This week we featured research on geopolitics, AI, conflict, jobs, microfinance and more...
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On Tuesday, we released our new VoxDevLit on Refugees and Other Forcibly Displaced Populations and hosted a launch event with Senior Editor Sandra Rozo. Catch up on the launch event and download the VoxDevLit here.
Pastoral regions of Africa are witnessing a sharp increase in armed civil conflict. Eoin McGuirk and Nathan Nunn find that ‘mismatched’ agricultural development projects are a major factor driving this violence by displacing pastoral groups.
Geopolitical alliances are shifting and technological innovation is accelerating. Countries in the Global South must navigate these new risks and opportunities. In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Nobel laureate Simon Johnson discusses the global economy, impacts of deglobalisation, and rise of artificial intelligence.
Access to higher education has increased considerably in low-income countries over the last two decades. Despite this, many graduates find themselves in low-skilled jobs, raising concerns over the effectiveness of their qualifications in shaping their careers. In yesterday’s article, Michel Armel Ndayikeza demonstrated how any postgraduate experience serves as a signal in the labour market in Burundi.
Research shows that microfinance clients use credit and savings as commitment devices to accumulate lump sums. On Wednesday, Uzma Afzal, Giovanna d’Adda, Marcel Fafchamps, Simon Quinn, and Farah Said provided evidence from Pakistan suggesting high demand for fixed-payment contracts, but low demand for commitment add-ons in both credit and savings.
In Bihar, India and in rural Zambia, the government introduced programmes to address gender gaps in education by providing adolescent girls with bicycles for their commute to school. Vagisha Pandey, Sahil Pawar, and Nishith Prakash discuss the immediate and long-term impacts of these initiatives, provides insights into designing more effective and sustainable policies to promote gender parity in education.
Elsewhere in development economics:
- Sign up for next week's webinar with Dean Karlan here: Development Economics in a Changing World.
- Chris Blattman has a twitter thread on looking for jobs in the international development and humanitarian sector.
- W. Gyude Moore discusses how Africa must adjust to a changed world, longer essay here.
- AidData look at whether China will step up as the US retreats from global development.
- Open Philanthropy reflect on their year in 2024 and discuss their plans for 2025.
On the research to policy pipeline:
- Simon Johnson discusses the important of translating research to a broad audience.
- On the Policy Unstuck blog, Tom Hasemi outlines how one funder approaches policy change
- On Wilton Park, a great set of resources on evidence-led and impact-driven development.
- Jessica Benson-Egglenton and Matthew Flinders reflect on the impact of placing academic researchers in government departments.
- Katy Chakrabortty discusses what the rise and fall of the UK aid budget says about making change happen.
On YouTube:
- Check out this video on AI safety, part of CEPR's new webinar series on the Economics of Artificial Intelligence.
- Ken Opalo talks to Christopher Cramer at SOAS.
- Tyler Cowen discusses how to write with AI with David Perell.