For Educators

Newest Introductory Syllabuses Slidedecks Publications Multimedia
  • When a poor country finds oil, bad things often get worse. Countries rich in extractable natural resources, especially oil, frequently suffer from crummy governance, high poverty, endemic corruption and conflict. Is it possible to beat this oil curse? My guest on the Wonkcast this week, Todd...

  • David Wheeler, our lead researcher on climate and development, decided recently to retire from CGD, though he will continue to be active in CGD’s intellectual life as our first Senior Fellow Emeritus. Since joining CGD in 2006, David has published more than 20 working papers and launched two...

  • Global health funders have historically focused their aid on countries with the lowest per capita incomes, on the assumption that that’s where most of world’s poor people live.  In recent years, however, many large developing countries achieved rapid growth, lifting them into the ranks of...

  • U.S. - Pakistan relations, troubled in the best of times, have been unusually rocky of late. A recent cover story in The Atlantic dubbed Pakistan the “Ally from Hell.” CGD’s Study Group on the U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan argues that the strong U.S. interest in a stable,...

  • I recently interviewed Owen Barder, CGD senior fellow and director for Europe, shortly after his return from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea. Did the December forum, with some 3,000 participants from around the world, matter to development? We begin...

  • My guest on this week’s Wonkcast is David Roodman, senior fellow and author of the long-awaited book, Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance. After more than three years of unprecedented investigation into the movement, David was able to cut through the hype and come to...

  • In this Wonkcast, originally posted on September 7, 2011, Michael Clemens explains why one of the biggest growth opportunities in the world economy lies not in the mobility of goods or capital, but in the mobility of labor. His message remains relevant as International Migrants Day approaches...

  • On December 15th the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an innovative U.S. aid agency, is set to announce which countries will receive its unique development assistance. Casey Dunning, policy analyst at CGD and my guest on this week’s Wonkcast, provides insight and recommendations on...

  • The U.S. military has become increasingly involved in economic development, fulfilling roles normally played by USAID and other development NGOs. My guests this week, senior fellow Vijaya Ramachandran and research assistant Julie Walz, discuss their recent paper written with Gregory Johnson on...

  • Ghana’s recent recalculation of its GDP led to an overnight $500 per capita jump, putting in motion unexpectedly rapid graduation from the International Development Association (IDA) and ultimately a new relationship with the World Bank. In this week’s Wonkcast, I speak with Todd Moss,...

  • Regional Development Banks (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the Regional Development Banks is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • International Finance Corporation (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the International Finance Corporation is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • International Monetary Fund (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the IMF is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • The ABCs of the General Capital Increase (ABCs of IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the General Capital Increase is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • World Bank (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the World Bank is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • Leadership Selection at the International Financial Institutions (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on leadership selection at the international financial institutions is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the IFIs.

  • Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health (Brief) - Aug 16, 2010

    Improving adolescent girls’ health and wellbeing is critical to achieving virtually all international development goals. Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health shows why doing so is a global must and identifies eight priorities for international action.

  • Twenty Concrete Steps to Improve the United States’ Commitment to Development - Jul 19, 2010

    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.

  • The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President - Aug 22, 2008

    The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President shows how modest changes in U.S. policies could greatly improve the lives of poor people in developing countries, thus fostering greater stability, security, and prosperity globally and at home. Center for Global...

  • A Little Less Talk: Six Steps to Get Some Action from the Accra Agenda - Aug 21, 2008

    In September 2008 official aid donors and recipients will meet in Accra, Ghana, to discuss how to make development assistance more effective. CGD president Nancy Birdsall and co-author Kate Vyborny suggest that advocates of better aid who really want a win at Accra forget haggling over broad...

  • Don't Close the Golden Door: Our Noisy Debate on Immigration and Its Deathly Silence on Development - May 27, 2008

    International migration has long been a central tool in the battle against global poverty and inequality, but the recent heated political debate over immigration reform has largely failed to recognize how migration shapes the development process. In this essay, research fellow Michael Clemens and...

  • Macro Aid Effectiveness Research: A Guide for the Perplexed - Working Paper 135 - Dec 10, 2007

    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...

  • Trade Policy for Development: Reforming U.S. Trade Preferences - Sep 4, 2007

    By any measure, the United States is one of the most open economies in the world—importing more than $1 trillion worth of goods duty-free in 2006 alone. Yet poor nations still pay much higher U.S. tariffs than rich countries—an average of 15 percent on a quarter of their imports,...

  • African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors - Mar 5, 2007

    Bill Easterly calls Moss' new introduction to Africa "compulsively readable and accessible" and "a masterpiece of clear thinking." Each chapter is organized around three fundamental questions: Where are we now? How did we get to this point? What are the current debates? CGD's package of materials...

  • Let Their People Come: Breaking the Gridlock on Global Labor Mobility - Sep 12, 2006

    This controversial book argues that irresistible demographic forces for greater international labor mobility are being checked by immovable anti-immigration ideas of rich-country citizens. Pritchett proposes breaking the gridlock through policies that support development while also being...

  • A Primer on Foreign Aid - Working Paper 92 - Jul 24, 2006

    Controversies about aid effectiveness go back decades. This new working paper by CGD senior fellow Steven Radelet provides an introduction and overview of the basic concepts, data and key debates about foreign aid. It explores the range of views on the relationship between foreign aid and economic...

  • Global HIV/AIDS and the Developing World - Jun 15, 2006

    HIV/AIDS is one of the largest challenges facing the global community. The disease has reduced life expectancy by more than a decade in the hardest hit countries and slashed productivity, making it even harder for poor countries to escape poverty. Global HIV/AIDS and the Developing World, a CGD...

  • Global Trade, the United States, and Developing Countries - Jun 15, 2006

    The collapse of the Doha trade talks puts at risk one of the rich world's most important commitments to developing countries: to reform policies that make it harder for poor countries to participate in global commerce. Trade has the potential to be a significant force for reducing global poverty by...

  • U.S. Assistance for Global Development - Jun 15, 2006

    U.S. "development assistance" refers to the transfer of resources from the United States to developing countries and to some strategic allies. It is delivered in the form of money (via loans or grants), contributions of goods (such as food aid), and technical assistance. Learn more about Rich...

  • Why Global Development Matters for the U.S. - Jun 15, 2006

    Development refers to improvements in the conditions of people’s lives, such as health, education, and income. It occurs at different rates in different countries. The U.S. underwent its own version of development since the time it became an independent nation in 1776. Learn more about Rich...

  • State Building and Global Development - Jun 15, 2006

    State building is creating and strengthening the institutions necessary to support long-term economic, social, and political development. In the U.S. we often take these institutions for granted, but in many countries they are weak or absent. Learn more about Rich World, Poor World: A Guide to...

  • Global Trade, Jobs and Labor Standards - Jun 15, 2006

    Trade has the potential to raise incomes worldwide. But trade creates losers as well as winners. This Rich World, Poor World brief provides an accessible introduction to the impact of global trade on U.S. jobs and suggests policies that the U.S. can pursue to maximize the gains and minimize the...

  • Education and the Developing World - Jun 12, 2006

    Given all the other pressing worries, why was education among the issues that G8 leaders discussed at the St. Petersburg Summit? Education and the Developing World, a CGD Rich World/Poor World Brief, explains why investing in education is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do....

  • Short of the Goal: U.S. Policy and Poorly Performing States - May 23, 2006

    This new collection of essays sets an agenda for increased American effectiveness in dealing with failed states to promote economic development and international security. It includes an overview of the poorly understood challenge of weak and failed states and case studies by regional policy...

  • The Globalizers in Search of a Future - Apr 20, 2006

    The World Bank and IMF are two of the three institutional pillars of globalization, and today they face compelling trends pushing them to change. In this CGD Brief, Ngaire Woods, author of The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and Their Borrowers, describes those trends and offers practical...

  • Vaccines for Development - Apr 20, 2006

    While the importance of vaccines is increasingly well-understood, significant challenges inhibit increases in basic immunization coverage, introduction of underused vaccines and development of new vaccines. In this brief, Owen Barder describes these challenges and analyses five innovative policy...

  • How Countries Get Rich - Feb 13, 2006

    Ever since Adam Smith, economists have debated what conditions are required for nations to become wealthy. In a new CGD brief, senior fellow Peter Timmer argues that the "Smithian conditions" – low taxes, good government, and peace – are necessary but far from sufficient. He shows how...

  • The Global Migration of Talent: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries? - Oct 13, 2005

    Human capital flows from poor countries to rich countries are large and growing. A leading cause is the increasing skill-focus of immigration policy in a number of leading industrialized countries—a trend that is likely to intensify as rich countries age and competitive pressures build in...

  • Give Us Your Best and Brightest: The Global Hunt for Talent and Its Impact on the Developing World - Sep 1, 2005

    A CGD best-seller, Give Us Your Best and Brightest has been praised in Foreign Affairs as "a judicious combination of facts, theory, and informed conjecture on a growing but complex phenomenon about which too little is known." Best and Brightest addresses the migration of well-educated workers from...

  • Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Development? - May 9, 2005

    Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Development?, gathers together the cutting edge of new research on FDI and host country economic performance and presents the most sophisticated critiques of current and past inquiries.

  • Making Markets for Vaccines - Ideas to Action (Brief) - Apr 7, 2005

    New medicines are usually financed by a mixture of public funding by governments, philanthropic giving, and investment by private firms. Private investment is especially important in paying for and managing the later stages of clinical trials, regulatory approval, and investment in manufacturing...

  • Big Sugar and the Political Economy of US Agricultural Policy - Apr 1, 2005

    Sugar is a prototypical case of a policy that favors the few at the expense of the many. Thanks to a government policy that supports prices by sharply restricting imports, a small number of American sugar cane and beet growers are enriched at the expense of US consumers and of more efficient...

  • Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries - Mar 31, 2005

    In this book, Nicolas van de Walle identifies 26 countries that are extremely poor and grew little if at all in the 1990s. His sample excludes North Korea and countries where civil war explains some of their failure to grow (Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan and others). The 26 countries...

  • On the Road to Universal Primary Education - Feb 28, 2005

    Education is an end in itself, a human right, and a vital part of the capacity of individuals to lead lives they value. It gives people in developing countries the skills they need to improve their own lives and to help transform their societies. Women and men with better education earn more...

  • On the Brink, Weak States and US National Security - Jun 8, 2004

    A Report of the Commission for Weak States and US National Security Terrorists training at bases in Afghanistan and Somalia. Transnational crime networks putting down roots in Myanmar/Burma and Central Asia. Poverty, disease, and humanitarian emergencies overwhelming governments in Haiti and...

  • From Social Assistance to Social Development: Targeted Education Subsidies in Developing Countries - Sep 1, 2003

    The book compiles a vast amount of unpublished and published material on existing CTE programs and their impact on poverty. Groundbreaking case studies and detailed evaluations of programs in Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Chile add up to an unusual and surprising success...

  • The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account - Jun 1, 2003

    This book tackles head on the tension between foreign policy and development goals that chronically afflicts U.S. foreign assistance; the danger of being dismissed as one more instance of the United States going it alone instead of buttressing international cooperation; and the risk of exacerbating...

  • From Promise to Performance: How Rich Countries Can Help Poor Countries Help Themselves - Apr 1, 2003

    At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 the nations of the world committed to join forces to meet a set of measurable targets for reducing world poverty, disease, illiteracy and other indicators of human misery—all by the year 2015. These targets, later named the Millennium Development...

  • Delivering on Debt Relief - Apr 1, 2002

    Over the last several years, the United States and other major donor countries have supported a historic initiative to write down the official debts of a group of heavily indebted poor countries, or HIPCs. Donor countries had two primary goals in supporting debt relief: to reduce countries' debt...

  • 2009 Commitment to Development Index Webinar (slidecast) - Oct 21, 2009

    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...

  • The Banking Crisis in Mexico and the U.S. (slidecast) - Jul 31, 2009

    In this presentation, CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez compares the most important features of the Mexico’s banking crisis in the mid-1990s and the current crisis in the United States. The presentation reveals large similarities in the causes of the crises. In particular the root cause of...

  • Regional Development Banks (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the Regional Development Banks is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • International Finance Corporation (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the International Finance Corporation is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • International Monetary Fund (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the IMF is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • The ABCs of the General Capital Increase (ABCs of IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the General Capital Increase is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • World Bank (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on the World Bank is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the international financial institutions.

  • Leadership Selection at the International Financial Institutions (ABCs of the IFIs Brief) - Sep 23, 2011

    This brief on leadership selection at the international financial institutions is one of a suite of policy briefs that provides basic background information and practical analysis of the financial and governance issues facing the IFIs.

  • Incentive Proliferation? Making Sense of a New Wave of Development Programs - Aug 31, 2011

    A new wave of development programs that explicitly use incentives to achieve their aims is under way.They are part of a trend, accelerating in recent years, to disburse development assistance against specific and measurable outputs or outcomes. With a proliferation of new ideas under names such as...

  • Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries Are Leading the Way - Sep 16, 2010

    Since 1995, 17 African countries have defied expectations and have launched a remarkable, if little-noticed, turnaround. Emerging Africa describes this revitalization and why it is likely to continue.

  • Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health (Brief) - Aug 16, 2010

    Improving adolescent girls’ health and wellbeing is critical to achieving virtually all international development goals. Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health shows why doing so is a global must and identifies eight priorities for international action.

  • Promoting Foreign Investment in Developing Countries, Princeton (Syllabus) - Aug 9, 2010

    This half-term seminar first examines the link between foreign investment and development, then reviews policies and practices designed to promote investment in least developed countries, especially in Africa.

  • Topics in Economic Development (Syllabus) - Aug 9, 2010

    This course will analyze the economic challenges faced by low and middle-income countries in their quest for development and public policies meant to address those challenges.

  • Inequality and Poverty in Latin America (Syllabus) - Aug 9, 2010

    This course aims to develop a broad understanding of the dynamics of inequality and poverty in Latin America and how market forces and government policies affect those dynamics.

  • Research Design and Causal Inference, Yale University (Syllabus) - Aug 9, 2010

    Regardless of your specialty, this workshop is designed to improve your research plans, your dissertations, and your job prospects.

  • Economic Development and Econometric Impact Evaluation, Tufts University (Syllabus) - Aug 6, 2010

    The course will introduce students to a variety of econometric techniques in impact evaluation and a set of analytical skills that will assist them in becoming both consumers and producers of applied empirical research in development. Students will not only learn how to critically analyze...

  • Leading Issues in Global Development Finance, Georgetown University (Syllabus) - Aug 4, 2010

    This module will examine the leading issues related to capital flows between the developed and developing worlds. It will cover the various types of official and private finance as well as the institutions and policies designed to manage and promote these flows. The first half considers...

  • Health and Population Policy in Developing Countries, Syracuse University (Syllabus) - Jul 30, 2010

    Countries in the developing world face numerous health and population related challenges. This course will examine these issues with an emphasis on how you as an actor in the health and population sector can intervene to improve health conditions for the poor.

  • Policy and Administration in Developing Countries, Syracuse University (Syllabus) - Jul 29, 2010

    This course concerns the alleviation of poverty in poor countries. Its aim is to facilitate your understanding of the dimensions of poverty, its causes, and what you as a practitioner can do to help in its mitigation.

  • Twenty Concrete Steps to Improve the United States’ Commitment to Development - Jul 19, 2010

    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.

  • Tailored Aid for a Tailored Age? - Jun 24, 2010

    In this short essay, senior fellow David Wheeler compares the world’s foreign assistance architecture to how the rest of the world operates in the digital age. He suggests that multilateral and bilateral transactions from one behemoth to another may be stuck in the past now that technology can...

  • The Race Against Drug Resistance - Jun 14, 2010

    In an increasingly interconnected world, drug resistance does not stop at a patient’s bedside—it threatens global health. The conclusions of the Center for Global Development’s Drug Resistance Working Group make clear the need for urgent action to address this growing crisis.

  • The Washington Consensus: Assessing a Damaged Brand - Working Paper 213 - Jun 4, 2010

    Nancy Birdsall, Augusto de la Torre, and Felipe Valencia Caicedo analyze the Washington Consensus, from its early beginnings to failure as a reform agenda.

  • Microeconomics of Development, Tufts University (Syllabus) - Jun 4, 2010

    The goal of this course is to better understand the microeconomic foundations of development issues in poor countries, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The course will first focus on microeconomic theory as a framework for analyzing households’ and policymakers’ behavior.

  • Economics of Developing Countries, Yale University (Syllabus) - May 31, 2010

    This course is an analysis of poverty in developing countries, with an emphasis on the role of economic theory in understanding market failures, and on evaluation of public, social and business policies intended to solve market failures.

  • The Political Economy of Development, Cornell University (Syllabus) - Apr 14, 2010

    This class will survey both the major policy issues in the developing world today and the political economy literature. The class seeks to inform students of the historical and contemporary dynamics of economic development, with a focus on political issues.

  • Econometrics, Tufts University (Syllabus) - Jan 22, 2010

    This course provides an introduction to basic econometric methods. These are the tools of data analysis that economists and other social scientists use to estimate the size of economic and social relationships, and to test hypotheses about them, using real-world data.

  • 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...

  • Pathways Out of Rural Poverty; Or, Food Prices, Poverty and Economic Development, Stanford University (Syllabus) - Sep 11, 2009

    This course will review the determinants of rural poverty and examine the historical pathways that have led the rural poor out of poverty. A policy perspective will be taken on all three levels of analytical interest: the macro level, the sectoral level, and the household level.

  • Projecting the Future Budgetary Cost of AIDS Treatment (Manual, Software Package, and Dataset) - Jun 5, 2009

    CGD senior fellow Mead Over and Owen McCarthy offer a users' manual and Stata software to help students and instructors of public health, development economics, or health economics to project the future budgetary cost of AIDS treatment in poor countries and to explore the many factors affecting the...

  • Africa's Private Sector: What's Wrong with the Business Environment and What to Do About It - Mar 23, 2009

    What's keeping private business from flourishing in Africa? On the basis of unique enterprise surveys, Vijaya Ramachandran and her co-authors identify poor roads and unreliable power as major physical challenges; ethnic segmentation and the economic predominance ethnic minorities further constrain...

  • Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health Instructor Guide - Jan 29, 2009

    Throughout Latin America, mothers no longer worry about their children contracting polio; vast regions of Africa are now habitable because river blindness is under control; China has made major inroads against tuberculosis; in Sri Lanka, women can give birth without fear of dying—in sharp...

  • Economic Growth and Development in Low-Income Countries, Stanford University (Syllabus) - Jan 14, 2009

    We will examine trends in economic growth and other development indicators around the world since 1965, with some reference to broad patterns since 1820. We will briefly review the concepts underlying the standard Solow model of economic growth and other measures of development. We will explore...

  • African Poverty and Western Aid, Yale University (Syllabus) - Jan 14, 2009

    Why is Africa poor? What, if anything, can the West do about it? No course can answer these questions in full, but one can get started on the (hopefully lifelong) learning. Students will be exposed to the major and the not‐so-major debates in aid and development. They will discuss the...

  • Economic Development in Africa, Georgetown University (Syllabus) - Jan 14, 2009

    This module will explore some of the research on the key issues of growth and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. It will examine a variety of empirical findings on these topics to better understand why Africa and the international agencies tasked to promote development have had so little...

  • Leading Issues in Global Development Finance, Georgetown University (Syllabus) - Jan 14, 2009

    This module will examine the leading issues related to capital flows between the developed and developing worlds. It will cover the various types of official and private finance as well as the institutions and policies designed to manage and promote these flows. It begins by considering...

  • 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...

  • The Age of Turbulence and Poor Countries: The Case for MDB Help with Risk Management - Nov 17, 2008

    The global financial crisis and economic slowdown are subjecting poor countries to increased financial, price, and output volatility. How can the multilateral development banks help? A new CGD brief by visiting fellow Nancy Lee, non-resident fellow Guillermo Perry, and CGD president Nancy Birdsall...

  • U.S. Trade Policy and Global Development (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Nov 4, 2008

    Many Americans see trade openness as a threat. Yet access to rich-country markets is crucial for poor people in developing countries to improve their lives. In a new CGD brief based on her essay in The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President, senior fellow...

  • More Growth with More Income Equality in the Americas: Can Regional Cooperation Help? (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Nov 4, 2008

    The next U.S. president has a great opportunity to lead regional economic integration in the Americas, to the benefit of both the United States and Latin America. For the Americas, the high hopes of a decade ago for a hemispheric trade agreement have faded, along with confidence in the...

  • Getting the Focus Right: U.S. Leadership in the Fight against Global Corruption (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Nov 4, 2008

    The United States has played a leadership role in the fight against global corruption, and there aremany reasons to be hopeful about this effort. Nonetheless, corruption continues to seriously impede development efforts around the world, and the critical task of combating it will require both...

  • Why Global Development Matters and What the Next U.S. President Should Do About It (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Nov 4, 2008

    The need for a fresh American approach to development has never been more urgent. The economic crisis at home, the threat of failed states and hostile countries acquiring nuclear weapons, our inability to solve critical global problems like climate change alone—all these mean that America...

  • Economic Development, George Washington University (Syllabus) - Oct 16, 2008

    This is the course syllabus for Economic Development (IAFF 238), taught by Nora Lustig, Shapiro Visiting Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University and CGD Board member. The course analyzes the economic challenges faced by low and middle-income countries in their quest for...

  • The Political Economy of Civil War and Terror, Yale University (Syllabus) - Oct 16, 2008

    The goal of this course is to familiarize the student with approaches to the study of war and terror: economic, historical, analytical, formal theoretical, and statistical. Most of all, the course is designed to get students to think critically about traditional explanations and approaches. The...

  • Opportunities for Presidential Leadership on AIDS: From an "Emergency Plan" to a Sustainable Policy (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Sep 5, 2008

    U.S. spending on global AIDS is widely seen as a significant foreign policy and humanitarian success, but this success contains the seeds of a future crisis. Treatment costs are set to escalate dramatically and new HIV infections continue to outpace the number of people receiving treatment. Three...

  • The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President - Aug 22, 2008

    The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President shows how modest changes in U.S. policies could greatly improve the lives of poor people in developing countries, thus fostering greater stability, security, and prosperity globally and at home. Center for Global...

  • U.S. Foreign Assistance for the Twenty-first Century (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Aug 22, 2008

    Meeting today’s foreign policy challenges requires a new vision of American global leadership based on the strength of our core values, ideas, and ingenuity. It calls for an integrated foreign policy that promotes our ideals, enhances our security, helps create economic and political...

  • Don't Close the Golden Door: Making Immigration Policy Work for Development (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Aug 22, 2008

    International movements of people can spark and sustain the development process in poor countries, helping people climb out of poverty. Creating opportunities for poor people to improve their lives promotes our values, enhances our security,and restores our faltering image abroad. The next...

  • Power and Roads for Africa: What the United States Can Do (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Aug 22, 2008

    Why should the United States care about economic growth in Africa? Because it is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. Helping to spur economic growth in Africa promotes our values, enhances our security, and helps create economic and political opportunities for the people of the...

  • Global Warming: An Opportunity for Greatness (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Aug 22, 2008

    The next president can secure a place in history by mobilizing America to confront climate change, while starting a clean energy revolution that will strengthen American security and create the next wave of economic growth. The president should seize this opportunity because climate change presents...

  • Healthy Foreign Policy: Bringing Coherence to the Global Health Agenda (White House and the World Policy Brief) - Aug 22, 2008

    Faced with many urgent challenges, the next U.S. president may be tempted to let global health issues bubble along on the back burner and simply allow reasonably well-funded programs that garner bipartisan support to continue unchanged. This would be a mistake. Instead, the president should set an...

  • A Little Less Talk: Six Steps to Get Some Action from the Accra Agenda - Aug 21, 2008

    In September 2008 official aid donors and recipients will meet in Accra, Ghana, to discuss how to make development assistance more effective. CGD president Nancy Birdsall and co-author Kate Vyborny suggest that advocates of better aid who really want a win at Accra forget haggling over broad...

  • International Economic Development Policy, Georgetown University (Syllabus) - Aug 9, 2008

    This course surveys the literature on the key determinants of economic development. We start by considering some of the factors that drive economic growth, poverty and inequality. The course then moves on to other key topics in international development including international trade,...

  • Seizing the Opportunity on AIDS and Health Systems - Aug 4, 2008

    Donors spend billions of dollars to fight HIV/AIDS in developing countries, but poor integration between donors and host country health systems risks undermining international efforts to prevent and treat AIDS. In this analysis, CGD’s HIV/AIDS Monitor argues that donors need to pay more...

  • Don't Close the Golden Door: Our Noisy Debate on Immigration and Its Deathly Silence on Development - May 27, 2008

    International migration has long been a central tool in the battle against global poverty and inequality, but the recent heated political debate over immigration reform has largely failed to recognize how migration shapes the development process. In this essay, research fellow Michael Clemens and...

  • The Commitment to Development Index for Africa: How Much Do the Richest Countries Help the Poorest Continent? - May 12, 2008

    How committed are the world's richest countries to the development of Africa, the world's poorest continent? Rich countries are usually compared on how much foreign aid they give as a percentage of their GDP, but helping Africa involves much more than aid. CGD's Commitment to Development Index has...

  • Learning While Doing: A 12-Step Program for Policy Change - Feb 19, 2008

    This essay by CGD director of communications and policy Lawrence MacDonald and senior fellow and vice president for programs and operations Ruth Levine describes a variety of approaches and techniques that the Center for Global Development has used to achieve its mission: applying the results of...

  • Young Democracies in the Balance: Lessons for the International Community - Jan 17, 2008

    Why do new democracies sometimes fail? This CGD brief by visiting fellow Ethan Kapstein explores the underlying reasons for frequent backsliding in the world's fledgling democracies and offers the international community recommendations for helping them stay on track toward political stability....

  • Fair Growth: Economic Policies for Latin America's Poor and Middle-Income Majority - Jan 17, 2008

    In an increasingly globalized world, inequality is an issue of rising concern, especially in Latin America, home to many of the world's most unequal societies. This new book, co-published by the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Dialogue, describes the links between recent growth...

  • Macro Aid Effectiveness Research: A Guide for the Perplexed - Working Paper 135 - Dec 10, 2007

    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...

  • 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,...

  • How Do the BRICs Stack Up? Adding Brazil, Russia, India, and China to the Environment Component of the Commitment to Development Index - Working Paper 128 - Oct 10, 2007

    In this working paper CGD research fellow David Roodman explains how the four biggest developing countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China, a group Goldman Sachs dubbed the "BRICs" -- stack up to their rich-country counterparts on the environment component of the annual Commitment to Development...

  • 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...

  • Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health (2007 Edition) - Sep 27, 2007

    In 2004 a working group of experts was convened by the Center for Global Development to identify cases in which large-scale efforts to improve health in developing countries have succeeded—saving millions of lives and preserving the livelihoods and social fabric of entire communities. Seventeen...

  • Exclusion, Gender and Education: Case Studies from the Developing World - Sep 24, 2007

    Girls have achieved remarkable increases in primary schooling over the past decade, yet millions are still not in school. In Inexcusable Absence, CGD visiting fellows Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed reported the startling new finding that nearly three-quarters of out-of-school girls belong to...

  • Poverty and Inequality in Latin America: How the U.S. Can Really Help - Sep 10, 2007

    For the past decade, U.S. attention to Latin America has focused mainly on promotion of free trade and opposition to narcotics trafficking and security threats. But there are signs that Washington is beginning to recognize the importance of helping the region tackle longstanding poverty and social...

  • Trade Policy for Development: Reforming U.S. Trade Preferences - Sep 4, 2007

    By any measure, the United States is one of the most open economies in the world—importing more than $1 trillion worth of goods duty-free in 2006 alone. Yet poor nations still pay much higher U.S. tariffs than rich countries—an average of 15 percent on a quarter of their imports,...

  • Does the IMF Constrain Health Spending in Poor Countries? (Brief) - Jul 23, 2007

    This brief summarizes the findings of the CGD working group on IMF Programs and Health Spending, convened in fall 2006 to investigate the effect of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs on health spending in low-income countries. The report offers clear, practical recommendations for...

  • Greater Than the Sum Of Its Parts? Assessing "Whole of Government" Approaches to Fragile States (Brief) - Jun 25, 2007

    Fragile states--countries defined by poverty, weak governance and often violent conflict--represent a major development challenge for today's global aid community and a significant threat to global security. This CGD Brief offers recommendations for how donors can best engage weak countries,...

  • Generating Political Priority for Public Health Causes in Developing Countries: Implications From a Study on Maternal Mortality - Jun 4, 2007

    Why do some serious health issues--such as HIV/AIDS--get considerable attention and others--such as malaria and collapsing health systems--very little? In this CGD brief, visiting fellow Jeremy Shiffman discusses nine factors that influenced the degree to which national leaders in five countries...

  • A Risky Business: Saving Money and Improving Global Health Through Better Demand Forecasts (Brief) - May 18, 2007

    Achieving better health in poor countries depends in part on giving companies that produce drugs, vaccines and diagnostics incentives to invest in their production by improving their ability to forecast which products will be purchased by whom in what quantities. This brief reviews the findings of...

  • Bilateral Guest Worker Agreements: A win-win solution for rich countries and poor people in the developing world - Apr 25, 2007

    Increased labor mobility offers potentially huge gains for the developing and developed world, but migration is massively unpopular in rich countries. In this CGD Brief, non-resident fellow Lant Pritchett lays out a solution that is beneficial to poor people and potentially politically acceptable...

  • Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren't in School and What to do About It (Brief) - Apr 16, 2007

    Remarkable increases in primary schooling over the past decade have brought gender equity to the education systems of many poor countries. But some 60 million girls are still not attending school. In this CGD brief, non-resident fellow Maureen Lewis and visiting fellow Marlaine Lockheed explain...

  • Billions for War, Pennies for the Poor: Moving the President's FY2008 Budget from Hard Power to Smart Power - Mar 16, 2007

    President Bush's FY2008 budget request provides a first glimpse into how the administration's new foreign assistance framework and transformational diplomacy agenda translate into who gets how much for what. In this CGD essay, authors Samuel Bazzi, Sheila Herrling and Stewart Patrick, show that the...

  • African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors - Mar 5, 2007

    Bill Easterly calls Moss' new introduction to Africa "compulsively readable and accessible" and "a masterpiece of clear thinking." Each chapter is organized around three fundamental questions: Where are we now? How did we get to this point? What are the current debates? CGD's package of materials...

  • Agriculture and the Doha Round - Jan 22, 2007

    In this CGD/ Peterson Institute Brief, CGD senior fellow Kimberly Elliott argues that agriculture liberalization is crucial to the successful completion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, since it is the sector with the highest remaining barriers in rich countries and the...

  • Harnessing Foreign Direct Investment: Policies for Developed and Developing Countries - Jan 12, 2007

    Does foreign direct investment (FDI) channel capital and know-how to developing countries? Or does it bring corruption and abuse of labor standards? Harnessing Foreign Direct Investment shows that FDI's contribution to development can be extremely powerful but that some forms of FDI, especially...

  • Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren't In School and What to do About It - Jan 4, 2007

    Girls' education is widely recognized as crucial to development. Yet there has been surprisingly little hardheaded analysis about what is keeping girls out of school, and how to overcome these barriers. In Inexcusable Absence, Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed present new research showing that...

  • How to Do xtabond2: An Introduction to "Difference" and "System" GMM in Stata - Working Paper 103 - Dec 6, 2006

    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...

  • Delivering on Doha: Farm Trade and the Poor - Dec 5, 2006

    Agricultural market liberalization is the linchpin for a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations because these are the most protected markets remaining in most rich countries. But the implications for developing countries, especially the poorest, are...

  • Let Their People Come: Breaking the Gridlock on Global Labor Mobility - Sep 12, 2006

    This controversial book argues that irresistible demographic forces for greater international labor mobility are being checked by immovable anti-immigration ideas of rich-country citizens. Pritchett proposes breaking the gridlock through policies that support development while also being...

  • Rescuing the World Bank - Sep 5, 2006

    Critics allege that the World Bank is deeply flawed. Yet the world needs a strong World Bank to help manage development and the related global challenges of the 21st century. Do the Bank's shortcomings put its future at risk? If so, can the Bank be rescued? Rescuing the World Bank, a new book that...

  • Inequality and Development in a Globalizing World, Johns Hopkins University (Syllabus) - Jul 26, 2006

    This syllabus, prepared by CGD President Nancy Birdsall for a course she taught in Bologna, Italy, for students of Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), brings together key readings on inequality and development in a globalizing world. The...

  • A Primer on Foreign Aid - Working Paper 92 - Jul 24, 2006

    Controversies about aid effectiveness go back decades. This new working paper by CGD senior fellow Steven Radelet provides an introduction and overview of the basic concepts, data and key debates about foreign aid. It explores the range of views on the relationship between foreign aid and economic...

  • Global HIV/AIDS and the Developing World - Jun 15, 2006

    HIV/AIDS is one of the largest challenges facing the global community. The disease has reduced life expectancy by more than a decade in the hardest hit countries and slashed productivity, making it even harder for poor countries to escape poverty. Global HIV/AIDS and the Developing World, a CGD...

  • Global Trade, the United States, and Developing Countries - Jun 15, 2006

    The collapse of the Doha trade talks puts at risk one of the rich world's most important commitments to developing countries: to reform policies that make it harder for poor countries to participate in global commerce. Trade has the potential to be a significant force for reducing global poverty by...

  • U.S. Assistance for Global Development - Jun 15, 2006

    U.S. "development assistance" refers to the transfer of resources from the United States to developing countries and to some strategic allies. It is delivered in the form of money (via loans or grants), contributions of goods (such as food aid), and technical assistance. Learn more about Rich...

  • Why Global Development Matters for the U.S. - Jun 15, 2006

    Development refers to improvements in the conditions of people’s lives, such as health, education, and income. It occurs at different rates in different countries. The U.S. underwent its own version of development since the time it became an independent nation in 1776. Learn more about Rich...

  • State Building and Global Development - Jun 15, 2006

    State building is creating and strengthening the institutions necessary to support long-term economic, social, and political development. In the U.S. we often take these institutions for granted, but in many countries they are weak or absent. Learn more about Rich World, Poor World: A Guide to...

  • Global Trade, Jobs and Labor Standards - Jun 15, 2006

    Trade has the potential to raise incomes worldwide. But trade creates losers as well as winners. This Rich World, Poor World brief provides an accessible introduction to the impact of global trade on U.S. jobs and suggests policies that the U.S. can pursue to maximize the gains and minimize the...

  • Education and the Developing World - Jun 12, 2006

    Given all the other pressing worries, why was education among the issues that G8 leaders discussed at the St. Petersburg Summit? Education and the Developing World, a CGD Rich World/Poor World Brief, explains why investing in education is not just the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do....

  • Short of the Goal: U.S. Policy and Poorly Performing States - May 23, 2006

    This new collection of essays sets an agenda for increased American effectiveness in dealing with failed states to promote economic development and international security. It includes an overview of the poorly understood challenge of weak and failed states and case studies by regional policy...

  • Tackling Health Care Corruption and Governance Woes in Developing Countries - May 15, 2006

    Health care is no more immune to governance problems than any other sector. Numerous studies have documented such problems, for example, in the procurement of health supplies, in under-the-table payments for services, and in nurses and doctors who fail to show up at their clinics but nonetheless...

  • The Globalizers in Search of a Future - Apr 20, 2006

    The World Bank and IMF are two of the three institutional pillars of globalization, and today they face compelling trends pushing them to change. In this CGD Brief, Ngaire Woods, author of The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and Their Borrowers, describes those trends and offers practical...

  • Vaccines for Development - Apr 20, 2006

    While the importance of vaccines is increasingly well-understood, significant challenges inhibit increases in basic immunization coverage, introduction of underused vaccines and development of new vaccines. In this brief, Owen Barder describes these challenges and analyses five innovative policy...

  • Building and Running an Effective Policy Index: Lessons from the Commitment to Development Index - Mar 13, 2006

    The Commitment to Development Index (CDI), which ranks 21 countries across six policy areas, is widely seen as the most comprehensive and substantive measure of rich country policies towards development. In response to requests from other would-be index builders, CDI architect David Roodman...

  • How Countries Get Rich - Feb 13, 2006

    Ever since Adam Smith, economists have debated what conditions are required for nations to become wealthy. In a new CGD brief, senior fellow Peter Timmer argues that the "Smithian conditions" – low taxes, good government, and peace – are necessary but far from sufficient. He shows how...

  • Looking For the Devil in the Doha Agricultural Negotiations - Dec 13, 2005

    With the prospects for an ambitious outcome in the Doha Round of trade negotiations seemingly fading, many are lamenting the welfare gains that would be lost from a superficial agreement while others are asking whether it matters for the world's poorest and, if so, how.

  • Achieving a Grand Bargain in the Doha Round - Dec 12, 2005

    Senior Fellow William R. Cline outlines a "grand bargain" that negotiators can strike at the upcoming "Doha Development Round" that would ahieve increased trade liberalization.

  • Foreign Investment and Economic Development:
    Evidence from Private Firms in East Africa
    - Dec 8, 2005

    In this CGD Brief, Todd Moss and Vijaya Ramachandran analyze the survey results of 300-400 manufacturing firms in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Their main finding? Foreign firms perform better than local firms in generating jobs, increasing the productivty of their workers, and in skills transfer.

  • Delivering on Doha - Nov 14, 2005

    All eyes are on Geneva in the next few weeks as negotiators try to salvage the Doha Round of trade talks before the Hong Kong WTO meetings in mid-December. A new brief by CGD and IIE Research Fellow Kimberly Elliott. Learn more

  • The Global Migration of Talent: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries? - Oct 13, 2005

    Human capital flows from poor countries to rich countries are large and growing. A leading cause is the increasing skill-focus of immigration policy in a number of leading industrialized countries—a trend that is likely to intensify as rich countries age and competitive pressures build in...

  • The United States as a Debtor Nation - Sep 19, 2005

    How is America's debt of 22% of GDP and its $670 billion trade deficit sustainable? What are the challenges to the rest of the world as the US’ fiscal accounts and exchange rates adjust to correct this imbalance? In this important new book, CGD/IIE Senior Fellow William R. Cline argues that...

  • What's Wrong with the Millennium Development Goals? - Sep 12, 2005

    Many poor countries, especially in Africa, will miss the MDGs by a large margin. But neither African inaction nor a lack of aid will necessarily be the reason. Instead, responsibility for near-certain ‘failure’ lies with the overly-ambitious goals themselves and unrealistic expectations placed...

  • Give Us Your Best and Brightest: The Global Hunt for Talent and Its Impact on the Developing World - Sep 1, 2005

    A CGD best-seller, Give Us Your Best and Brightest has been praised in Foreign Affairs as "a judicious combination of facts, theory, and informed conjecture on a growing but complex phenomenon about which too little is known." Best and Brightest addresses the migration of well-educated workers from...

  • 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...

  • Reliving the '50s: The Big Push, Poverty Traps, and Takeoffs
    in Economic Development - Working Paper 65
    - Aug 16, 2005

    Bill Easterly challenges a central rationale of the push for the 2015 Millennium Development Goals: the idea that poverty can be overcome with a big push in foreign aid and investment. Instead, change must come from the bottom up, he says.

  • Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Development? - May 9, 2005

    Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Development?, gathers together the cutting edge of new research on FDI and host country economic performance and presents the most sophisticated critiques of current and past inquiries.

  • Adjusting to the MFA Phase-Out: Policy Priorities - Apr 28, 2005

    In this brief we focus on potential disruptions in poor countries and the policy priorities for coping with them. In particular, we recommend that the United States, which is the only rich country that does not grant tariff-free access for imports from all least-developed countries, provide this...

  • Making Markets for Vaccines - Ideas to Action (Brief) - Apr 7, 2005

    New medicines are usually financed by a mixture of public funding by governments, philanthropic giving, and investment by private firms. Private investment is especially important in paying for and managing the later stages of clinical trials, regulatory approval, and investment in manufacturing...

  • Big Sugar and the Political Economy of US Agricultural Policy - Apr 1, 2005

    Sugar is a prototypical case of a policy that favors the few at the expense of the many. Thanks to a government policy that supports prices by sharply restricting imports, a small number of American sugar cane and beet growers are enriched at the expense of US consumers and of more efficient...

  • Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries - Mar 31, 2005

    In this book, Nicolas van de Walle identifies 26 countries that are extremely poor and grew little if at all in the 1990s. His sample excludes North Korea and countries where civil war explains some of their failure to grow (Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan and others). The 26 countries...

  • Overcoming Stagnation in Aid-Dependent Countries - Brief - Mar 23, 2005

    Traditional economic theory predicts that capital mobility and international trade will push the world's national economies to one income level. As poorer nations race ahead, richer ones should slow down. Eventually, theory says, national economies would reach equilibrium. The reality of the last...

  • Double Standards on IDA and Debt: The Case for Reclassifying Nigeria - Mar 1, 2005

    Although nearly all poor countries are classified by the World Bank as IDA-only, Nigeria stands out as a notable exception. Indeed, Africa’s most populous country is the poorest country in the world that is not classified as IDA-only. Under the World Bank’s own criteria, however, Nigeria has a...

  • A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance, and Reform - Mar 1, 2005

    A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance, and Reform by Kemal Dervis is a reformist manifesto that argues that gradual institutional change can produce beneficial results if it is driven by an ambitious long-term vision and by a determination to continually widen the limits of the possible.

  • On the Road to Universal Primary Education - Feb 28, 2005

    Education is an end in itself, a human right, and a vital part of the capacity of individuals to lead lives they value. It gives people in developing countries the skills they need to improve their own lives and to help transform their societies. Women and men with better education earn more...

  • A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance, and Reform (Brief) - Feb 1, 2005

    This brief summarizes five key recommendations from the CGD book A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance, and Reform by Kemal Dervis. It presses for reform on a broad front with a renewed, more legitimate, and more effective United Nations as the overarching framework for global governance...

  • Toward a New Social Contract in Latin America - Dec 28, 2004

    his policy brief proposes a new job-based social contract, geared to the aspirations of the region’s vast majority of near-poor “middle” households, whose participation is key to achieving growth and strengthening democracy.

  • Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health - Nov 30, 2004

    Millions Saved: Proven Success in Global Health is about part of that success story: 17 cases in which large-scale efforts to improve health in developing countries have succeeded - saving millions of lives and preserving the livelihoods and social fabric of entire communities.

  • Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health (Brief) - Nov 30, 2004

    This Brief is based on the CGD book Millions Saved: Proven Successes in Global Health. The book book features 17 success stories. These cases describe some large-scale efforts to improve health in developing countries that have succeeded - saving millions of lives and preserving the livelihoods...

  • Trading Up: How Much Should Poor Countries Pay to Support Pharmaceutical Innovation - Nov 10, 2004

    This brief outlines how a global structure of pharmaceutical prices may be determined to balance both the efficiency and the social equity concerns that arise in dealing with countries with widely disparate needs and incomes.

  • Financing Development: The Power of Regionalism - Oct 1, 2004

    The historic 2002 United Nations Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, overlooked a crucial question: regionalism. Financing Development: The Power of Regionalism is designed to correct this omission.

  • On the Brink, Weak States and US National Security - Jun 8, 2004

    A Report of the Commission for Weak States and US National Security Terrorists training at bases in Afghanistan and Somalia. Transnational crime networks putting down roots in Myanmar/Burma and Central Asia. Poverty, disease, and humanitarian emergencies overwhelming governments in Haiti and...

  • Trading Up: Labor Standards, Development, and CAFTA - May 28, 2004

    This brief examines the potential positive synergies between globalization, development, and labor standards. It argues that certain core labor standards can be applied globally without undermining comparative advantage, and that doing so would be good for development. The issues are also examined...

  • Privatization in Latin America: The rapid rise, recent fall, and continuing puzzle of a contentious economic policy - Jan 1, 2004

    This policy brief is a preview to the analysis and recommendations on privatization in the second edition of Washington Contentious: Economic Policies for Social Equity in Latin America, to be published in 2004 by the Center for Global Development and Inter-American Dialogue.

  • Trading Up: Trade Policy and Global Poverty - Sep 1, 2003

    This policy brief is a preview of the analysis and recommendations in Trade Policy and Global Poverty, by William R. Cline.

  • From Social Assistance to Social Development: Targeted Education Subsidies in Developing Countries - Sep 1, 2003

    The book compiles a vast amount of unpublished and published material on existing CTE programs and their impact on poverty. Groundbreaking case studies and detailed evaluations of programs in Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Chile add up to an unusual and surprising success...

  • The Anarchy of Numbers: Aid, Development, and Cross-country Empirics - Working Paper 32 - Aug 15, 2003

    *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...

  • Trading Up: Strengthening AGOA’s Development Potential - Jun 1, 2003

    This brief assesses the impact of AGOA to date and recommends measures to improve its development potential.

  • The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account - Jun 1, 2003

    This book tackles head on the tension between foreign policy and development goals that chronically afflicts U.S. foreign assistance; the danger of being dismissed as one more instance of the United States going it alone instead of buttressing international cooperation; and the risk of exacerbating...

  • Challenging Foreign Aid: A Policymaker's Guide to the Millennium Challenge Account - May 1, 2003

    In this study, Steven Radelet examines the MCA's potential promise and possible pitfalls. He offers a rigorous analysis of the MCA’s central challenge: making foreign aid more effective in supporting economic growth and poverty reduction in the poor countries. He systematically explores what...

  • From Promise to Performance: How Rich Countries Can Help Poor Countries Help Themselves - Apr 1, 2003

    At the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 the nations of the world committed to join forces to meet a set of measurable targets for reducing world poverty, disease, illiteracy and other indicators of human misery—all by the year 2015. These targets, later named the Millennium Development...

  • Beyond TRIPS: A New Global Patent Regime - Aug 1, 2002

    I present here a proposal for constructing a global patent regime, which could be a reasonable compromise to the current bitter dispute fueled by TRIPS. It allows the right line to be drawn between prices and incentives because different lines can be drawn for different products.

  • Delivering on Debt Relief:
    From IMF Gold to a New Aid Architecture
    - Apr 10, 2002

    This study brings readers up to date on the complicated and controversial subject of debt relief for the poorest countries of the world.

  • Delivering on Debt Relief - Apr 1, 2002

    Over the last several years, the United States and other major donor countries have supported a historic initiative to write down the official debts of a group of heavily indebted poor countries, or HIPCs. Donor countries had two primary goals in supporting debt relief: to reduce countries' debt...

  • Washington Contentious: Economic Policies for Social Equity in Latin America - Jan 1, 2001

    At the end of the 1990s the future of Latin America seemed grim in the face of four devastating problems—slow and unsteady economic growth, persistent poverty, social injustice, and personal insecurity. For 10 years Latin America had pursued—with considerable vigor—the 10 economic policies...

  • Implementing Oil-to-Cash—Todd Moss - Feb 6, 2012

    When a poor country finds oil, bad things often get worse. Countries rich in extractable natural resources, especially oil, frequently suffer from crummy governance, high poverty, endemic corruption and conflict. Is it possible to beat this oil curse? My guest on the Wonkcast this week, Todd...

  • What’s Driving Deforestation? Surprise Findings—David Wheeler - Jan 30, 2012

    David Wheeler, our lead researcher on climate and development, decided recently to retire from CGD, though he will continue to be active in CGD’s intellectual life as our first Senior Fellow Emeritus. Since joining CGD in 2006, David has published more than 20 working papers and launched two...

  • Global Health and the New Bottom Billion – Amanda Glassman - Jan 23, 2012

    Global health funders have historically focused their aid on countries with the lowest per capita incomes, on the assumption that that’s where most of world’s poor people live.  In recent years, however, many large developing countries achieved rapid growth, lifting them into the ranks of...

  • What the U.S. Can Do in Pakistan Now – Milan Vaishnav and Danny Cutherell - Jan 18, 2012

    U.S. - Pakistan relations, troubled in the best of times, have been unusually rocky of late. A recent cover story in The Atlantic dubbed Pakistan the “Ally from Hell.” CGD’s Study Group on the U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan argues that the strong U.S. interest in a stable,...

  • Busan’s Lasting Legacy – Owen Barder - Jan 10, 2012

    I recently interviewed Owen Barder, CGD senior fellow and director for Europe, shortly after his return from the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea. Did the December forum, with some 3,000 participants from around the world, matter to development? We begin...

  • David Roodman - Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance - Jan 4, 2012

    My guest on this week’s Wonkcast is David Roodman, senior fellow and author of the long-awaited book, Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance. After more than three years of unprecedented investigation into the movement, David was able to cut through the hype and come to...

  • Migration and the Trillion Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk: Michael Clemens - Dec 13, 2011

    In this Wonkcast, originally posted on September 7, 2011, Michael Clemens explains why one of the biggest growth opportunities in the world economy lies not in the mobility of goods or capital, but in the mobility of labor. His message remains relevant as International Migrants Day approaches...

  • Who Will Win Out? The Millennium Challenge Corporation Selection - Dec 6, 2011

    On December 15th the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an innovative U.S. aid agency, is set to announce which countries will receive its unique development assistance. Casey Dunning, policy analyst at CGD and my guest on this week’s Wonkcast, provides insight and recommendations on...

  • Military and Development, a Not-So-Unlikely Pair — Vijaya Ramachandran and Julie Walz - Nov 29, 2011

    The U.S. military has become increasingly involved in economic development, fulfilling roles normally played by USAID and other development NGOs. My guests this week, senior fellow Vijaya Ramachandran and research assistant Julie Walz, discuss their recent paper written with Gregory Johnson on...

  • Implications of Ghana’s New Middle Income Status – Todd Moss - Nov 21, 2011

    Ghana’s recent recalculation of its GDP led to an overnight $500 per capita jump, putting in motion unexpectedly rapid graduation from the International Development Association (IDA) and ultimately a new relationship with the World Bank. In this week’s Wonkcast, I speak with Todd Moss,...

  • Measuring the Quality of Aid (QuODA) – Homi Kharas and Rita Perakis - Nov 14, 2011

    On November 29th, aid donor and recipients will convene in Busan, South Korea at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness. In this week’s Wonkcast, I speak with Homi Kharas, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Rita Perakis, program coordinator at the Center for Global ...

  • Achieving an AIDS Transition - Mead Over - Nov 8, 2011

    My guest this week is Mead Over, one of the world’s leading experts on the global response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We discuss his new book, Achieving an Aids Transition: Preventing Infections to Sustain Treatment. The key idea is simple but powerful. Mead argues that, instead of reaching vainly...

  • Ranking the Rich in the 2011 Commitment to Development Index: David Roodman - Nov 1, 2011

    How well did the 22 rich countries that belong to the OECD Development Committee (OECD-DAC) perform in terms of supporting development in 2011? In this week’s Wonkcast, my guest David Roodman, architect of the Commitment to Development Index (CDI), explains some surprising results of the newly...

  • A Global Consensus on Reforming IMF Leadership Selection: David Wheeler - Oct 18, 2011

    When Dominique Straus-Kahn resigned suddenly as head of the International Monetary Fund last May, the world was thrown unexpectedly into search for his successor. Within days, CGD launched a survey of the global development community opinion on three issues: the selection process, criteria for...

  • African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors – Todd Moss - Oct 12, 2011

    My guest this week is Todd Moss, senior fellow and vice president for programs here at the Center for Global Development. Our topic is the newly updated edition of his popular primer: African Development: Making Sense of the Issues and Actors. Todd tells me his publisher, Lynne Rienner, urged...

  • A Moveable Feast of Meetings: Owen Barder - Sep 27, 2011

    Last week finance ministers and central bankers from around the globe convened in Washington for the annual meetings of the international Monetary Fund and World Bank. While the press and many of the meeting participants focused on the unfolding European financial crisis, below the radar there was...

  • Oil 2 Cash in Iraq: Johnny West - Sep 12, 2011

    Johnny West is a man of many talents. An expert on oil, civil society, and governance in the Middle East who works as an advisor to the UNDP, he is fluent in Arabic, spent more than two decades in the Middle East as a journalist for Reuters, and has just published a highly readable book...

  • Migration and the Trillion Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk: Michael Clemens - Sep 7, 2011

    If you found a trillion-dollar bill on the sidewalk, would you pick it up? Michael Clemens thinks he has found a bunch of such bills—huge gains to the poor people and the world economy that could be achieved by easing restrictions on cross-border labor mobility.  He has written a working...

  • Holiday in Harare: Alan Gelb - Aug 30, 2011

    What does extreme hyperinflation look like? Consider a pile of currency tall enough to encircle our entire galaxy. That’s how many Zimbabwean dollars you would have needed by the end of the country’s extraordinary inflationary crisis to equal one pre-crisis Zim dollar, according to CGD...

  • Hail the Scholar-Practitioners: Nora Lustig - Aug 22, 2011

    Here at CGD, we talk a lot about the “what” of policy. We’re in the business of ideas and that sometimes leads us to overlook the crucial question of the “who” in the policy process. Thankfully we have Nora Lustig, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development, Samuel...

  • Turning the Tide in the War on Tobacco: Bill Savedoff - Aug 15, 2011

    Most people understand the personal risks associated with smoking, but surprisingly few understand its impact globally. Every year, more people die form tobacco related illnesses than from HIV/Aids, TB and malaria combined. Nevertheless, governments and international aid agencies have yet ot pay...

  • Famine in the Horn of Africa: Owen Barder - Aug 9, 2011

    It’s not often that the United Nations sees fit to officially declare a food crisis a famine. That’s a testament to the severity of the ongoing suffering in Somalia, a disaster of biblical proportions that has already claimed the lives of tens of thousands. But evidence abounds that famines...

  • Jenny Aker: Mobile Phones for Development—Hope vs. Hype - Aug 2, 2011

    Are mobile phones revolutionizing development in Africa, or have they been over-hyped? My guest this week, Jenny Aker, says the truth is a little of both. Jenny is an assistant professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and a non-resident fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Her...

  • The Debt Cap Showdown and the Developing World: Liliana Rojas-Suarez - Jul 19, 2011

    The American media is abuzz with stories of doom and gloom as tensions mount over stalled efforts to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. Europe, meanwhile, has its own debt woes, with mounting fears that a default in Greece could spill over into Ireland, Portugal and Spain. So far, however, there has...

  • Prospects for South Sudan, the World’s Newest Nation: Ben Leo - Jul 12, 2011

    On Saturday the world’s newest nation exuberantly celebrated its first independence day. The Republic of South Sudan, an area the size of Texas that is home to eight million people, has finally fulfilled its long-sought goal of freedom and self-determination. Independence however, is just the...

  • Hedging Against Hunger: Connie Veillette & Ben Leo - Jul 5, 2011

    Every year, billions of dollars are spent on food assistance to provide lifesaving sustenance to millions of people. That’s a lot of money, and an important cause, so it was encouraging to learn last week that the United States and the G-20 are starting to seriously scrutinize food aid policy....

  • U.S. Disaster Assistance and Migration Policy: Michael Clemens - Jun 6, 2011

    When a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti last year the U.S. government and public moved quickly to aid the survivors. The response was swift and compassionate. But America did not do something simple and low-cost that could have helped the survivors of this horrible event. It did not...

  • IMF Leadership Struggle and CGD Survey Results: Nancy Birdsall - May 31, 2011

    The sudden resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn has sparked a global debate over the selection of the next head of the International Monetary Fund. French finance minister Christine Legarde, Europe’s nominee, has launched a round-the-world tour to promote her candidacy. Meanwhile, Agustin...

  • Mohammed Yunus Forced Out –Whither Microcredit? David Roodman - May 24, 2011

    Mohammed Yunus has been forced by a Bangladesh court to step down as the head of the Grameen Bank, leaving the world to wonder what will become of the institution that helped inspire the microfinance revolution. On this week’s Wonkcast, we consider the rise and uncertain future of...

  • What’s Up with the U.S. Global Health Initiative? Nandini Oomman - May 17, 2011

    When President Obama created the Global Health Fund (GHI) in May 2009, health policy gurus welcomed it as a pioneering effort to make US involvement in global health more coherent, strategic and systematic. Two years later, there has been some modest progress but questions abound about how the...

  • (WONKCAST SPECIAL EDITION) Why U.S. Aid to Pakistan Still Makes Sense: Nancy Birdsall - May 9, 2011

    Why are we providing some $1.5 billion per year in development assistance to a country that couldn’t be bothered to find bin Laden? Now that Osama is dead, what the heck are we still doing in Pakistan? On this special edition of the Global Prosperity Wonkcast I asked these...

  • Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries: Kimberly Elliott - May 9, 2011

    This week, 10,000 representatives from around the world will head to Istanbul for the fourth decadal meeting of the UN conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV).  Trade is likely to have a prominent place on the agenda. I invited senior fellow Kimberly Elliott, author of Delivering...

  • Not Too Late to Fix U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan: Molly Kinder and Wren Elhai - Apr 25, 2011

    The United States has committed $1.5 billion per year over five years in an effort to support development in Pakistan, a fragile, nuclear-armed state of almost 190 million people that is in the frontline of the struggle against Islamic extremism. So, how’s that working out?

  • Combating Drug Resistance: Rachel Nugent - Apr 4, 2011

    Drug resistance, a neglected but increasingly urgent problem, receives some much-needed attention this week as the focus of this year’s World Health Day, also dubbed Antimicrobial Resistance Day, on Thursday, April 7. I invited Rachel Nugent, lead author of The Race Against Drug Resistance , a...

  • The Untapped Potential of Global Public Investors: Vijaya Ramachandran - Mar 21, 2011

    Looking for an investor with billions? Want to know where the money is? If you’re a country with a sound financial and political record seeking money for infrastructure, you can find it in the hands of “global public investors” (GPI’s), a growing group of little-known foreign investment...

  • One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Lant Pritchett on Mimicry in Development - Mar 14, 2011

    Development is easy, right? All poor countries have to do is mimic the things that work in rich countries and they’ll evolve into fully functional states. If only it were that simple. My guest this week is Lant Pritchett, a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and chair of...

  • Macroprudential Regulation and Developing Countries: Liliana Rojas-Suarez - Mar 7, 2011

    Regulators at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, are hard at work designing regulatory standards to avoid future financial meltdowns like the global financial crisis of 2008. Joining them for two months is Liliana Rojas Suarez, a CGD senior fellow and the founding...

  • The New Bottom Billion: Andy Sumner - Feb 28, 2011

    Paul Collier’s 2007 book, The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, changed the way we think about poverty and development. Collier argued that the majority of the 5-billion people in the "developing world" live in countries with sustained high...

  • Overcoming Patronage in New Democracies: Simeon Nichter - Feb 23, 2011

    In 1974, three out of four countries were ruled by authoritarian regimes; today, nearly half of all governments are democratically elected—and even more democracies may be emerging in the Middle East. But with elections come new form of patronage—such as offering benefits in exchange for...

  • Confronting the Global Tobacco Epidemic: Thomas Bollyky - Feb 7, 2011

    Ten years after President Clinton's initiative to avert a global epidemic of tobacco-related disease, smoking is down in the United States but rising fast in poor countries, where Washington turns a blind eye to aggressive cigarette marketing banned at home. My guest on this show is Thomas...

  • USAID Modernization Efforts Amid Budget Cut Fever: Connie Veillette - Jan 24, 2011

    It’s been a busy time for Connie Veillette, director of the Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Initiative here at the Center for Global Development. Last week we hosted a major address by USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah describing the achievements of his first year in office and his ambitious plans...

  • The Data is in, More Money = More Happiness: Justin Wolfers - Jan 18, 2011

    You might not think you’d need a Ph.D. to figure out that people with more money are happier than people with less. Yet that relationship is surprisingly controversial and—not so surprisingly—highly relevant for development policy. This week’s Wonkcast features a young academic whose new...

  • The Year Ahead in Global Health at CGD: Amanda Glassman - Jan 4, 2011

    To mark the start of the new year, my guest is Amanda Glassman, CGD’s new director of global health. I asked Amanda, who previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank, the Brookings Institution, and USAID, where she sees opportunities for progress on global health in 2011 and...

  • The 2000s Were the Best Decade Ever? Development Optimist Charles Kenny - Dec 21, 2010

    Many of us may be glad to be rid of the Naughts, a decade perhaps destined to be remembered for global terrorism, U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a global financial crisis that threatened a second Great Depression but left the rich world instead with a lingering Great Recession. My guest...

  • Who Gets the Debt If Sudan Splits? Ben Leo - Dec 6, 2010

    A 2011 referendum in Southern Sudan will determine the sub-nation’s independence – and it’s just one month away. Ahead of the South’s possible secession, Sudanese leaders are scrambling to find solutions to a host of questions, a critical one being: What should be done with Sudan’s...

  • Unpacking India’s Microfinance Meltdown: David Roodman - Nov 30, 2010

    A crisis is unfolding in India's microcredit sector that-- beyond its immediate effects on borrowers and lenders-- will greatly affect the future of financial services for the poor. I'm joined by David Roodman, senior fellow here at the Center for Global Development and author of the forthcoming...

  • U.S. Development Policy in the Next Congress: Sarah Jane Staats - Nov 16, 2010

    What does the new makeup of Congress mean for global development looking forward? My guest this week is Sarah Jane Staats, director of policy outreach here at the Center for Global Development. Sarah Jane is responsible for engaging the development policy community—especially senior staff in the...

  • Five CGD Experts on the Seoul G-20 Summit - Nov 9, 2010

    G-20 leaders gathering in Seoul this week face a full plate of issues, most prominently the effort to stave off beggar-thy-neighbors currency devaluations. This week on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast, we've distilled highlights from a private briefing I organized where five CGD experts shared their...

  • Non-Communicable Diseases a Huge Problem in Developing World (Interview with Rachel Nugent) - Nov 1, 2010

    Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancers are usually considered diseases of the rich world, the result of too much food and too little exercise. But these serious diseases are already a huge problem in the developing world, accounting for about half of the burden of disease. Yet new...

  • U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan After the Floods: Molly Kinder - Oct 27, 2010

    As if Pakistan needed more troubles, this summer’s catastrophic flooding stretched the capacity of that country’s civilian government to the breaking point. How can the United States act to shore up a key ally and put a strategically critical country back on the path towards development and...

  • Evaluating the Millennium Villages: Michael Clemens and Gabriel Demombynes - Oct 12, 2010

    In development, it's good to try new, innovative ideas-- but even better to know whether or not they work. My guests this week are Michael Clemens, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, and Gabriel Demombynes, a senior economist at the World Bank, based in Nairobi, Kenya. They have...

  • Good Aid? Bad Aid? QuODA Tracks How Donors Stack Up - Oct 4, 2010

    Donors, academics, and development advocates have long recognized that not all aid is created equal. Often, the impacts of aid are blunted because it’s spent in the wrong places or isn’t coordinated with recipient government programs. How can we know which donors give aid well, and which donors...

  • Tempered Optimism on New U.S. Development Policy: Connie Veillette - Sep 27, 2010

    After months of study, work, negotiation and anticipation, the Obama administration has announced its development policy. What’s new here and what are the chances of implementation? To find out, I chatted with Connie Veillette, who has recently joined the Center for Global Development as director...

  • What’s Not to Like About the Millennium Development Goals? - Sep 17, 2010

    Leaders from around the world meet in New York City next week to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, a list of development targets set in 2000, after a decade of UN conferences and summits, for achievement by 2015. Ahead of the MDG Summit, I spoke with Michael Clemens and Todd...

  • Can Oil Money Be Spent Well? Alan Gelb on Resource Revenues and Development. - Sep 14, 2010

    Many developing countries have found that large deposits of oil or other natural resources are more a curse than a blessing. My guest on this week's Wonkcast is Alan Gelb, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Together with co-author Sina Grassman, Alan has written a paper that...

  • HIV/AIDS Donors and Africa’s Health Workforce: Nandini Oomman - Sep 8, 2010

    My guest this week is Nandini Oomman, director of the Center for Global Development’s HIV/AIDS Monitor. Her team has just released a new report, Zeroing In: AIDS Donors and Africa’s Health Workforce, which looks at how AIDS programs could be better designed to strengthen the capacity of nurses...

  • Ben Leo: Who Are the Millennium Development Goal Trailblazers? - Aug 24, 2010

    Which countries are leading the pack on achieving the Millennium Development Goals? My guest this week is CGD research fellow Ben Leo. In a new working paper, Ben lays out an index for measuring country-level progress towards the MDGs. His paper, the first to offer comparative country-level...

  • The Race Against Drug Resistance - Aug 10, 2010

    A short film tells the story of Khalifa, a nurse in Ghana who contracted typhoid. She takes one drug and then another—each more expensive than the last—but still she isn’t well. The film uses expert interviews and animation to explain why drug resistance threatens us all—and what we can do...

  • Turning the Tide Through Better Prevention: Mead Over on the AIDS Transition - Jul 27, 2010

    Even as the cost of treating HIV/AIDS has fallen dramatically, the number of people newly infected has remained high. What can be done to reverse this trend and finally defeat this disease? This week on the Wonkcast, I’m joined by Mead Over, a senior fellow here at the Center for Global...

  • How to Help the World’s Least Developed Countries: UNCTAD’s Deb Bhattacharya - Jul 20, 2010

    There are 49 countries in the world that the United Nations classifies as Least Developed Countries (LDCs). How does a country wind up on the list, and how is the international community working to help these countries develop? My guest this week is Debapriya Bhattacharya, currently a Special...

  • Bringing Medicines to Market: Tom Bollyky on Clinical Trials for Neglected Diseases - Jul 13, 2010

    Fueled by charitable giving, more and more medical research is focusing on treating and curing thus-far neglected diseases. Is the regulatory framework ready? My guest this week is Tom Bollyky, a visiting fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Tom is a lawyer by training, and is...

  • Satish Chand on the Challenges of Small Island States - Jul 6, 2010

    Especially during the hot summer months, some of us might daydream about packing up and relocating to a small tropical island somewhere in the Pacific. From a development perspective, however, small island states face unique challenges—most obviously from rising sea levels, but also from the...

  • How the G-8 and G-20 Fared on Development: Liliana Rojas-Suarez & Sarah Jane Staats - Jun 28, 2010

    Leaders of the world’s largest and richest countries met over the weekend in Ontario, Canada. What did they accomplish? This week on the Wonkcast, I’m joined by two guests: CGD Senior Fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez and Director of Policy Outreach Sarah Jane Staats. We examine the statements...

  • The Gulf Gusher & Africa’s Offshore Oil Boom: Todd Moss and Vijaya Ramachandran - Jun 22, 2010

    As the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spew thousands of barrels of oil each day, media attention has been focused on the toll on nearby economies and ecosystems and on the U.S. political response. On this edition of the Global Prosperity Wonkcast, we look beyond the Gulf of Mexico to...

  • Free Money: How to Unlock $7.5 Billion for the World’s Poorest, with Ben Leo - Jun 8, 2010

    With high deficits across the developed world, aid budgets are tight and likely to remain so. However, a simple change in how the World Bank organizes its lending could free up an extra $7.5 billion for the world’s poorest countries over the next three years. My guest on this Wonkcast is Ben Leo,...

  • Jenny Aker: Mobile Phones for Development—Hope vs. Hype - Jun 1, 2010

    Are mobile phones revolutionizing development in Africa, or have they been over-hyped? My guest this week, Jenny Aker, says the truth is a little of both. Jenny is an assistant professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and a non-resident fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Her...

  • Turning the Tide Through Better Prevention: Mead Over on the AIDS Transition - May 25, 2010

    Even as the cost of treating HIV/AIDS has fallen dramatically, the number of people newly infected has remained high. What can be done to reverse this trend and finally defeat this disease? This week on the Wonkcast, I’m joined by Mead Over, a senior fellow here at the Center for Global...

  • A Report Card for the African Development Bank: Todd Moss - May 18, 2010

    When Donald Kaberuka became president of the African Development Bank five years ago, he faced daunting tasks, including defining a mission for an institution that many dismissed as irrelevant. My guest on this week’s show is Todd Moss, vice president and senior fellow at the Center for Global...

  • The Economics of Child Soldiering: Chris Blattman - May 4, 2010

    This week, I'm joined on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast by Chris Blattman, assistant professor of political science and economics at Yale University and a non-resident fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Much of Chris' research tries to understand what happens after child soldiers...

  • Paul Romer’s Bold New Idea for Charter Cities - Apr 26, 2010

    The planet's population will swell by two to three billion people over the next few decades. Where will all those people live? My guest on this week's Global Prosperity Wonkcast has a bold new idea. Paul Romer is a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, a non-resident...

  • Fighting Corruption in Nigeria: Nuhu Ribadu - Apr 19, 2010

    Can a few brave souls make a difference in the fight against corruption? My guest on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast this week is Nuhu Ribadu, the former head of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or EFCC and a visiting fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Nuhu is...

  • Nick Kristof on Story Telling and Development - Apr 13, 2010

    How can people who care about international development interest the public? Last month, CGD hosted award-winning New York Times columnist Nick Kristof, one of the world’s most powerful voices on issues ranging from women’s rights to global health to genocide. In this special edition of the...

  • Connecting Citizens: Twaweza’s Rakesh Rajani on Public Accountability in East Africa - Mar 30, 2010

    Has technology boosted the ability of citizens in African countries to influence their governments? This week, I'm joined by Rakesh Rajani, founder and head of Twaweza, an initiative that promotes transparency and accountability in Tanzania and other countries in East Africa. His organization has...

  • Market Access for the Poor: Kimberly Ann Elliott on Trade Preference Reform - Mar 16, 2010

    This week, I’m joined on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast by Kimberly Ann Elliott, a senior fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Kim’s research focuses on ways in which rich country trade policy affects the developing world. She currently chairs CGD’s working group on Global Trade...

  • Cash on Delivery Aid: Ayah Mahgoub on COD in Education - Mar 9, 2010

    I'm joined this week by Ayah Mahgoub, a program coordinator here at the Center for Global Development who works on issues related to the effectiveness of foreign aid. Along with Nancy Birdsall and Bill Savedoff, Ayah is working on designing a new form of development assistance called Cash on...

  • Nancy Birdsall on Cash on Delivery Aid - Feb 17, 2010

    Can aid donors find a better way to deliver aid? My guest this week is Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development. Along with William Savedoff and Ayah Mahgoub, Nancy is working on a potential new way of disbursing foreign assistance called Cash on Delivery Aid. COD Aid seeks to...

  • Development and Obama’s Budget; Interview with CGD’s Sarah Jane Staats - Feb 10, 2010

    I'm joined for this week’s CGD Wonkcast by Sarah Jane Staats, director of policy outreach here at the Center for Global Development. Last week, President Obama released his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Sarah Jane and others here at the Center have been poring over the budget request,...

  • Population, Poverty, and Economic Growth - Feb 2, 2010

    My guest this week is Rachel Nugent, deputy director for global health here at the Center for Global Development. Rachel directs the Center's work looking at the links between population, poverty, and economic growth and serves as the coordinator of the Population and Poverty Research Network,...

  • Birdsall on Clinton, Elevating Development, Taking Stock in 2010 - Jan 11, 2010

    I'm joined this week by Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development. Nancy introduced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when Clinton came to speak to CGD last week. On the Wonkcast, she shares her impressions of Clinton's speech and places it in the broader context of U.S....

  • Bases, Bullets, and Ballots: U.S. Military Aid and Conflict in Colombia - Jan 5, 2010

    My guest this week is Oeindrila Dube, a postdoctoral fellow here at the Center for Global Development and an assistant professor of politics and economics at New York University. She is the author, along with Suresh Naidu, of a new paper that examines the relationships between U.S. military aid to...

  • The Biggest Idea in Development that No One Really Tried (video) - Dec 16, 2009

    In this TED Talk-style presentation, CGD research fellow Michael Clemens exhibits his new research on the benefits of global migration.

  • AIDS and Aid: Rethinking PEPFAR (Podcast) - Dec 14, 2009

    This week on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast, I'm joined by Nandini Oomman, director of the Center's HIV/AIDS Monitor. Our conversation focuses on the new 5-year strategy laid out earlier this month by Ambassador Eric Goosby, the new U.S. global AIDS coordinator and head of PEPFAR (the President's...

  • David Wheeler on Climate, Development, and Forest Monitoring for Action (Podcast) - Nov 24, 2009

    This week, my guest on the Global Prosperity Wonkcast is senior fellow David Wheeler, the lead researcher for CGD’s work on climate and development. Last week, David and his team released a new tool called Forest Monitoring for Action (FORMA). A major advance in the remote monitoring of forests,...

  • Beyond Microfinance: Principles of Access to Finance (Podcast) - Nov 16, 2009

    On this edition of the Wonkcast, I am joined by senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez, who discusses her work as co-chair of the CGD Task Force on Access to Financial Services. Financial regulation—and access—is a hot topic right now, as countries try to reduce the chance of future financial...

  • Ruth Levine on Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health (Podcast) - Nov 12, 2009

    My guest this week is Ruth Levine, an expert on health and education who for the past two years has focused much of her work on adolescent girls. She’s the co-author of a recently released CGD report titled Start with a Girl: A New Agenda for Global Health. In our Wonkcast, she outlines the...

  • USAID Missing Person (podcast) - Nov 2, 2009

    My guest this week is Sheila Herrling, director of CGD’s Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Program. With November upon us and still no USAID administrator, Sheila introduces us to some possible candidates who have already been vetted for other jobs.

  • Benchmarking America: The 2009 Commitment to Development Index (podcast) - Oct 22, 2009

    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.

  • 2009 Commitment to Development Index Webinar (slidecast) - Oct 21, 2009

    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...

  • Ghana’s Oil: Black Gold or Fools Gold? (podcast) - Oct 16, 2009

    In CGD’s first Global Prosperity Wonkcast I interview senior fellow Todd Moss on his innovative proposal for managing Ghana’s anticipated $1 billion per year oil windfall: money to the people. Subscribe to the podcast if you have iTunes; read Moss’s executive memo to Ghana’s President John...

  • The Banking Crisis in Mexico and the U.S. (slidecast) - Jul 31, 2009

    In this presentation, CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez compares the most important features of the Mexico’s banking crisis in the mid-1990s and the current crisis in the United States. The presentation reveals large similarities in the causes of the crises. In particular the root cause of...

  • U.S. Ranks Poorly on 2008 Commitment to Development Index (Telephone Press Conference) - Dec 5, 2008

    In this telephone press conference, CGD research fellow David Roodman teases out the some trends from the 2008 Commitment to Development Index.

  • A Funny YouTube Video about Foreign Assistance? - Feb 9, 2008

    The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act -- a cornerstone of America’s support for global development -- is so badly out of date that it would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic, writes Lawrence MacDonald, CGD director of communications and policy. Although the mainstream media has shown little...

Featured

Most Popular