My very first podcast...luckily I had great, thoughtful and eloquent guests in Temina Madon and @hanshengchia.bsky.social!

Forthcoming in the JEL: "Refugees’ Economic Integration" by Dany Bahar, Rebecca Brough, and Giovanni Peri. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

The World Bank Group is planning to reorganize its research functions. The results could be even uglier than the powerpoint: an end to independent research at the institution and conflicts of interest all over... New blog with @eeshani.bsky.social, link in reply.

There are 252 million phones in India without internet. It costs those users 85,000 times more to get a byte of data. This is price discrimination in the access of the world's poor to AI. A post by Daniel Björkegren lays out the costs, the why and what to do about it: www.cgdev.org/blog/sms-cha...

if you missed it, it was indeed interesting with some provocative questions - now available to stream at the link below

Cholera deaths are rising in sub-Saharan countries. While the data suggest the US responded to this in the past, now we see programs cancelled. Colleagues and I take a look at these patterns in a new blog: www.cgdev.org/blog/cholera...

In a new blog @cgdev.org colleagues and I add up the effects of changes in foreign economic policy (aid, tariffs, remittance taxes)- which countries are the most heavily hit and which are least - some surprises: www.cgdev.org/blog/who-bea...

Alongside this year's #AnnualMeetings, experts are convening at CGD to unpack novel AI approaches and why they matter for policymakers. With: @hanshengchia.bsky.social, Rebecca Sharp, Temina Madon, Gabriel Demombynes, and @markusgold.bsky.social.#AnnualMeetings Happening Oct. 14—join us: https://bit.ly/42m2Vcl

Forthcoming article "Safe Spaces for Teenage Girls in a Time of Crisis" by Oriana Bandiera, Niklas Buehren, @markusgold.bsky.social Imran Rasul and Andrea Smurra @eeanews.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

The PRO Initiative, hosted by CGD, has reached a major milestone: every first-wave urgent, high-impact project is funded for 12 more months, sustaining life-saving aid for 41M people in 30+ countries. See what's next: https://bit.ly/46DY5bQ

My new blog discussing the faulty math that underlies US visa restrictions: www.cgdev.org/blog/do-us-v...

Our new paper in the JEEA shows BRAC's ELA program offsets the pregnancy and drop-out impacts of the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone: academic.oup.com/jeea/advance...

How much does it cost to provide a healthy diet? How does this vary across countries? www.worldbank.org/en/programs/... Will Masters shares an open-access resource that seeks to compare across countries at #ABCDE2025.

[email protected]: "Lead exposure could explain 1/5th of the learning gap between rich & poor countries" academic.oup.com/wbro/article... #ABCDE2025

One month left to submit papers for this year's NEUDC: neudc2025.com:

A recent blog by my colleagues @helen-dempster.bsky.social, Charley Ward and @samhuckstep.bsky.social shows the stark impact of the just-passed remittance tax on poorer countries, adding to the impact of aid cuts:https://www.cgdev.org/blog/even-1-percent-us-remittance-tax-hits-poor-countries-hard

Thoughtful and wrenching stories of the waste and damage caused by the abrupt cutting of USAID: www.thisamericanlife.org/862/some-thi...

The Waste Musk Created www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/o...

The World Bank has released their IDA21 plans, with the $2.4bn Window for Host Communities and Refugees now part of a broader regional window. In this new @cgdev.org blog, @thomasginn.bsky.social and I spell out the good, the bad, and where to go from here. www.cgdev.org/blog/window-...

Globally, women’s land rights remain informal, leaving widows at high risk of losing access to their homes. In a new working paper, @markusgold.bsky.social‬ & fellow experts study if large-scale land formalization programs can improve widows’ tenure security ⬇️ bit.ly/43xQR7y

Proud of our education team, partnering with the FCDO and the Global Partnership with Education to support the launch of the Ministerial taskforce against violence in and around schools. Excited to see us build the data and evidence on what works to address this issue. www.cgdev.org/article/mini...

In the wake of the abrupt dismantling of USAID, there are taxpayer funded vaccines, food, and bednets sitting in warehouses, going bad. My colleagues Robert Rosenbaum, Caitlin Tulloch, and Cindy Huang blog about an initiative trying to make sure less people die: www.cgdev.org/blog/buildin...

Despite it's ability to cause substantial harm to human health, lead chromate is still not regulated by the Rotterdam Convention, likely due in part to bureaucratic inertia. More from @leecrawfurd.bsky.social & @rorytodd98.bsky.social: www.cgdev.org/blog/childre...

My colleague @hanshengchia.bsky.social and I cut through the noise and lay out some ideas on identifying smart bets on AI for development: www.cgdev.org/blog/cutting...

Looking for some weekend reading? My colleague Han Sheng Chia and coauthors lay out a map for evaluating AI interventions in the development sector (spoiler: it does not start with an RCT): www.cgdev.org/blog/ai-eval...

Professional update: In June, I’ll be joining the @cgdev.org as a Senior Fellow. I’m enthusiastic to generate and disseminate policy-actionable research with fabulous colleagues under @rglenner.bsky.social’s leadership.

📅 On Apr. 25, @cgdev.org & @theirworld.bsky.social invite you to a discussion on the benefits of supporting early childhood development & childcare, and how to increase investment in these years to achieve the triple dividend for children, women, & economies. RSVP ⬇️ bit.ly/4jENeDt

Sub-Saharan African countries will bear the brunt of US & UK aid cuts.🌍 Join CGD & Africatalyst for a #SpringMeetings discussion on responses to the new development landscape, how leaders can react, & ways to move away from aid dependency. RSVP!⬇️ bit.ly/4j9H8uQ

Educating international students is a massive export of services. They pay us money earned in a foreign nation for a product the US has, until now, had an absolute advantage in. We cannot effectively sell these services if these students can be deported, detained, and even kidnapped at random.

Come work with @markusgold.bsky.social and me on global development stuff. centerforglobaldevelopment.applytojob.com/apply/Yb82j2...

Last month, Jishnu Das revisited his work showing the impact of US aid in the wake of the Pakistan earthquake. Particularly relevant given last week's USAID RIFs and the Myanmar quake: www.linkedin.com/pulse/pity-u...

@jmadankeller.bsky.social & @charlesjkenny.bsky.social take a look at the consequences of the US cancelling support for GAVI. 20-500K additional deaths: www.cgdev.org/blog/why-tru...

My colleague @charlesjkenny.bsky.social offers some trenchant thoughts on the reality of waste, fraud and corruption in US foreign assistance: www.cgdev.org/blog/thinkin...