The Prevention of Odious Debt Working Group proposes a new tool to alleviate the burden that unjust transactions impose on successor governments and their citizens.
The debate on user fees in health and education has been contentious, but until recently much of the evidence has been anecdotal. Does charging poor people for health and education services improve or impede access? CGD non-resident fellow Michael Kremer and co-author Alaka Holla survey the evidence from recent randomized evaluations across a variety of settings to find out. The verdict: higher prices decrease access.
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Diarrheal diseases kill two million children a year in poor countries. Vaccination, oral rehydration therapy, breastfeeding, and micronutrient supplementation have been effective in saving lives but the continuing toll suggests that further investments are needed. In this CGD working paper, non-resident fellow Michael Kremer and his co-author critically review existing research and identify research priorities to reduce the impact of the disease.
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 includes a CGD working group report and selected essays edited by CGD president Nancy Birdsall, offers timely perspectives on challenges that are crucial to the Bank’s future success.
Donors are considering committing in advance to purchase vaccines against diseases concentrated in low-income countries to spur research and development on vaccines for neglected diseases. How much money is needed? The authors of this paper find that a commitment comparable in size to the average sales of recently launched commercial products (adjusted for lower marketing costs)—about $3 billion per disease when products are at a relatively early stage in development —would be a highly cost-effective way to address major killers, such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The paper includes a link to a Web-based spread sheet for readers to conduct their own sensitivity analysis.Learn more
This report was prepared by a Working Group convened by the Center for Global Development to identify key priorities the Paul Wolfowitz at the start of his tenure at the World Bank on June 1, 2005. It argues that Wolfowitz's biggest challenge will not be managing the Bank, with its 10,000 staff, but leading its shareholders, the nations of the world. The report offers five bold but practical recommendations for restoring the legitimacy and increasing the effectiveness of the world's largest development institution.
Making Markets for Vaccines: Ideas to Action presents the proposal from theory to practice, by showing how a commitment can be consistent with ordinary legal and budgetary principles. A draft contract term sheet is included, highlighting the key elements of a credible guarantee.
The history of foreign development assistance is one of movement away from addressing immediate needs to a focus on the underlying causes of poverty. A recent manifestation is the move towards "sustainability," which stresses community mobilization, education, and cost-recovery. This stands in contrast to the traditional economic analysis of development projects, with its focus on providing public goods and correcting externalities.