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Blog post
The politics of public sector and tax reform in Lebanon
In Lebanon, rain from the latest storm was seen dripping through the cracks in Beirut’s bridges. This image aptly summarises the country’s deteriorating infrastructure, which is due to woeful public finances and decades of negligence. Until now, the focus has been on improving the resilience of the financial and banking systems, and immediate structural reforms, to...
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Blog post
New research findings on firms in five graphs
The productivity gap between firms in developed and developing countries is large. Recent research has focused on both the obstacles and opportunities in bridging this gap. This blog presents new findings, presented in five graphs, from up-and-coming economists exploring firm productivity in developing countries. Evidence shows firms are much less productive in developing...
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Blog post
The trade and industrialisation nexus: A pathway for development
There is no single country that has managed to reach a high-income level without first undergoing an industrialisation process. Even the few exceptions of rich countries with a large natural resource base, such as Canada and Australia, built a strong and relatively diversified industrial park. Perhaps the main question is what kind of industrialisation process the current...
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Blog post
Improving asset and debt management in developing cities
Many developing cities have a large pool of wealth in their public assets, however they lack the inventory and strategic capacities required to untap the potential revenue. Well managed cities are able to harness their assets, ensuring they have predictable streams of finance that can be used to pursue inclusive and sustainable development plans. Strategic management of...
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Challenges and choices in the Rwandan education system: R3 roundtable discussion
Education is a vital part of any economic growth strategy. However, implementation in Rwanda must overcome a number of challenges including dropout rates, nutrition, teaching hours, teacher recruitment and management, and the need to develop a reading culture. In this blog post, Jonathan Bower describes presentations by researchers from Laterite and from Georgetown...
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Is green growth possible? Revisiting the Environmental Kuznets curve
Can economic growth be environment friendly? IGC Policy Economist, Matei Alexianu, looks at what we can learn from economic theory and evidence from around the world. He argues that both the optimistic and pessimistic views are unconvincing, and developing countries should use environmental policy to mitigate the costs of growth. Is there a trade-off between economic...
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Blog post
Designing national healthcare: Challenges and opportunities for Ayushman Bharat
As India’s population ages, the demand for tertiary healthcare to treat non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular ailments is increasing rapidly. Estimates from the World Health Organisation show that deaths in India due to non-communicable diseases increased from 4.2 million in 2000 to 5.8 million in 2016. Over the same period, deaths...
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Blog post
The supply chain for seed in Uganda: Where does it all go wrong?
Seed quality is a major concern in Uganda Evidence from recent studies suggests low country-wide adoption of improved seeds by farmers. Farmers prefer to use home-saved seeds, indicating that they did not perceive the benefits of improved seed to be worth the cost (Tripp and Rohrbach, 2001; Remington et al., 2002; Sperling et al., 2008). This has been linked to several...
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Blog post
Are women politicians good for economic growth?
There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades. We find that constituencies that elect women experience significantly higher growth in economic activity through the electoral term than similar constituencies that elect men.
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Blog post
Reforming Pakistan’s tax system: Evidence-based suggestions
As Pakistan fails to collect a decent proportion of own-source revenue, it has little choice than to take on debt or depend on more creative means, such as a recent crowdfunding campaign, to fund public projects. Where does Pakistan stand? Pakistan tax-to-GDP ratio is about 12% . In comparison, OECD countries raise taxes equivalent to about 34% of their GDP. This limits...
Blog post
What do we (not) know about the benefits of households’ electrification?
Household electrification has recently become a controversial topic. When The Economist declared that “electricity does not change poor lives as much as was thought,” a number of non-profits and industry representatives wrote indignant responses (CEO of SolarAid, CrossBoundary) arguing that electricity, including distributed solar power, can be a game-changer for rural...