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Blog post
Can the microcredit model be improved?
The long-term impact of microcredit on peoples’ lives is limited: new research reveals it can help more people by modifying and extending its model. Microcredit is frequently touted as an effective policy tool to fight global poverty. Its global profile was elevated in 2006 when Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering microcredit....
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Blog post
What will aid and development look like under UK Prime Minister Johnson?
As the Conservative Party leadership contest draws to a close, Britain has finally seen a new Prime Minister enter the famous black door of 10 Downing Street. It’s a surprise to few that Boris Johnson has won the race to succeed Theresa May, opening a new chapter in the nation’s Brexit saga. What lies ahead for the development sector? In the 2016 referendum, Johnson...
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Blog post
Should I stay or should I go? Managing populations with urban to rural migration incentives
Sydney you’ve got to let me know, should they stay or should they go. In 2011, Sydney, the largest city in Australia, asked its residents, should they stay or should they go? Despite regularly rated as one of the world’s top ten liveable cities, the government was offering residents AUD$7,000 (£4,500 or ~one month’s average wage) to move to the country’s rural...
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Blog post
Replenishing the rice bowl: Productivity and quality in Myanmar’s rice export industry
Myanmar’s rice industry can be reignited by reforms. However, key challenges need to be addressed for the country to re-establish itself in the international market. Myanmar once held the distinction of being the world’s largest exporter of rice, accounting for one-third of the global rice trade in 1934-1935. Post-independence nationalisation of the industry was...
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Blog post
What can we learn from the market for skilled workers in Sierra Leone?
Many developing countries focus on education to produce a productive workforce. Human capital models in economics support this. But what we can learn from the Sierra Leonean context is that a push for education and skills development is just one component on the supply side. Most of the world’s population, and therefore labour force, live in developing countries. Yet...
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Blog post
Mining taxation policy in Zambia: The tyranny of indecision
Instability, massive increases and novel taxes not seen anywhere in the world’. That is the way the outgoing Zambia Chamber of Mines President, Nathan Chishimba, described the new tax measures targeted at the mining sector in the 2019 budget. The Zambian government has charged that these new measures will ensure that the sector is paying its fair share of taxes, but the...
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Blog post
What do surveys and SMS data reveal about Kigali’s unplanned settlements?
Households living in unplanned areas of Kigali make complex trade-offs in terms of where they work and live. We use face-to-face and SMS surveys to understand these trade-offs as well as general patterns in migration, employment, mobility, housing, and access to infrastructure and services. Building an understanding of these dynamics is key for urban upgrading and more...
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Blog post
Women’s mobility and labour force participation in Karachi: Some preliminary observations
Pakistan has the lowest female labour-force participation rate in South Asia[1] and urban areas perform especially poorly[2]. Distinct patriarchal norms interlinked with migrant status can affect women’s autonomy and thus labour-force participation in different ways. Recently the Collective for Social Science Research conducted fieldwork for the IGC supported project...
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Blog post
Adapting to climate change through temporary migration in Bangladesh
With climate change, we are seeing more extreme weather events and increasingly frequent hazards, putting agriculture and rural livelihoods at ever greater risk. Temporary migration can help households withstand these types of short-term hardships and income deficits, and may be a viable mechanism for adapting “in place” to changing environmental conditions. However,...
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Blog post
Getting the right institutions in place to run Africa’s cities efficiently
Over the next 16 years, all of the world’s 10 fastest growing cities are going to be in Africa. If this growth is a process of people voting with their feet, as last year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics Paul Romer once put it, these cities are winning. Yet urbanisation in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is not delivering the...
Blog post
Pre-paid electricity metering and its effects on the poor
Pre-paid meters for electricity or water are spreading rapidly in the developing world. Households that switched from post-paid monthly bills to pre-paid meters in South Africa, reduced their electricity usage drastically. Given that the energy demand of households is typically relatively unresponsive to prices, the question arises as to where these reductions came from....