A new paper by Jorg Faust at the German Development Institute looks at whether rich countries that have more accountable and democratic institutions have more development-oriented foreign policy: … the results do support the main hypothesis presented here, namely that the level of democratic voice and accountability in OECD countries Read more…
Ruth Levine at the Global Health Policy Blog rightly points out that the emergence of Extreme Drug Resistant TB is a further example of the way that our interests, in rich countries, are increasingly intertwined with the interests of poor countries. Recent reports about the emergence of Extreme Drug-Resistant TB Read more…
The FT reports that fair trade coffee from Peru is being produced by workers who are not treated as Fair Trade consumers would wish: The FT visited five Peruvian smallholdings, all of which have Fairtrade certification. Each farm hires 12-20 casual coffee pickers during the harvest season. All house and Read more…
After two wonderful years in Berkeley, working for the Center for Global Development, I am returning to the UK civil service to the Department for International Development. I shall be Director of Global Development Effectiveness, responsible for leading the teams that work with other donors and institutions to improve the Read more…
The annual World Bank report, Doing Business, reports an improvement in the business environment in two thirds of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania and Ghana are in the top-ten improving countries this year. Other countries that have simplified regulations or improved property rights include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Madagascar, Read more…
A new paper by Ilyana Kuziemko and Eric Werker finds that joining the Security Council results in a 60% increase in foreign aid, and an 8 percent increase in aid from UN bodies; and that it returns to normal when the country’s time on the Security Council comes to an Read more…
The Wall Street Journal reports a new paper by Paul Collier about the reasons why growth in Africa has been slower than elsewhere. “African performance has been far worse than that of any other region,” Collier has written. “The explanation for this is not that African economic behavior is fundamentally Read more…
This article in The Onion is very funny: "If they want to ensure that millions of children receive immunity shots for typhoid, whooping cough, or diphtheria, we will ensure that country's medicine is never received." Added Negroponte: "This bill gives us the power to take on these extremists before they Read more…
I am sure that you are all avid readers of Public Finance magazine. You’ll be fascinated to hear that this week’s cover feature is my article calling for the establishment of a service-oriented architecture for IT systems across the public sector. Here is an extract to titillate your tastebuds: The Read more…
There is more to the fight against global poverty than aid. The Make Poverty History campaign in 2005 focused on trade, debt and aid. But even that is just picking some high profile targets. Developing countries get a lot of advice – mainly unsolicited – about what they should differently, on Read more…