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Publication - Sub-thematic summary
Energy: A summary of IGC research
This sub-thematic summary highlights the IGC’s research on energy over the past 10 years. Access to reliable and affordable energy, as enunciated in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, is at the core of IGC’s research on energy. Achieving reliable, widespread access to electricity will be transformative for many developing countries. It has significant effects on...
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Publication - Working Paper
Electricity is not a right (paper)
Electricity courses through our lives. Yet, there are still more than a billion people worldwide who are not connected to the grid, and many more get abysmal supply, unlike the 24/7/365 flow that rich countries take for granted. We argue that these shortfalls are due to a sad irony: treating electricity as a right for the poor has limited electricity access.
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Publication - Growth Brief
Electricity is not a right: How social norms constrain access to electricity
The norm that electricity is a right, as opposed to a private good, constrains access to energy and leads to widespread rationing in developing countries. Many developing countries suffer from low electricity access and frequent outages that restrict economic growth. These conditions arise from two primary factors: the norm that electricity is a right guaranteed by the...
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Publication - Annual report
Annual report 2018-2019
This year we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the IGC, reflecting on a decade of research and policy impact and setting an ambitious strategy for the future. In recent years, our policy impact has expanded beyond our 12 partner countries, the direct influence of our research on policy has reached new levels, and our global leadership in academic and policy arenas...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Take Home Rations (THR) and cash transfers for maternal and child nutrition in India: A synthesis of evidence and recommendations for policy
In India, 38.4 percent of children under the age of five are stunted, i.e., have impaired growth and development, rising to 41.2 percent in rural areas. India ranks 134th out of 151 countries that measure stunting – lower than Bangladesh, Nepal, and most Sub-Saharan African countries. To address challenges with child and maternal health, the Government of India...
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Publication - Policy Brief
The cost of power outages to Zambia’s manufacturing sector
The researchers surveyed 146 large manufacturing firms in Zambia’s industrial hubs in 2018 to assess the impacts of power outages on Zambia’s manufacturing sector, and firms’ coping mechanisms. Following the outages of 2015 and 2016, manufacturing’s share of energy delivered by Zambian energy utility ZESCO dropped and had not recovered by 2017. The...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Social protection and job displacement in developing countries
Across the development path, social insurance programmes such as job displacement insurance schemes become an increasingly important part of governments’ role. This brief uses unique administrative data from São Paulo, Brazil, to study displaced workers’ need for insurance and the insurance value of the two most common government-mandated job displacement...
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Publication - Project Report
The economic geography of Rwanda
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Publication - Policy Brief
Impôts sur le foncier: pour valoriser des revenus municipaux inexploités
Dans ce bulletin, nous abordons l’importance de l’impôt foncier annuel comme source de financement des municipalités et examinons les avantages et les inconvénients que rencontrent les décideurs dans la mise en œuvre des réformes. Nous recensons également des exemples de pratiques exemplaires de réforme adoptées par des villes de pays en...
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Publication - Growth Brief
Financer les villes à croissance rapide
Beaucoup de villes des pays en développement grandissent à un rythme sans précédent. Pour répondre à cette expansion aussi rapide que non planifiée, les autorités municipales auront intérêt à la fois à accroitre leurs sources de revenus existantes et à étudier de nouvelles options de financement pour s’adapter à une demande accrue en services...
Publication - Growth Brief
Saving microfinance through innovative lending
The traditional microfinance model has had limited impact on the income and productivity of borrowers. More innovative and flexible lending models can boost entrepreneurship and welfare.