One of my favourite scorecards is the Commitment to Development Index produced each year by the Center for Global Development. The 2009 index was published on Thursday. What I especially like is that this analysis does not focus only on aid. Too often, we measure the extent of our international Read more…
Tim Harford at the FT has an article in today’s FT weekend magazine which endorses the ideas in my recent working paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid. I’m envious of Tim’s ability to express the ideas so much more succinctly and clearly than me. He writes: it Read more…
Good news: the Center for Global Development has started a new podcast series, the Global Prosperity Wonkcast. In this first episode, host Lawrence Macdonald talks to Todd Moss about his new paper, Saving Ghana from Its Oil: The Case for Direct Cash Distribution. Todd proposes ways for the citizens to Read more…
Chris Blattman has a thoughtful post about his decision to continue blogging. He gives a bunch of reasons – to paraphrase, they are: (a) it is way to have influence; (b) it is probably a good career more; (c) it forces the author to think more carefully about the issues Read more…
My new working paper, Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid is on the Center for Global Development website in the innovations in aid series. In the paper I argue that more planning and coordiation among donors will not overcome the political constraints that prevent better aid. The aid Read more…
George Osborne said eight times in his speech to the Conservative Party Conference that “we are all in this together”. Let’s consider what this might mean.
Have a look at this video produced by the International Budget Partnership. The video is about the way that a civil society organisation in Kenya, MUHURI, has enabled a local community in Mombassa to hold their government to account. (Disclosure: I work on aidinfo – a small research team which Read more…
I was on the BBC World Business Report yesterday, talking about proposals for a Tobin Tax (a tax on financial market transactions with the revenues allocated to poverty reduction). David Hillman from Stamp Out Poverty discussed the issue with me. I said I could not see the logic of linking Read more…
There are bad reasons and good reasons for supporting the use of innovative finance for development. Unfortunately, some development advocates seem williing to back any proposal that they think might raise more money for development, instead of focusing on mechanisms that will improve the way that money is used. When Read more…
The Ethiopian Government has been running posters in the southern part of Ethiopia to warn farmers about the risk of tsetse fly (which kill cattle and cause sleeping sickness). To reinforce the message, and to make sure that farmers know exactly what they are looking for, they have been using Read more…