minister right now is hard. The information space is overwhelmed with contradicting policy recommendations, timelines are uncertain & the geopolitics are messy. This week Umar Saif joined Ideas in Development, links ⤵️

Interested in research on gender but don’t know where get started? Here are over 36 insights from @voxdev.bsky.social on the challenges faced by women across 18 developing countries in the workplace, school, household, and with fertility and norms. + research gaps! voxdev.org/topic/gender...

🆕 Can providing information reduce risky migration? Today on VoxDev, giacomo battiston (ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin), Lucia Corno (Università Cattolica) & Eliana La Ferrara (Harvard) outline an informational intervention on the risks of irregular migration in Guinea: https://ow.ly/qkJp50YuBUZ

🆕 AI & development economics: Early evidence + how to keep up I have updated my VoxDev blog collecting the best resources on AI relevant to development economics, organised by evidence on impacts and different use cases: voxdev.org/topic/ai-and...

We are live with Aniket Panjwani on using AI agents for economic research. The Zoom webinar has maxed out at 500?! So join us here: youtube.com/live/YPv9Bqw...

🆕 Why graduates struggle to find jobs in West Africa Esther Mirjam Girsberger (UTS) & Romuald Méango (Department of Economics, University of Oxford) discuss how educated workers wait for scarce jobs in labour markets characterised by severe hiring frictions: https://ow.ly/ECcK50YsK0e

In 1925, hybrid corn came online in the US. It yielded ~20% more/acre, but by 1933 it was on just 0.1% of US corn acreage. It took another drought in 1936 to move Iowa farmers, Europe didn't follow until the 50s, and global adoption is still patchy. Could AI look the same?