Deadline for PEIO 2026: September 30.

Some of my thoughts on how to reform foreign aid in China Daily: global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202509/13/... (uncensored version here: axel-dreher.de/wp-content/u...)

Again, a highly interesting and timely paper in @the-peio.bsky.social. Thanks to @benchristian.bsky.social for distributing it! @adreher.bsky.social - is there a way to push ROIO authors to have a bluesky-account? 😉

@adreher.bsky.social, Jingke Pan, & @cjschneider.bsky.social find that in regions receiving foreign aid, targeted killings of politicians are 15-20% higher in the years with aid inflows. Direct cash transfers should be considered in fragile contexts. cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

Many thanks to Michael Breen @dublincityuni.bsky.social for this thoughtful review of my book, Cooperative Complexity: The Next Level of Global Economic Governance, in The Review of International Organizations @the-peio.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New Paper Alert!📢 "Foreign Aid and Targeted Political Violence" by @adreher.bsky.social‬ Jingke Pan @cjschneider.bsky.social To understand how foreign aid can unintentionally fuel political violence in fragile democracies, read the full study here: 🔗 www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/pu...

Looking forward to present new research (with @hannaeback.bsky.social and @michaelimre.bsky.social) on the relationship between ideological polarization, coalition governance and the number of party members in the German states at the Sogang Conference on Party Activism and Democracy next week 😊

📌The special issue "Illiberal Regimes and International Organizations" is now published as Vol. 20 Issue 2 in RIO! @the-peio.bsky.social link.springer.com/journal/1155... Summary thread with each piece-- 🧵

🚨 Big News for European Political Science 🚨 We’re thrilled to announce the launch of the European Political Science Society (EPSS): a new, member-led, not-for-profit association built to support our scholarly community. 🔗 epssnet.org Here’s a thread with everything you need to know. 🧵

I look forward to this week's dialogue on a (sadly) timely topic: Sudden aid cuts @langlotzsarah.bsky.social @isdcberlin.bsky.social @adreher.bsky.social @kiel.institute @uni-goettingen.de @fuchsa.bsky.social

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 2 exciting PreDoc positions in my team at the University of Bern, starting late summer/early fall! Collaborate on cutting-edge research in Political Economy, Development &Behavioral Economics, using experimental and quasi-experimental methods.

Wie effektiv ist die westliche Entwicklungshilfe an den globalen Süden? Der Entwicklungsökonom Axel Dreher fordert neue Konzepte - und gibt Donald Trump in einer Sache recht.

Study #Development #Economics in #Göttingen! We accept applications for our Master of students with either citizenship or Bachelor from EU/EEA countries until May 15. Info: uni-goettingen.de/en/203661.html. @unigoettingen.bsky.social @agrarunigoe.bsky.social igoe.bsky.social @3dseminar.bsky.social

I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.

Salute to the Canadians for putting these ads up in downtown DC, they’re right and they should say it more 🫡

The Review of International Organizations invites papers using geocoded data on foreign aid for a special issue “Analyzing Global Development with the Geocoded Official Development Assistance Dataset (GODAD).” See godad.me, godad.uni-goettingen.de/uploads/RIO_...

This is a pretty remarkable set of results. I got fixated on adults in this, since it seems like a big change! One fact that I discovered by digging into the original reports is that this masks some pretty interesting heterogeneity: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

The world's richest man stole food from the world's poorest children. Now they are beginning to die www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The RIO allows manuscripts rejected at APSR, IO, ISQ to be transferred to the RIO (and v.v.). Interested in discussing the draft of RIO’s transfer policy? Share your thoughts and suggstions for improvement: shorturl.at/9jbQb, @the-peio.bsky.social, @iojournal.bsky.social, @apsrjournal.bsky.social

I really liked this idea of using a histogram as a legend in a choropleth map (since land isn't unemployed; people are), so I made a little guide to doing it with #rstats, {ggplot2}, and {patchwork} www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2025/02...

Thanks to @eu-renew.bsky.social, the main findings of our recent @the-peio.bsky.social article on the link between IO design, cosmopolitan identity and potential domestic effects (uni.ms/m1ckl) are now also available in the format of an audio book: eu-renew.eu/podcast/, ep. 18. Strongly recommended!

Some thoughts on the suspension of USAID in an interview with @wirtschaftswoche.bsky.social: wiwo.de/politik/ausl... (in German)

New publication alert @the-peio.bsky.social Under what conditions are new democracies more committed to human rights? More specifically, what role do former autocratic elites play in shaping ratification of international human rights treaties? link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Some IOs - like the IMF, UNSC, and the WHO - group small states together in 'proxy' systems, while powerful states speak for themselves. In new (open access!) work with @rickyclark.bsky.social and Ayse Kaya in @the-peio.bsky.social, we focus on the case of climate change in the IMF. 1/3

Who benefits from today’s illegal elimination of all US aid workers worldwide? China. China will fill the gaping void. Chinese aid greatly raises pro-China attitudes & influence across the world: @adreher.bsky.social et al.—> doi.org/10.1086/729539 Ungated—> www.aiddata.org/publications...

Join us for the Political Economy of International Organization Conference (@the-peio.bsky.social) at IE University in Segovia, Spain, January 29-31, 2026. Submission is now open at peio.me. Thanks to Nikitas Konstantinidis for hosting!

*Extremely* timely EDCC article #econtwitter #econsky about effectiveness of foreign aid in building soft power. . .for China! Completion of Chinese foreign aid projects ⬆️ support for Chinese gov in recipient countries @elwellner @DreherAxel @fuchs_andreas @AustinMStrange

Check out the papers of the 17th PEIO (@the-peio.bsky.social, Harvard University, Jan 23-25) at www.peio.me. Please save the date for our next PEIO, hosted by IE University in Segovia, Spain, on January 29-31, 2026. Thanks to Nikitas Konstantinidis for hosting us!

@adreher.bsky.social, the one who started it all & has made @the-peio.bsky.social a cornerstone of the field, closing down another excellent PEIO conference. 17 years of building a great community of scholars on the political economy of international organizations. Next year in Segovia!

Excited to fly to @the-peio.bsky.social @harvard.edu - see you there!

Perhaps the best conference of the year @the-peio.bsky.social. All of the world’s remaining multilateralists under one roof 😬

Keep your papers coming and join us for the Bristol Applied Economics Meeting (BÆM) on Development Economics, May 6-7! 📢 Invited talks by the brilliant @saralowes.bsky.social, Devesh Rustagi & @deanyang.bsky.social 📅 Submission deadline: Feb 28. Details here👉http://baem.info

🚨The call for the 2025 #edition of the #BSE #SummerForum workshop on #DevelopmentEconomics is out (co-organised with P. Bustos, G. DeGiorgi, G. Leon and D. Yang). Send us your best papers (deadline: FEB 28) and join us in beautiful Barcelona on June 18-19. events.bse.eu/live/files/5...

I wrote a joint paper about this in the EU financial crisis context (also published in @the-peio.bsky.social in 2020) so this goes straight in my reading pile

Ben’s great piece captures a problem that IMO we are seeing across non-US developed countries: the unwillingness to lead and take responsibility to choose leadership. Leading is not just winning the polls; it’s taking a stand on a policy vision, running w/ it, taking a risk, owning the consequences.

Nice to see this in print in The Journal of Urban Economics. How do official Chinese-funded infrastructure projects diffuse economic activity in developing countries? The strongest effects are in least-developed regions and near cities. 1/2 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Seven-year gestation period must be some kind of record. Grateful for the patience and thoughtfulness of @adreher.bsky.social, @fuchsa.bsky.social, @austinstrange.bsky.social, @rbluhm.bsky.social, and Brad Parks. CC: @the-peio.bsky.social

A recent paper by Eoin McGuirk and @nathannunn.bsky.social highlights how agricultural development projects can backfire in traditionally pastoral areas of Africa, fueling conflict instead of fostering development. #EconSky www.nber.org/papers/w33191

Come work with me on poverty measurement at the Inter-American Development Bank! (Applications due this Wednesday) iadbcareers.taleo.net/careersectio... Does *not* have to be based in DC or USA.

📣 Hiring alert! Multiple postdoc and RA opportunities with us at Oxford @oxfordcsae.bsky.social @blavatnikschool.bsky.social @oxfordecondept.bsky.social #econsky

We have just updated our long-term data on life expectancy around the world. 👇 The data by continent shows that life expectancy has more than doubled in every world region. (Here is all our work on life expectancy: ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy)

University of Oslo is hiring 2-4(!) Associate Professors in Political Science. The call is open to candidates from all subfields. Deadline is February 3rd. It comes with amazing colleagues, great work conditions, and lots of snow. Brown cheese, salmon, and cross-country skis can be supplementary.

Fascinating paper on where 6000 global elites went to college. Billionaires, CEOs, heads of state, central bankers, etc. In a word: Harvard. Fully 10% of global elites went to Harvard. Elite US schools are over-represented (23% IvyPlus), but nobody comes close to Harvard. 🧵

Just published in the Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social "The long run impact of childhood interracial contact on residential segregation" Joint work with @liamwrenlewis.bsky.social and @lmerlino.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

📣 Call for papers for junior (non-tenured) researchers: Workshop on “The Impact of Immigration and Refugee Inflows on Host Country Economies”, March 6‐7 in Berlin Keynote: Anna Maria Mayda (Georgetown University) Submission Deadline: December 20, 2024 #EconConf #Econsky

🗣️ Call for papers: 6th Workshop on the Economics and Politics of Migration, May 22–23 in Madrid Keynotes by the brilliant Leah Boustan & @deanyang.bsky.social Submissions due January 26th —> docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #econconf #econsky

Newskies! My book Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Future features 87 images & an unshrinking prose style. Not a happy story, but this is the 21st century after all. The book examines the twinned residues of mining & racial capitalism in #SouthAfrica 🇿🇦 1/

Apply to the PhD program in political at Uppsala University! Application open now! www.uu.se/en/departmen...

📣 Short forthcoming article "The UN Summit of the Future: Leadership, Layering, and the Limits of Liberal International Order" in the journal Global Governance Accepted version here: www.researchgate.net/publication/...