Recent Research
Senior Fellow
Microfinance, foreign aid, Commitment to Development Index, debt and debt relief
Education: B.A. in theoretical mathematics, Harvard College, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1990.
David Roodman is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development currently focusing on microfinance. He is writing a book on the subject through an "open book" blog, through which he shares questions, discoveries, and chapter drafts. The book asks bottom-line questions about what we know about the benefits of microfinance, and what that implies for how we support it.
David has been architect and manager of the Commitment to Development Index since the project's inception in 2002. The Index ranks the world's richest countries based on their dedication to policies that benefit the 5 billion people living in poorer nations; it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive measure of rich-country policies towards the developing world.
David has written several papers questioning the capacity of common cross-country statistical techniques to shed light on what causes economic development. He co-authored a 2004 American Economic Review paper that challenged findings of World Bank research that aid works in a good policy environment. His non-technical "Guide for the Perplexed" builds on analysis of methodological problems and fragility in other studies. Among econometricians David is best known for his computer program xtabond2, which implements the Arellano-Bond and Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimators. xtabond2 is one of the most downloaded add-ons ever for the commercial statistics program Stata. Roodman generally ranks between 15 and 20 on the monthly-updated RePEc list of top young economists in the world.
David previously worked at the Worldwatch Institute, where he wrote three monographs on environmental issues, and one on debt, Still Waiting for the Jubilee: Pragmatic Solutions for the Third World Debt Crisis. He authored the book The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment, which Foreign Affairs called required reading for legislators around the world.” The Japanese edition garnered him a selection as one of "The Outstanding Young Persons" of 2003 by the Osaka Junior Chamber, which included an audience with the Emperor and Empress.
David spent academic year 1998–99 on a Fulbright in Vietnam. David has never taken a course in economics or statistics.
New
Popular
Working Papers Other CGD Pubs Events Selected Works
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The United States ranked 17th in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index with strengths in trade and security but weaknesses in aid and environment. This CGD Note describes how the United States could boost its score.
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David Roodman testifies before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade about supporting Haiti's private sector
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My guest on this week’s show is David Roodman, a research fellow here at CGD who has spent the past year writing a book on microfinance. He has shared this experience online through his open book blog, posting chapter drafts, analyzing ongoing research in the field, and soliciting comments and...
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This course explores the role of microfinance in economic development. It will discuss how poor people in poor countries use financial services such as credit and savings; the history and practice of delivering such services; what is known about their contribution to development; and how stories...
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In Benchmarking America, our second Global Prosperity Wonkcast, I ask CDI architect David Roodman to tell us why Sweden ranks first, why the United States gets such a mediocre score, and why Japan and Korea once again fall at the bottom of the list.
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The 2009 Commitment to Development Index ranks 22 of the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Moving beyond simple comparisons of foreign aid, the CDI ranks countries on seven themes: quantity and quality of foreign...
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In 2008, the United States finished 17th in the Index. Did it do any better in 2009? How did the other wealthy countries fare? To find out, and to understand the data behind the rankings, watch the Webinar that took place on Oct. 20. The Webinar includes an overview of the Index and the 2009...
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CGD fellow David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch reexamine three landmark, but contradictory, evaluations of the impact of microcredit on poor households in Bangladesh. They replicate the studies’ statistical analysis and put an end to the controversy surrounding them by showing that all fail to...
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This working paper by CGD research fellow David Roodman provides an original synthesis and exposition of the statistical theory behind one of the most influential studies of the impact of microcredit on borrowers (Pitt and Khandker, Journal of Political Economy, 1998). The present paper also...
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In this telephone press conference, CGD research fellow David Roodman teases out the some trends from the 2008 Commitment to Development Index.
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The United States ranked 17th in the 2009 Commitment to Development Index with strengths in trade and security but weaknesses in aid and environment. This CGD Note describes how the United States could boost its score.
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This working paper by CGD research fellow David Roodman provides an original synthesis and exposition of the literature on a particular class of econometric techniques called "dynamic panel estimators," and presents the first implementation of some of these techniques in Stata, a statistical...
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CGD fellow David Roodman and Jonathan Morduch reexamine three landmark, but contradictory, evaluations of the impact of microcredit on poor households in Bangladesh. They replicate the studies’ statistical analysis and put an end to the controversy surrounding them by showing that all fail to...
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Each year since 2003, the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) has ranked 21 rich countries on their dedication (or not!) to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poor countries. The CDI moves beyond simple comparisons of aid funding and in so doing embodies the mission of CGD,...
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*REVISED Version May 2008In development economics, statistical analysis usually begins with data from many observational units--households, companies, or countries--over just a few time periods. Two analysis techniques are becoming popular for studying causal relationships among variables in this...
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Microfinance is a widely celebrated strategy for helping poor people in the developing world. Leading microfinance institutions, including the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank, reach millions of clients. CGD research fellow David Roodman and Uzma Qureshi analyze why some microfinance...
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This course explores the role of microfinance in economic development. It will discuss how poor people in poor countries use financial services such as credit and savings; the history and practice of delivering such services; what is known about their contribution to development; and how stories...
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The Burnside and Dollar (2000) finding that aid raises growth in a good policy environment has had an important influence on policy and academic debates. We conduct a data gathering exercise that updates their data from 1970-93 to 1970-97, as well as filling in missing data for the original period...
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*REVISED Version May 2007Recent literature contains many stories of how foreign aid affects economic growth: aid raises growth in countries with good policies, or in countries with difficult economic environments, or mainly outside the tropics, or on average with diminishing returns. The diversity...
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The argument about whether foreign aid "works" rages on. Recently, Paul Collier sought a practical middle path between William Easterly's development pessimism and Jeffrey Sach's development boosterism. How can smart people draw such contradictory conclusions from the same data? This new working...
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A Note on the Theme of Too Many Instruments - Working Paper 125
- Aug 13, 2007
*REVISED Version May 2008In development economics, statistical analysis usually begins with data from many observational units--households, companies, or countries--over just a few time periods. Two analysis techniques are becoming popular for studying causal relationships among variables in this...
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An Index of Donor Performance - Working Paper 67 (Revised November 2006)
- Nov 1, 2006
In this working paper, CGD Research Fellow David Roodman describes the methodology of the foreign aid component of the 2005 edition of the Commitment to Development Index. The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) of the Center for Global Development ranks 21 of the world’s richest countries by...
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Microfinance as Business - Working Paper 101
(Revised November 2006)
- Oct 13, 2006
Microfinance is a widely celebrated strategy for helping poor people in the developing world. Leading microfinance institutions, including the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank, reach millions of clients. CGD research fellow David Roodman and Uzma Qureshi analyze why some microfinance...
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Competitive Proliferation of Aid Projects: A Model - Working Paper 89
- Jun 26, 2006
When aid projects proliferate, donors often seek better oversight through smaller projects. While this may improve administration, it burdens recipient governments with reporting requirements and donor visits. CGD research fellow David Roodman suggests in a new working paper that big projects are...
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Aid Project Proliferation and Absorptive Capacity
-Working Paper 75
- Jan 11, 2006
At a time when the international dialogue surrounding development is focused on increasing the quantity of aid, this paper focuses on how each dollar of foreign assistance can be more effective in reducing poverty. Using a sophisticated mathematical modeling process, the author explores the...
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An Index of Donor Performance - Working Paper 42
- Jun 22, 2004
The Commitment to Development Index of the Center for Global Development rates 21 rich countries on the “development-friendliness” of their policies. It is revised and updated annually. In the 2004 edition, the component on foreign assistance combines quantitative and qualitative measures of...
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New Data, New Doubts: Revisiting "Aid, Policies, and Growth" - Working Paper 26
- Feb 27, 2003
The Burnside and Dollar (2000) finding that aid raises growth in a good policy environment has had an important influence on policy and academic debates. We conduct a data gathering exercise that updates their data from 1970-93 to 1970-97, as well as filling in missing data for the original period...
There are no related books.
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Introduction to Microfinance for Development, Georgetown University (Syllabus)
- Dec 7, 2009
This course explores the role of microfinance in economic development. It will discuss how poor people in poor countries use financial services such as credit and savings; the history and practice of delivering such services; what is known about their contribution to development; and how stories...
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Commitment to Development Index 2009
- Oct 22, 2009
The 2009 Commitment to Development Index ranks 22 of the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. Moving beyond simple comparisons of foreign aid, the CDI ranks countries on seven themes: quantity and quality of foreign...
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The 2008 Commitment to Development Index: Components and Results
- Dec 4, 2008
This CGD brief summarizes the results of the 2008 Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which ranks 22 of the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. The Netherlands comes in first on the 2008 CDI on the strength of...
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Net Aid Transfers data set (1960-2008) - Updated 1/20/2010
- Jan 25, 2008
David Roodman, creator of the Commitment to Development Index (CDI), has devised a measure of foreign aid flows that takes into account the interest payments that developing countries make to rich country creditors. The Net Aid Transfers data set, which is a component of the CDI, is now available...
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The Commitment to Development Index 2007 Report
- Oct 25, 2007
Each year since 2003, the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) has ranked 21 rich countries on their dedication (or not!) to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poor countries. The CDI moves beyond simple comparisons of aid funding and in so doing embodies the mission of CGD,...
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The 2007 Commitment to Development Index: Components and Results
- Oct 10, 2007
This CGD brief summarizes the results of the 2007 Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which ranks 21 of the world's richest countries on their dedication to policies that benefit the five billion people living in poorer nations. The Netherlands comes in first on the 2007 CDI on the strength of...
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Rich Country Tariffs and Subsidies: Let's Do the Numbers
- Dec 13, 2005
The ninth negotiating round, named the "Doha" Round for the city in Qatar where it was launched, has proven to be unique, because many developing countries are flexing their political muscle as never before. As a result, the Doha Round seems destined to fail unless rich countries cut the trade...
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2005 Commitment to Development Index
- Aug 29, 2005
The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) of the Center for Global Development ranks 21 of the world’s richest countries by evaluating their stance on seven domains of government policy to determine how those policies affect developing countries. This brief summarizes the components and results...
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Anarchy of Numbers data set
- Jul 1, 2004
CGD working paper 32, "The Anarchy of Numbers: Aid, Development, and Cross-country Empirics" submits seven aid-growth studies to robustness testing and finds that most are fragile. The data used in the paper are in Excel (data set) and Stata formats (4-year and 5-year aggregates). Full results...
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Aid, Policies, and Growth data set
- Feb 27, 2003
CGD working paper 26, "New Data, New Doubts: Revisiting "Aid, Policies, and Growth" by CGD non-resident fellow William Easterly, research fellow David Roodman, and Ross Levine (also published as "Aid, Policies, and Growth: Comment" in the American Economic Review, June 2004), concludes that the...
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L'etat c'est moi: Do State and Individual Donors Behave the Same?
- Oct 7, 2009
Until recently, most aid from rich to poor countries was transmitted through official bilateral and multilateral channels. However, the rapid growth in private development aid from foundations, charities, and philanthropic individuals raises a host of questions regarding the allocation of aid and...
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