PODCAST

VoxDev Development Economics

VoxDev.org

Hear about the cutting edge of development economics from research to practice.

science social sciences

All Episodes

49:32

S4 Ep28: Paul Collier: Economics for the left behind

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/07/17

Paul Collier has for many years challenged the conventional wisdom of developmenteconomics, bringing our attention to the real-world impact of policies many of us take for granted. His new book is called Left Behind. It is about how some countries or regions in the world fall behind, and what we can do to help them recover. In this week’s episode he talks to Tim Phillips about what causes a place to be left behind, the difficulty in stopping that downward spiral, and what the places that

25:34

S4 Ep27: Can flexible work bypass gender norms?

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/07/10

If women in developing countries want to work, what keeps them out of the labourforce? Is it the other tasks they have to do, or the expectations of the people around them? Two new papers experiment with the effect of offering flexible working to women in India, Lisa Ho talks to Tim Phillips about what the results might mean for the millions of women in India and beyond who would like to work, but don’t.

25:47

S4 Ep26: Maximising impact: Open Philanthropy's...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/07/03

If you want to do good, and do not have unlimited funds, how do you choose? Whichplaces, people, and situations are most deserving? Do you invest in economic benefits or lives saved? Open Philanthropy in an organisation that aims to rigorously optimise the impact of every dollar it spends. Emily Oehlsen tells Tim Phillips about its successes so far, and how it still sometimes gets it wrong.

24:13

S4 Ep25: Rethinking how we measure extreme poverty

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/06/26

Many of us can recall when we first discovered there were more than a billion peoplein the world who lived on “a dollar a day”. This extreme poverty line been effective at raising awareness of the goals of development. But, if we want to eradicate poverty rather than describe it, is it a useful tool – and what could improve on it? Charles Kenny discusses how the line is drawn, and how it could be improved, with Tim Phillips.

23:02

S4 Ep24: Depression and loneliness among the elderly...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/06/19

In developing countries, we know comparatively little about how well the elderly cope with problems like depression and loneliness. There are few policies to support sufferers, partly because of this lack of data. Maddie McKelway and Garima Sharma tell Tim Phillips about some of the surprising revelations of a new cross-country study and suggest ways in which policy can improve the mental health of seniors.

29:26

S4 Ep23: Adaptation on the frontline of climate change

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/06/12

“There’s only so much adapting you can do with so few resources.” That’s a warningfrom Asif Saleh, the executive director of BRAC, about the impact of the climate crisis in Bangladesh. Changes in the climate are causing severe problems already for millions of the world’s poorest people. A combination of ingenuity and hard work is staving off disaster for now – but for how long?

16:33

S4 Ep22: How to policymakers interpret different...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/06/05

How does new evidence influence the beliefs of policymakers, and when do hiddenbiases of beliefs lead to bad policy decisions? There is more rigorous empirical evidence on which interventions work than ever. But that doesn’t translate into better policy unless a policymaker acts on it. Eva Vivalt and Tim Phillips offer advice to researchers on how to present their insights.

29:32

S4 Ep21: How can LMICs collect more taxes?

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/05/29

In both high- and low-income countries, taxes are the main source of governmentrevenue. They fund roads, schools, and social programmes. But the average tax-to- GDP ratio in a developing country is less than half of the ratio in the global north. Oyebola Okunogbe tells Tim Phillips about the innovative ways that many LMICs are using to collect the taxes that will finance their growth.

19:33

S4 Ep20: How equitable are taxes in LMICs?

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/05/22

Inequality is high in many LMICs, and progressive taxation is a policy tool that would reduce it. But would a personal income tax or a consumption tax redistribute in the same way as in a high-income country? Lucie Gadenne of Queen Mary University of London and the IFS tells Tim Phillips that one of these taxes may be less progressive, and one may be more progressive, than we expect.

23:01

S4 Ep19: Pathways to development in a less integrated...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/05/15

In a world of economic nationalism rather than integration, the export-led pathway todevelopment that transformed China, Vietnam and other countries might no longer be effective. Instead, Penny Goldberg tells Tim Phillips, policies for poverty reduction now also need to answer the question of where demand will come from, and that may require more emphasis on creating a domestic middle class.

17:32

S4 Ep18: Harnessing technology to boost African...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/05/08

Agriculture makes up a large share of employment and GDP in Africa, but crop yields remain stubbornly low. VoxDev has published Issue 2 of Agricultural Technology in Africa, which reviews what the published literature can – and cannot – explain about this stagnation. Chris Udry, one of the editors, tells Tim Phillips about the impact of this stagnation on living standards in Africa, and insights from recent research that can potentially make a difference. Read the VoxDevLit:

26:26

S4 Ep17: Increasing learning at scale in Ghana

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/05/01

How can we take what we learn in educational RCTs and apply it at scale to manyschools, maybe in many countries? Adrienne Lucas talks to Tim Phillips about the project she was part of to improve learning in Ghana, the difference between small- and large-scale trials, and the challenge of implementing policies results without perfect compliance or daily monitoring.

21:26

S4 Ep16: Electricity shortages and unemployment in...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/04/24

In high-income countries, we take a reliable electricity supply for granted. But in parts of the world where that reliable electricity supply isn’t available, what is the effect of frequent power outages on employment? Justice Tei Mensah of The World Bank tells Tim Phillips about how power cuts translate to job cuts.

29:51

S4 Ep15: The global learning crisis

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/04/17

In September 2022 António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, convened the Transforming Education Summit by telling education stakeholders from around the world that education is “beset by inequalities and struggling to adjust to the needs of the 21st century”. Their task: to tackle the global learning crisis by transforming their education systems. Robert Jenkins of UNICEF talks to Tim Phillips about the progress that has been made to solve what he calls “the global learning crisis”.

30:05

S4 Ep14: How does cultural distance shape conflict?

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/04/10

What determines how a war is fought, and who chooses to fight it? Eleonora Guarnieri of the University of Exeter talks to Tim Phillips about how cultural distance influences whether, and how, sexual violence is used as a weapon of war – and its role in civil conflict in Africa.

28:38

S4 Ep13: Further education in low- and middle-income...

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/04/03

If you go to college in a low- or middle-income country (LMIC), how does it help you, and what do you get from it? Two questions that would seem to have obvious answers – but these questions may be more complicated for policymakers to answer than they seem. Jishnu Das tells Tim Phillips that “the demographic dividend seems to be turning into a demographic nightmare” – and what researchers and policymakers can do about it.

18:58

S4 Ep12: The psychology of poverty

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/03/20

Does being rich make us happy, or is it being richer than other people that matters? Will interventions that alleviate poverty also improve someone’s well-being? If we can improve a person’s mental health, does this have an economic effect too? Johannes Haushofer and Daniel Salicath tell Tim Phillips what we know so far about these questions, and how future research can help us understand the psychology of poverty.

15:37

S4 Ep11: Selecting political candidates in Sierra Leone

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/03/13

Who should select political candidates, the people or the party? Abou Bakarr Kamara and Niccoló Meriggi talk to Tim Phillips about an experiment in Sierra Leone that convinced two major political parties to adopt a primary system for candidate selection. Did that mean that different candidates stood in the election, and that different MPs were chosen? Photo: Carol Sahley/USAID

24:43

S4 Ep10: Universal basic income in Kenya

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/03/06

Universal basic income – UBI – has always been more an economic thought experiment than serious policy idea. It’s now being taken seriously, but any large-scale implementation would need solid empirical evidence to justify the cost. Tavneet Suri tells Tim Phillips about the surprising insights from the early stages of a decade-long test of UBI in Kenya, and what we expect to learn as the experiment progresses.

20:32

S4 Ep9: Labour market dynamics in LMICs

VoxDev Development Economics ·

2024/02/27

The process that economists call labour market dynamics lets workers improve their lives by switching jobs. But do our assumptions about it apply in LMICs? Because if the dynamics are different, then maybe the policies should be different as well. Kevin Donovan and Todd Schoellman tell Tim Phillips about the surprising evidence they discovered about labour market flows, and why it might lead us to rethink job creation policy in LMICs.

291 results

VoxDev Development Economics

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Classic Radio Science Fiction

solgoodmedia.com

Mission to Mars

Inception Point Ai

The 365 Days of Astronomy

365DaysOfAstronomy.org

Creek Devil

william Jevning

UFO Chronicles Podcast

Nik Hunter