Research Strategy

The IGC funds high-quality research relevant to growth policy in developing countries. This document lays out the strategy that underpins this research and what follows builds on the Phase I Research Strategy. The IGC Research Programme was conceived to help generate a richer understanding of the process of economic growth and the required policy and institutional interventions that support it, and by doing so, to also promote economic growth in developing countries. The programme broadly delivered on these goals during Phase I by commissioning roughly 130 high quality studies through five calls for proposals, achieving brand name recognition, encouraging the participation of top researchers, and making significant progress towards integrating the work of researchers and policy-makers in developing countries.

In Phase II, the IGC will build on these successes and streamline the Research Strategy with a sharper focus on key research questions that are relevant for growth within four broad themes: (i) state effectiveness, (ii) firm capabilities, (iii) cities, and (iv) energy. These are themes where we have seen demonstrated demand during the past few years and where there are large knowledge gaps in the existing literature, thus providing us with an opportunity to both push out the global knowledge frontier and to influence policy. They also represent themes where our research network has been successful in commissioning research that matches policy demands. Finally, these are areas where the IGC has begun to establish a global reputation and where we feel there is scope to cultivate our global competitive advantage, thus putting us in a better position to influence both national and international policy debates. Answering these questions will help us push the frontier of economic research and help inform growth policy around the world.