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Blog post
Increasing investment and limiting default with flexible loan repayment
A recent study conducted in India, reveals that a flexible repayment option improves borrowers’ business outcomes without undermining repayment rates. Lenders in developing countries need to adopt a more customised approach towards borrowers. Irregular income and flexible repayment Borrowers who have irregular incomes often find it hard to adhere to frequent, rigid...
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Blog post
Improving transport in developing cities with investment and regulation
On 15 November 2017, the Oxford Urbanists and the International Growth Centre’s (IGC) Cities that Work initiative, co-hosted a panel discussion on the ‘Future of Informal Transport in Rapidly Growing Cities’, to discuss evidence for improved policy. Transport and development Transport is a vital component of connectivity in developing cities, allowing them to be a...
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Blog post
Women’s Financial Inclusion: 5 Reasons Why it Matters for Mozambique
The IGC recently published a policy brief that discusses the obstacles to financial inclusion in Mozambique. It tackles two of the main challenges: the low levels of financial literacy and the absence of interoperability. Novella Maugeri (Country Economist, IGC Mozambique) analyses this brief from the perspective of gender empowerment. How do you get your money from the...
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Blog post
The multiplier effect of Mozambique’s natural gas discovery and FDI bonanza
In the two years following the discovery, FDI inflows, driven by new projects in new industries, increased by 58%. There was also strong growth in manufacturing, retail, business services and construction, accompanied by substantial job creation. Natural resources and growth Natural resources are often thought of as a curse, slowing economic growth in resource-rich...
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Blog post
Information-driven voter disagreement over more authoritarianism: Experimental evidence from Turkey
Globally, civil liberties and political rights have been declining for eleven consecutive years (Freedom House, 2017). The erosion of these measures runs counter to a priori expectations that circumstances would improve: the number of democracies had doubled within the past five decades and information is increasingly available to voters due to a growing and diverse set of...
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Blog post
Food security and international trade
As the Eleventh WTO Ministerial Conference is in progress at Buenos Aires, this column looks at the role trade plays in ensuring food security through increased enhanced international cooperation on a multilateral scale. Although food security has long been recognized as a universal human right, 815 million people worldwide remained undernourished in 2016. In addition, the...
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Blog post
Guardians of accountability: A field experiment on corruption and inefficiency in Peru’s local public works
A field experiment tested the extent to which civil society oversight can curb corruption in public infrastructure, when supported by the relevant authority. Districts that received the monitoring intervention spent, on average, 75,000 US dollars less per project. Corruption in Latin America Lava Jato is Latin America’s largest corruption scandal to date. Brazilian...
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Blog post
All Peas in One Basket: Lessons from the 2017 Pigeon Pea Crisis
In recent years, the rapid expansion of pigeon pea production provided a boost to the rural economy of Central and Northern Mozambique. However, the 2017 price collapse created a crisis in the main production areas that calls attention to the need to improve the monitoring of market trends and to launch a joint effort aimed at diversification. During the past decade, the...
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Blog post
Todas as Fichas num Único Feijão: Lições da Crise de Feijão Bóer de 2017
Nos últimos anos, a rápida expansão da produção de feijão bóer dinamizou a economia rural na Zona Centro-Norte de Moçambique. Porém, a queda drástica do preço em 2017 gerou uma crise nas zonas de maior produção e chama a atenção para a necessidade de se melhorar o acompanhamento das dinâmicas do mercado e de um esforço conjunto para a...
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Blog post
A socio-economic crisis in rural Mozambique
The districts of Middle and Upper Zambézia, in Central Mozambique, were most affected by the fall of the pigeon pea price in 2017. Most farmers did not have any financial return to their investment in the previous agricultural season, which created multiplier effects in the local economy. Mozambique has been going through difficult economic times since 2015. This has been...
Blog post
Trade liberalisation in developing countries: the importance of roads
Research on Ethiopia shows that trade liberalisation can boost the productivity of firms in developing countries, but only if they have access to good roads. Gains from trade liberalisation are not uniform within countries Many developing countries have liberalised trade in the hope that greater international exposure will improve the performance of local firms. Lower...