Waste Not, Want Not
4/1/13
Owen Barder is sceptical about a proposed new public-private partnership to tackle hunger.
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Global Development: Views from the Center
Bob Geldof: From Activist to Investor
3/22/13
Bob Geldof is the latest guest on Development Drums talking about about his work in development over three decades. Beware: the language is colourfully and characteristically explicit in places. You can listen to the 35 minute version here, or listen to the entire extended interview.
Development is Toast
2/8/13
This week, Owen Barder gave an excellent presentation on Complexity and Development and asked whether development is an “emergent property of a complex adaptive system.” After listening to his talk, I fully agree with this definition. On further reflection, however, I decided that development is more like toast. Yes, white, wheat or rye, crisped up with heat. Don’t you agree? Let me explain.
Absolute(ly Not) Zero
2/4/13
Last week saw the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda meeting in Liberia. Apparently various panel members used the occasion to lay out their vision for goals and targets for 2030. And according to Save the Children’s Brendan Cox, there was a lot of discussion around the “fact that we can get to zero on so many issues.” Save the Children’s very interesting report on post-2015 is heavy on
Top 13 Posts on Views from the Center Blog 2012
12/18/12
As 2012 winds down, it's time once again to look back at the most popular posts to our Views from the Center blog. Surprisingly, posts on the selection process for the World Bank president accounted for four of the top 10.
Are Illicit Financial Flows Draining Development?
12/11/12
Yes, but not necessarily in the way most people think. Peter Reuter addressed this question at the Center for Global Development last week based on research in Draining Development? Controlling Flows of Illicit Funds from Developing Countries – a volume that he edited for the World Bank. It is clearly the most thorough assessment to date in assessing the channels by which illicit flows affect development.
Europe’s Policy Footprint on Development
12/6/12
This is a joint post with Alice Lépissier and Liza Reynolds.
This blog post announces the launch of the Europe Beyond Aid initiative and presents a summary of the research and preliminary analysis in its first working paper.
Europeans more than pull their weight in aid to developing countries. Last year Europeans provided more than €60 billion ($80bn) in aid, more than two and a half times as much as the United States. European members account for just 40% of the national income of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) but give more than 60% of the aid.
Two More Reasons for Preemptive Contract Sanctions in Syria
11/27/12
This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post on November 27, 2012.
This is a joint post with Owen Barder.
With relentlessly bad news out of Syria, the search continues for what the world can do to put pressure on Assad’s regime and to lay the groundwork for a future, legitimate Syrian government. The case for preemptive contract sanctions is becoming ever more compelling. Under this approach, the United States, United Kingdom, and other members of the Friends of Syria, would declare that new contracts with the Assad regime are illegitimate and that our courts should not enforce them if a legitimate successor government in Syria repudiates them. This could deter new loans and investments in Syria’s oil or other sectors and send a signal to the Assad regime that the economic pressure will not loosen.
Getting the Facts Straight: Pergau Dam and British Foreign Aid
11/21/12
Why does Britain score consistently well in its approach to aid? At a recent Center for Global Development in Europe event, Sir Tim Lankester, a former British civil servant, shed some light on this. His new book, The Politics and Economics of Britain’s Foreign Aid: The Pergau Dam Affair, sets out the story of a decisive moment in British development policy.