This brief outlines the problems that inhibit learning in social development programs, describes the characteristics of a collective international solution, and shows how the international community can accelerate progress by learning what works in social policy. It draws heavily on the work of CGD'...

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 col...

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 advi...

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 res...

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 investments ...