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Project
Transforming agriculture through innovations in output markets in Ghana
This research project seeks to understand how improved markets for commodities can transform the agricultural value chain from farmers and farming systems to firms and purchasing and planning systems. Firms operating in environments with erratic supplies of agricultural commodities face high implicit transaction costs in operations. Firms that use commodities as inputs also...
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Project
Cash and compliance with social distancing: Experimental evidence from Ghana
Due to high population density, difficulty in enforcing compliance with social distancing and self-isolation, and economic vulnerability, the COVID-19 pandemic may be especially devastating for households in African countries. This project aims to understand the role that cash transfers can play as a policy tool both to increase household resilience during the pandemic...
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Project
Do endorsements by traditional leaders affect voter attitudes?
Traditional leaders or chiefs are believed to wield significant influence on their subjects' civic engagement, political participation, and vote choice. Scholars argue that the source of their legitimacy – historical socio-cultural customs – and subjects' trust and reverence enable them to help elected officials mobilise citizens to contribute their labour to community...
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Project
Network measure of bottlenecks in Ugandan firms markets
In Uganda, several supply-chains are characterised by a structure of a few very large firms and a large fringe of small firms (Spray and Wolf, 2017). These large firms anchor the economy together by providing a focal point for supply-chains to operate around. Without these anchor firms, output would drop substantially. On the other hand, these firms could exploit their...
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Project
The impact of early-stage resource acquisition: a randomised field experiment in Morocco
In many places, entrepreneurship is a vital process for job creation, economic growth, and the development of novel solutions to pressing social and environmental problems. Most of the research into entrepreneurship has examined the United States and European settings, along with select Asian countries (China and India). We understand very little about entrepreneurship in...
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Project
Responsive policymaking in Pakistan: Decision-making around infrastructure in Balochistan
IGC Pakistan is supporting the Government of Balochistan (GoB) in developing the contours of a spatial strategy to guide the province's budgetary allocations and development priorities while reflecting Balochistan’s needs and strengths. A previous IGC study has helped set the context for a new framework for growth in Balochistan based on a spatial and data-driven approach...
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Project
Gender discrimination in access to capital: Experimental evidence from Ethiopian SGBs
Access to capital is widely considered a key accelerator for business productivity and growth. Gender discrimination against entrepreneurs, who form the largest sector of the labor force in sub-Saharan Africa, may drive gender gaps in access to capital and subsequently reduce the performance of female-owned businesses. This raises concerns about both gender equity and...
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Project
Rebuilding the social compact: Urban service delivery and property taxes in Pakistan
Developing countries face a critical challenge as they urbanise: how can local governments tasked with delivering public goods and services meet the needs of rapidly growing urban populations? We ask whether strengthening the link between urban service provision and tax collection can create a virtuous cycle of sustainable development. We introduce a series of...
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Project
Reducing Pakistan's circular debt: Facilitating growth through energy sector reforms
Pakistan's power sector is in crisis. Although subsidies protect consumers from the real costs, the government is burdened with serious debt. The stock of debt in the power sector has reached a staggering ~1.72 trillion rupees (£8.56bn), nearly 4% of GDP. In comparison, Pakistan spends just over 2.4% of GDP on education; more is spent on subsidising electricity prices each...
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Project
Reinventing Pakistan's welfare state: Replacing energy subsidies with targeted transfers
A welfare state faces two fundamental challenges: targeting people who need support the most and delivering the benefits in a cost-effective manner. In some developing countries, weak data leads to poor targeting, while weak institutions lead to poor delivery mechanisms. This means that these limited benefits are often availed by the less deserving, leaving less behind for...
Project
Female politicians and economic growth: Evidence from state elections in India
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS7YtrR2yjU&feature=emb_logo The project studies close elections between men and women for election to India's state legislative assemblies. It finds significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women. Given average GDP growth in India of about 7% per year (during the study period), the researchers...