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Blog post
Consumer welfare impacts of high transport costs in rural Ethiopia
Access to a variety of manufactured goods reduces in relation to the distance from urban centers. Accordingly, reductions in transport costs increase consumer welfare through higher incomes, lower prices, and increased variety. Transport and consumption in Ethiopia Transport costs reduce consumer welfare, not only through lower incomes and higher prices, but also...
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Blog post
Why metropolitan governance structures matter: Kampala
Structuring metropolitan governance is largely dictated by administrative jurisdictions. Population and financing variables are also influential, with the power to determine the social, political and economic prosperity of the country at large. Metropolises Metropolitan areas are important hubs for economic activity around the world, particularly in less developed...
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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
Unintended voter polarisation by political elites: Experimental evidence from Turkey
A door-to-door information campaign in Turkey unintentionally polarised the electorate over their vote in a policy referendum. Information driven polarization: Self-segregation vs. different beliefs The existing empirical research on political polarization assumes that people self-segregate ideologically to different sources of information (Sunstein, 2001; Gentzkow and...
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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...
Blog post
Making land administration work for African cities
Rapid urbanisation has created a strong need to improve land administration in many African cities. Emerging research and policy experiences in countries such as Rwanda can guide policymakers across the continent as they seek to do this. Policy debates about land are often highly removed from the practical apparatus that determine how land is actually used – maps,...