VoxDev Development Economics

S7 Ep52: Is electricity a weak link in development?

In many cities in low-income countries, the grid fails often enough that businesses keep a diesel generator out the back. So an unreliable electricity grid looks like it

S7 Ep51: The critical minerals scramble

King Leopold II of Belgium told his envoy in London that he did not want to lose his slice of "this magnificent African cake". The cake was the Congo Free State. Today th

Ideas in Development: GiveDirectly's journey to scale

This is an episode from VoxDev's new podcast series, Ideas in Development. This series has a separate podcast feed, where you can find every episode of Oliver Hanney’s co

S7 Ep50: Evidence-based policy: Why one good trial isn't enough

Medicine has run rigorous clinical trials since the 1940s. Development economists borrowed the structure of the trials during the credibility revolution. Chris Cotton (Qu

S7 Ep49: Follow the paper trail

In Uganda, every sale between two VAT-registered firms reaches the tax authority twice. The seller reports it, and so does the buyer. But the two numbers rarely match. In

S7 Ep48: How politicians co-opt bureaucrats

How can we cut corruption in government, procurement that generates kickbacks for local politicians? We could hire officials on merit. Across the developing world, many g

Ideas in Development: How BRAC partners with governments to fight poverty

This is an episode from VoxDev's new podcast series, Ideas in Development. This series has a separate podcast feed, where you can find every episode of Oliver Hanney’s co

S7 Ep47: No Taxation without Administration

Research on how to collect more tax in developing countries has focused on how information, especially administrative data, can help. But in Uganda for example, buyers an

S7 Ep46: Rethinking development cooperation: The case for a 'balance sheet' approach

Many conversations about development for focus on aid: how much, from whom, and for how long. But aid has never been more than a small part of what pays for a country's d

S7 Ep45: Cape Town's day zero: How data rebuilt a city's water resilience

By 2018 the reservoirs supplying Cape Town were down to 20% of capacity. If they reached 13.5%, the city would need to shut down parts of the water network and send resid

S7 Ep44: Fifty years of Chinese growth: The gradualist reform strategy explained

In 1978, a farmer in rural China could not sell a sack of grain above the state quota, choose an employer, or move to the nearest city without a permit. In this week's V

S7 Ep43: Caste, race, and power: The barriers to political inclusion

The ballot cast by a landless labourer counts the same as the one cast by the landlord whose fields he works. In this way, democracy can give excluded or subordinate grou

S7 Ep42: Masculinity norms and their economic implications

Do economists treat what men do as normal human behaviour, and then study norms around women as a departure? If so, we need to pay more attention what we mean by masculin

S7 Ep41: How global supply chains are built

This is an episode from VoxDev's new podcast series, Ideas in Development. This series has a separate podcast feed, where you can find every episode of Oliver Hanney’s co

S7 Ep40: Using mobile phones to support teachers, parents, and students

More households in low-income countries own a mobile phone than have electricity or clean water.  So why is education one of the last places it has been put to work? Jen

S7 Ep39: Ideas in Development: Moving billions to evidence

This is an episode from VoxDev's new podcast series, Ideas in Development. This series has a separate podcast feed, where you can find every episode of Oliver Hanney’s co

S7 Ep38: How AI can put 20 years of development evidence to work

A farmer in rural Ghana can use her phone to take a picture of a blighted leaf, upload it, and within seconds she gets a diagnosis that takes account of the soil, the wea

S7 Ep37: Why businesses stay small in emerging markets

If you walk down a street in a low-income country, count the businesses you can see, you will miss many entirely. Someone who cooks at home and sells at the roadside neve

S7 Ep36: Climate Change Politics in Developing Countries

A river dries up. The soil turns salty. A harvest fails. Farmers across the developing world feel climate change constantly and personally, they rarely blame their govern

S7 Ep35: Ideas in Development: Has development economics lost its way?

This is an episode from VoxDev's new podcast series, Ideas in Development. This series has a separate podcast feed, where you can find every episode of Oliver Hanney’s co