Ideas in Development

S4 Ep6: GiveDirectly’s quest for scale

GiveDirectly started out as a small nimble team founded by PhD economists, who had a novel approach to ending poverty – just give cash. But they are no longer the new kid

S4 Ep5: How BRAC partners with governments to fight poverty

The ultra-poor graduation approach has one of the strongest evidence bases in development. Almost all of that evidence comes from NGO delivery – but true scale typically

How to start an export boom

This interview was conducted by Exporters Without Borders (ESF), which incubates entrepreneurs to start new export industries in low and middle income countries. The vide

S4 Ep4: Has development economics lost its way?

What should development economists be working on – and how does their work actually reach the people making decisions? Rachel Glennerster, President of the Center for Gl

How global supply chains are built – and how to actually attract investment

Bill McRaith spent his career building supply chains – from 1980s Britain, to a factory in Panyu, China in 1990, to Ethiopia three decades later. He joins Oliver Hanney t

Stefan Dercon on elite bargains and kickstarting economic growth (via the AUL Podcast)

Slightly different episode today. This is a repost of a recent episode on the Africa Urban Lab's podcast, in which Kurtis Lockhart (who co-hosted our Cities series) inter

S4 Ep3: Moving billions towards evidence

In 2022, Dean Karlan became Chief Economist at USAID, tasked with steering the world's largest bilateral aid agency towards evidence-backed approaches. He left in 2025, a

S1 Ep5: How Ethiopia reformed its economy

 Ethiopia is one of Africa's most ambitious bets on export-led manufacturing. It’s also the site of one of the continent's boldest recent macroeconomic reform programmes.

S4 Ep2: Aggregating evidence

The conversation about evidence-based policy usually asks why good evidence isn't shaping decisions. But we should also be asking, is the evidence base itself actually wo

S4 Ep1: The evidence gap on evidence use

Development economics has built a large empirical evidence base across a range of topics and policies – but how, when and where is it being used? We often assume that evi

Why Dani Rodrik changed his mind on manufacturing

This episode might sound a little different to normal, as it was recorded live. For decades, the standard prescription for growth in developing countries was clear: indu

Adopt AND innovate: How Brazil and Taiwan did both

How can developing countries catch up with the technology frontier? The standard debate frames it as a choice between adopting technology from abroad and innovating at ho

S3 Ep7: The perfect city?

What does a perfect city look like in a low- or middle-income country – and how do you get there? In the closing episode of our cities series, Ed Glaeser joins Kurtis Lo

S3 Ep6: Cities of opportunity, not powder kegs

Are African cities a powder keg of restless youth – or the most promising place to build prosperity, peaceful politics and shared civic life? Leonard Wantchekon joins Id

S3 Ep5: How crime takes over cities

How does organised crime take over a city – and can mayors act before it does? Chris Blattman, economist and political scientist at the University of Chicago, joins Oliv

S3 Ep4: Why was Rwanda’s land reform so successful?

Broken land markets are holding back cities across Africa. But not in Rwanda, which was able to register over 10 million land parcels, and issue over 7 million title deed

S3 Ep3: YIMBY goes global? How to build more houses in Africa

Africa needs to house nearly a billion new urban residents by 2050. Who's going to build it – and how will it be paid for? Kecia Rust joins the Ideas in Development seri

S3 Ep2: How can African cities pay for stuff?

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 contr

S3 Ep1: Why cities matter

900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. Getting this unprecedented urban transition right is one of the defining development challenges of our time.

S2 Ep9: The development economics of AI: Lessons and questions

What actually changes when AI meets institutions, infrastructure, and the people inside them? Oliver Hanney and Deena Mousa recap the Ideas in Development series on AI,