Ideas to Action:

Independent research for global prosperity

Multimedia

CGD's weekly Global Prosperity Wonkcast, event videos, whiteboard talks, slides, and more.

The Implications of Complexity for Development - Owen Barder

In this lecture, adapted from his Kapuściński Lecture of May 2012, Owen Barder explores the implications of complexity theory for development policy. He explains how traditional economic models have tried and failed to understand why some countries have managed to improve living standards while other countries have not.

Advance Market Commitments for Climate Change

Would an Advance Market Commitment work in climate finance? CGD visting senior associate Jan von der Goltz joined a panel on Advance Market Commitments (AMCs) at the Marketplace on Innovative Financial Solutions for Development in Paris, March 4, 2010. (For a round-up of the best ideas from the Marketplace, click here. Jan assessed the idea of extending the AMC concept – which CGD pioneered for the vaccine market – to climate finance. The takeaway message: AMCs are powerful tools in dealing with market failure – but they are complex financing structures, and must be tailored to the challenge at hand. It makes little sense to transplant the original AMC structure into the climate field 1:1. Rather, true to the spirit of the AMC, donors should look at the challenges in financing a given climate project, and design an innovative financing scheme that fits them.

2009 Commitment to Development Index Webinar (slidecast)

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 results from CGD research fellow David Roodman. CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet, a former deputy assistant secretary of Treasury for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, will discuss the implications of the Index results for the ongoing debate over reforming U.S. development policy.

The Banking Crisis in Mexico and the U.S. (slidecast)

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 both crises can be found in significant regulatory deficiencies in the context of an expansionary monetary policy. When comparing the resolution processes, key similarities between the two crises, especially with respect to political constraints and indecisive policy reactions are also found.

Access the presentation.

The Banking Crisis in Mexico

Beyond Gender as Usual (slidecast)

At a recent launch event for a new report Beyond Gender as Usual: How HIV/AIDS Donors Can Do More for Women and Girls released by the Center for Global Development and the International Center for Research on Women, director of CGD's HIV/AIDS Monitor Nandini Oomman and HIV/AIDS scientist Kim Ashburn's present thier findings.