Land reform: Lessons from Rwanda’s success YouTube video by VoxDev

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0wq...

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Read on Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/why-was-rw...

🆕 Why was Rwanda’s land reform so successful?

Broken land markets are holding back cities across Africa. But not in Rwanda.

In this episode of Ideas in Development, Kurtis Lockhart & I are joined by Thierry Hoza Ngoga to discuss all things land reform.

YIMBY goes global? Unlocking Africa’s housing markets Africa needs to house nearly a billion new urban residents by 2050. Who's going to build it – and how will it be paid for?

We cover what YIMBY would look like in Africa.

Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/y...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/79Nr...
Everywhere else: audioboom.com/posts/888746...

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTYO...

Read on Substack.

🆕 YIMBY goes global? How to build more housing in Africa

This week on Ideas in Development, Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) & I are joined by Kecia Rust (CAHF Africa) to discuss the full housing chain in Africa – from land & finance to construction & rental markets.

Links ⤵️

How can African cities pay for stuff? YouTube video by VoxDev

So, what can reforms in Mexico, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone can teach us.

Watch on YouTube.
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
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Read on Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/how-can-af...

There is a paradox at the heart of governing cities in Africa.

Mayors are responsible for building the infrastructure their fast-growing cities need. But most don't control the money this requires.

Astrid Haas joins Kurtis Lockhart Africa Urban Lab & I to discuss urban finance.

When ethnic diversity helps development Ethnic diversity is often blamed for poor development outcomes. New evidence from colonial Peru shows that a history of economic exchange can sustain inter-ethnic cooperation and local trade in the long run.

🆕 When ethnic diversity helps development

Today on VoxDev, Miriam Artiles (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) discusses economic exchange and inter-ethnic cooperation in colonial Peru: voxdev.org/topic/institutions-polit...

Military cooperation across borders reduced violence in the Sahel Formal military cooperation between neighbouring states can reduce jihadist violence in border regions, as shown by causal evidence from the G5 Sahel Joint Force, which allowed armies to conduct joint operations and share intelligence across borders. However, high levels of civilian victimisation put these gains into perspective. Military cooperation alone cannot resolve deep-rooted conflicts; any benefits are contingent on institutional stability – a lesson made urgent by the subsequent collapse of the G5 framework following coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

🆕 Military cooperation across borders reduced violence in the Sahel

Today on VoxDev, Marion Richard (Nova SBE) & Oliver Vanden Eynde (Paris School of Economics) discuss how military cooperation can reduce jihadist violence in border regions: https://ow.ly/aLrV50YCb6P

🆕 The future runs through African cities

900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. This unprecedented urban transition is a defining development challenge of our time.

Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) is joining Ideas in Development for 7 episodes on cities 🧵

Why ‘billions to trillions’ has failed to attract investment in infrastructure New estimates of the social rates of return on investment in road infrastructure in emerging market and developing economies highlight substantial unrealised gains from redirecting advanced-economy savings towards public investment in developing countries.

🆕 Why ‘billions to trillions’ has failed to attract investment in infrastructure

Today on VoxDev w/ Anusha Chari (UNC), Peter Blair Henry (Hoover Institution), Yanru Lee & Pablo Picardo (Banco Central del Uruguay): https://ow.ly/1lNP50YBCRl

Africa's urban century with Kurtis Lockhart YouTube video by VoxDev

In Episode 1, we discuss the scale of what's coming, why urbanisation looks different in Africa & more.

Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
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Read: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/the-future...
YouTube ⤵️

🆕 The future runs through African cities

900 million people will be added to African cities by 2050. This unprecedented urban transition is a defining development challenge of our time.

Kurtis Lockhart (Africa Urban Lab) is joining Ideas in Development for 7 episodes on cities 🧵

Interested in understanding the economics of ongoing global conflicts, especially in developing countries? Here are 3 recent @voxdev.bsky.social articles you should check out👇

Cloudy with a chance of no clouds: Why weather forecasts are worse in low-income countries Weather forecasts in low-income countries are about 20 years behind those in high-income countries, worsening economic losses and increasing vulnerability to climate-related risks.

🆕 Cloudy with a chance of no clouds: Why weather forecasts are worse in low-income countries

Today on VoxDev w/ Manuel Linsenmeier (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt) & Jeffrey Shrader (Columbia | SIPA): https://ow.ly/vrhb50YAviw

There is no randomising a technological revolution Development economics needs to step up.

There is no randomising a technological revolution

On my Substack, I've written about why development economics needs to step up on the big questions in AI, what that might look like & what some of the big questions actually are.

Keen to hear your thoughts! olihanney.substack.com/p/there-is-n...

Modern industrial policy: The Asian miracles’ blueprint for developing economies Industrial policy, a powerful tool for economic development in the ‘Asian Miracles’, was based on the three key principles: promoting sophisticated export-oriented industries, fostering innovation and...

🆕 Modern industrial policy: The Asian miracles’ blueprint for developing economies

Today on VoxDev, Reda Cherif (IMF) & Fuad Hasanov (IMF) discuss principles of industrial policy for economic development: voxdev.org/topic/macroe...

I'm worried that the conversation on AI & jobs is missing the real 'patient zero' of job loss from AI.

Fiverr-style service jobs in countries like Pakistan (e.g. logo design, basis coding etc.) seem particularly & imminently at risk, as @umarsaif discussed on the podcast ⤵️

AI policy, data, sovereignty, and what tech ministers actually need to do Umar Saif on why data and politics, not technology, are the real bottlenecks to AI in developing countries, and why the rush towards sovereign AI capacity may be a costly distraction.

Read: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/ai-policy-...
Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-I0...
Listen wherever you get your podcasts - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...

🆕 AI policy in developing countries

Being a technology minister right now is hard. The information space is overwhelmed with contradicting policy recommendations, timelines are uncertain & the geopolitics are messy.

This week Umar Saif joined Ideas in Development, links ⤵️

Gender and development: 36 insights from research What do we know about the challenges faced by women and girls worldwide, and what can we do about them? Evidence from 18 developing countries helps elucidate this.

Interested in research on gender but don’t know where get started?

Here are over 36 insights from @voxdev.bsky.social on the challenges faced by women across 18 developing countries in the workplace, school, household, and with fertility and norms.

+ research gaps!

voxdev.org/topic/gender...

Can providing information reduce risky migration? In Guinea, providing information about the risks of migration journeys corrects overly optimistic beliefs and significantly reduces irregular migration intentions and behaviour among young people, without discouraging regular migration.

🆕 Can providing information reduce risky migration?

Today on VoxDev, giacomo battiston (ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin), Lucia Corno (Università Cattolica) & Eliana La Ferrara (Harvard) outline an informational intervention on the risks of irregular migration in Guinea: https://ow.ly/qkJp50YuBUZ

AI and development economics: Early evidence and how to keep up I have been (trying) to keep track of the latest AI-related thinking and research that is relevant to low- and middle-income countries. It is hard to know where to look and what to trust, here are the...

🆕 AI & development economics: Early evidence + how to keep up

I have updated my VoxDev blog collecting the best resources on AI relevant to development economics, organised by evidence on impacts and different use cases: voxdev.org/topic/ai-and...

AI Agents for Economic Research YouTube video by VoxDev

We are live with Aniket Panjwani on using AI agents for economic research.

The Zoom webinar has maxed out at 500?! So join us here: youtube.com/live/YPv9Bqw...

Why graduates struggle to find jobs in West Africa Educated unemployment in urban West Africa stems from educated workers rationally waiting for scarce, high-paying public and formal private jobs in labour markets characterised by severe hiring frictions. Policies that reduce private-sector hiring costs, rather than expanding public employment or subsidising self-employment, are most effective at lowering unemployment and raising welfare.

🆕 Why graduates struggle to find jobs in West Africa

Esther Mirjam Girsberger (UTS) & Romuald Méango (Department of Economics, University of Oxford) discuss how educated workers wait for scarce jobs in labour markets characterised by severe hiring frictions: https://ow.ly/ECcK50YsK0e

In 1925, hybrid corn came online in the US. It yielded ~20% more/acre, but by 1933 it was on just 0.1% of US corn acreage.

It took another drought in 1936 to move Iowa farmers, Europe didn't follow until the 50s, and global adoption is still patchy.

Could AI look the same?

The Present and Future of Industrialisation YouTube video by VoxDev

What factors are shaping current and future paths of industrialisation? Do these paths differ from the historical experiences of advanced economies?

We are live! youtube.com/live/rX2dcat...

🆕 AI, India & the future of service-led growth

This week on Ideas in Development, @deenamousa.com and I were joined by Raghuram Rajan to discuss India's growth prospects in the age of AI.

Listen to Ideas in Development wherever you get your podcasts, links below ⤵️

Eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed. The new generation of malaria vaccines provides a highly cost-effective way to realise these benefits.

Read today's article to learn more:

Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis Eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed. The new generation of malaria vaccines provides a highly cost-effective way to realise these benefits.

🆕 Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis

Today on VoxDev, Minki Kim (Economics department, University of Mannheim.) discusses how eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed: https://ow.ly/JWuR50YrINw