This week we featured research on winning wars, protecting girls, biodiversity and more...
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Research in development economics is painting a more accurate picture of the impacts of interventions, helping us to conduct better cost-benefit analyses. In this week’s blog, Oliver Hanney details how to decide which development policies are worth it.
It is widely agreed that deep pockets are crucial for military success. Yet, quantitative evidence on the connection between resources and the probability of winning wars is all but missing. Jonathan Federle, Dominic Rohner and Moritz Schularick discuss the role of economics in military success using conflicts between Chad and Libya as a case study.
Over 30% of reported rape cases in India involve victims under 18. Legal reforms and cultural shifts are essential, but slow to implement. Pei Gao, Aditi Kothari and Yu-Hsiang Lei outline how building sex-specific toilets in schools provides a short-term solution to reducing child abuse in India.
Since the outbreak of civil war in Sudan in April 2023, the country has plunged into a dire humanitarian crisis. The conflict has not only devastated communities, but also critically damaged the nation’s digital communications infrastructure. In this week’s episode of VoxDevTalks, Magdi Amin explains how the destruction of digital infrastructure has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.
On Monday, Emma Näslund-Hadley and Juan Hernández-Agramonte demonstrated how integrating ethnomathematical concepts into school curricula improved mathematical proficiency and appreciation for indigenous cultural heritage in Panama.
Infrastructure expansion into forests substantially degrades biodiversity. However, institutions that centre the voices of forest-dependent communities during project planning can help mitigate species loss. Raahil Madhok provides evidence on how inclusive institutions promote conservation in India.
Elsewhere in development economics:
- The first session of ReCIPE's Virtual Course on “Key Concepts for Economies in Conflict and Fragile Settings” took place yesterday - catch up and register for future sessions here.
- On CGDEV, Nancy Lee writes about what we're losing: Energy, Growth, and Power Africa.
- Ken Opalo writes that African countries must urgently start the process of ending aid dependency.
- On the FT, Stefan Dercon discusses whether international aid can survive in a crumbling world order, and Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo write that foreign aid can be effective without the US.
- On JPAL, Iqbal Dhaliwal reflects on the end of USAID.
- Lauren Gilbert writes - To Drive Structural Transformation, Stop Counting Connections — Focus First on Ensuring Reliable Electricity.
- And Elizabeth Tilley & Marc Kalina explore the gatekeeping burden of African scholars in facilitating Northern fieldwork within the African continent.