The Iran War Oil Shock Will Hit the Hungry Hardest—Cash Should Be Part of the Response (new @cgdev.org blog with @eeshani.bsky.social) www.cgdev.org/blog/when-oi...

Can test results lead to education reform? @alenestour.bsky.social and @leecrawfurd.bsky.social show how PASEC results have improved learning in Francophone Africa. At a few cents per child, the question is not cost but whether countries can afford to lose it. cgdev.org/blog/pisa-shocks-africa

"Even under conservative assumptions, PASEC's benefits exceed its costs by a comfortable margin. Counting just one successful reform in one country per decade with a very conservative learning improvement, yields a benefit-cost ratio of around 31:1." www.cgdev.org/blog/pisa-sh...

Proof that descriptive results matter!!

Govts can be embarrassed into educ reforms; national assessments of learning are not enough. www.cgdev.org/blog/pisa-sh... Thanks @leecrawfurd.bsky.social and Alexis de Nestour; attn @davidevans66.bsky.social @cgdev.org

You might have heard of "PISA-shock". You probably haven't heard of "PASEC-shock" in Niger [new blog with @alenestour.bsky.social]

"In 2010, China accounted for less than 8% of global clinical trials; by 2020, it had surpassed the US" marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevo...

Think this is the first time my research made it to instagram? www.instagram.com/reels/DV3Wuo...

The UK is considering scrapping the Independent Commission for Aid Impact. But it plays a key role in scrutinizing aid and strengthening accountability. @leecrawfurd.bsky.social and @ianmitchell1.bsky.social propose 5 reforms to improve its value: https://go.cgdev.org/4toR09E

With Tinubu in London this week, I'd just like to say thank you to the Nigerian state for paying to train the thousands of Nigerian doctors & nurses working in the UK. Probably on the order of a £1bn subsidy for the NHS

Glad to see this is out in @nber.org WP series and since my excellent co-author @chinemeluokafor.bsky.social and I have been discussing the results for the past few weeks, here's an old-fashioned paper thread on why protests matter/can work to influence economic redistribution 1/n

New blog: How Foreign-Trained Health Workers Saved the NHS £14 Billion www.cgdev.org/blog/how-for...

Some of the biggest unsung heroes are public officials in developing countries who do the right thing even at gunpoint. open.substack.com/pub/alltrade...

Los recortes de ayuda de EE  UU alimentan los conflictos en África elpais.com/planeta-futu...

We know unsafe recycling of car batteries exposes people to lead—but how much does it contribute globally? A new paper from Theo Mitchell & @leecrawfurd.bsky.social shows that it could drive a third of all lead exposure in LMICs: https://go.cgdev.org/49Z9wMR

Cool post by Euan Ritchie on how ICAI is viewed from FCDO, according to new analysis of 2,591 business cases www.cgdev.org/blog/how-uk-...

It is inherent in any 'red list' proposals for countries (whether longterm or negotiating tactic) that they treat individuals as a means to an end, discriminating via [national] group characteristics. Exempting Chevening scholars would be a small mitigation www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This week: I read No Second Chances by @morganj0nes.bsky.social Also an old lecture on Weber's relevance to modern politicians by @iprnickp.bsky.social And a piece about aid cuts and violence by @leecrawfurd.bsky.social aveekbhattacharya.substack.com/p/readwatche...

RIP India's IT outsourcing industry? www.ft.com/content/a522...

Great piece by @aveek18.bsky.social in the FT: "On lead, Britain is the laggard of the developed world" www.ft.com/content/bbd5...

The Nazis stopped Jewish doctors from practising, so thousands of them left the country (my great grandfather was one of them). So many left that this was a good natural experiment for estimating the causal effect of losing doctors on infant mortality (& thousands died)

Earlier this month, the @cgdev.org hosted a research workshop on the topic of school-related violence. Here is a round-up of every research paper we saw. www.cgdev.org/blog/what-ar... If you want more, you can watch videos of the conference here. www.cgdev.org/event/call-p...

Uber reduced traffic fatalities by 5%?!! direct.mit.edu/rest/article...

“the largest act of mass murder of this decade, and of this century so far, was not perpetrated by militaries or militias, but by the world's richest man in Washington D.C.'s Eisenhower Executive Office Building.” @mckay4senate.bsky.social www.liberalcurrents.com/what-elon-ha...

Reform don't want to regulate your landlord. They don't want to regulate your employer. But they do want to regulate your sex life.

Up to half of used lead-acid batteries in Africa could be coming from off-grid solar systems. Important new paper by @rachelbonnifield.bsky.social & Caroline Mallory www.cgdev.org/publication/...

New data shows US aid cuts have led to a measurable rise in armed conflict. @leecrawfurd.bsky.social breaks down new evidence on how aid cuts are affecting conflict dynamics, specifically in Africa: https://go.cgdev.org/40nCem8

Congratulations to Drew and everyone at @pureearthnow.bsky.social !

A new analysis from the Center for Global Development (@cgdev.org) explores whether lead poisoning may be a missing link in the global fight against child malnutrition. Check out the full blog here:

We cannot wait for another tragedy before the Government takes meaningful action on lead exposure and poisoning. Many might think of lead poisoning as a problem of the past. But that simply isn’t true.🧵

The big lesson: Stunting is not fixed by geography or culture. It is historically contingent — and reversible. Countries that eliminated widespread stunting did so over decades of sustained change. 9)

Looking forward to speaking on this panel next week - so much shifting so quickly at the foreign office at the moment and there's a big and (I think) v interesting convo in there about how we scrutinise aid spend.

How Should the UK Scrutinise Its Aid Spending? Come discuss with us at tomorrow @cgdev.org in Westminster Tue 24th at 5pm with @sarahchampionmp.bsky.social @hannahkeenan.bsky.social @instituteforgovernment.org.uk @ianmitchell1.bsky.social www.cgdev.org/event/future...

About 2% of children in the UK have elevated blood lead levels. I made an interactive map (with a little help from Claude) so you can see the % in your local area. lcrawfurd.github.io/lead-map/

US Aid Cuts Fueled Conflict in Africa open.substack.com/pub/leecrawf...

The UK is terrifyingly ignorant when it comes to the problem of lead exposure. I've described it as a "don't ask, don't tell strategy". So it's great to have got politicians, scientists, policy researchers and to endorse the call for a national child screening program www.ft.com/content/ee60...

MPs and peers call for all UK children to be screened for lead www.ft.com/content/ee60...

Good piece by David Miliband: "As Rachel Glennerster, president of the Center for Global Development, has argued, aid would go further with radically simpler interventions in far fewer places that need it the most" foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/19/f...

Nice coverage--and replication--of our working paper "Aid, Interrupted" by @leecrawfurd.bsky.social in a revlcent @cgdev.org blog post. Here is the link to the current version of the paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

New Blog for CGD: US Aid Cuts Fueled Conflict in Africa www.cgdev.org/blog/us-aid-...

What America did through ideology, the UK does in order to get a budget projection that we don't even really care about

new lead smelter poisoning drama on Netflix! metro.co.uk/2026/02/12/n...

Aid cuts in the UK signals a move from "grants to expertise"—meaning a shift to low-cost technical assistance. Through his work with African governments, @leecrawfurd.bsky.social shares examples of both good and bad models of technical assistance: https://go.cgdev.org/45atSBo

How African Governments Responded to the 2025 Aid Shock New @cgdev.org blog by Biniam Bedasso www.cgdev.org/blog/how-afr...

Don’t Scrap the UK’s Independent Commission for Aid Impact, Make It Better by @leecrawfurd.bsky.social and Ian Mitchell, @cgdev.org buff.ly/aaxRqUG

The UK is considering scrapping the Independent Commission for Aid Impact—but it's crucial in scrutinizing aid & strengthening accountability. Rather than abolish it, @leecrawfurd.bsky.social and @ianmitchell1.bsky.social lay out 5 reforms to boost its value/impact: https://go.cgdev.org/4toR09E

Free school meals: The world’s biggest social programme voxdev.org/topic/free-s...

UK aid agency should pause reforms, says parliamentary committee www.devex.com/news/uk-aid-...

This quote from a Reform UK councillor sums it up beautifully. Cross-boundary moral outrages, exported online and sold (especially, but not exclusively) to generations that grew up before the internet, are such a central feature of radicalisation today. www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/ne...

Only 10 cases of Guinea worm disease were recorded *globally* last year. It may become the second human disease we eradicate, after smallpox.