Commentary

The World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group has just issued a report on the Bank’s mechanisms for supporting procurement. This blog focuses on the findings and the evidence-based recommendations that can both increase development impact and help foster demand for services through greater ease of d...

School meals are popular among governments and charitable organisations aiming to alleviate hunger in schools. Yet, there is often debate around whether alternative approaches, such as cash transfers or take-home rations, might achieve similar goals more effectively. Common questions include Wouldn’...

A new CGD note published today explores the financial performance of big tobacco companies, alongside alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) industries, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic; we find that financial results have been strong, especially for tobacco companies, and that the argumen...

Ok, there’s a slightly more-than-evens chance that I’m going to fall asleep before I finish writing this email. I’ve been up since a little before five am to get up to Oxford and teach a couple of classes while still working a full day for CGD; adrenaline has taken me this far but may fail at any mo...

It is easy to forget how young the global poverty line still is. In this blog Ranil Dissanayake explores three sets of challenges in the measurement and use of the international poverty line, and consider five ways to meet these challenges. 

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF have come to an end. It was a jam-packed array of official meetings, private roundtables, bilateral engagements, civil society forums, and many side events covering a myriad of issues with a range of stakeholders. In the end, it can be difficult to sort ...

This year’s COP climate conference is up and staggering in in Baku, Azerbaijan. A bigger climate finance promise won’t help unless it is wrapped around with commitments to existing development finance. And, under business as usual, it will make things positively worse.