China's Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection (Event Video)
5/1/13
How big is China’s aid to Africa? Does it complement or undermine the efforts of traditional donors?
Multimedia
CGD's weekly Global Prosperity Wonkcast, event videos, whiteboard talks, slides, and more.
Mohammed Yunus Forced Out –Whither Microcredit? David Roodman
5/24/11
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 microcredit, not so long ago the darling of development experts and activists alike, and discuss whether or not the arc of Yunus’s remarkable life serves as an apt metaphor for the microfinance movement.
My guest is CGD senior fellow David Roodman, who has been tracking the Yunus trial since it began as part of his Microfinance Open Book Blog. The book in public on the blog, Due Diligence: An Impertinent Inquiry into Microfinance, is nearing completion and will be published before the end of the year.
The Untapped Potential of Global Public Investors: Vijaya Ramachandran
3/21/11
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 vehicles on the prowl for safe investment opportunities.
My guest on this show is Vijaya Ramachandran, senior fellow at CGD, who contributed to a new new report from the Brookings Institute on GPI’s, a term the report authors coined to include such entities as sovereign wealth funds, foreign government employee pension funds, and foreign currency reserve funds.
Macroprudential Regulation and Developing Countries: Liliana Rojas-Suarez
3/7/11
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 chair of the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee.
I spoke with Liliana just before she left for Basel about macroprudential regulation—an approach that focuses on the systemic risks arising from the interaction among banks and other financial institutions. (Liliana had spoken about this at a recent CGD Research in Progress staff meeting; her slides are a useful adjunct to our Wonkcast discussion.)
Unpacking India’s Microfinance Meltdown: David Roodman
11/30/10
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 book Due Diligence: A Guide to Microfinance (which he has shared step by step on his Open Book Blog). David recently traveled to Andhra Pradesh, the epicenter of the crisis. On the Wonkcast, he leads me through the story of the explosive growth of Indian microcredit-- and its sudden fall from grace.
How the G-8 and G-20 Fared on Development: Liliana Rojas-Suarez & Sarah Jane Staats
6/28/10
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 released by the two groups—looking specifically at what they have to say about several key policy areas for global development.
Listen to the Wonkcast to hear our conversation. Among other topics, we discuss:
- What President Obama’s G8 announcement on his administration’s development strategy means for the U.S. aid reform agenda.
- The significance of the G20’s release of a set of principles for financial inclusion.
- How the headline issues of financial stability and regulation might affect emerging countries.
- What was said (and wasn’t said) in Toronto on expanding trade, especially for the world’s least developed countries.
- What role an announced G20 Working Group on development might play in the run-up to the next G20 summit this fall in Seoul, South Korea.
David Roodman on Microfinance and a Year of Blogging
3/1/10
My guest on this week’s show is David Roodman, a research fellow here at CGD who has spent the past year writing a book on microfinance. He has shared this experience online through his open book blog, posting chapter drafts, analyzing ongoing research in the field, and soliciting comments and suggestions. I ask David why he decided to write his book in such a public way, and what he’s learned over the last year.
David replies that when it comes to policy research, people write books for four reasons. “One is to help you think through a complicated process… Another is to provide a basis for shorter spin-off pieces… Another is to signal that you’re an expert about something. And then the last is, oh yeah, to write something for people to read.” David says blogging about the book-writing process has helped him to partially accomplish the first three goals even before the book is complete. It has also, somewhat unexpectedly he says, changed his writing style, something he discussed recently on the blog.