Economic growth, industrial policy, cash transfers & more
This week in development economics at VoxDev: 27/06/2025
This might have been our busiest week at VoxDev yet, with two webinars, eight articles, and a podcast.
In case you missed the webinars, you can find recordings and summaries of these interesting discussions on our website: impact investment in global education and critical minerals and economic development in Africa. And we are excited to announce our next event will take place on July 10th, when Britta Augsburg, Andrew Foster and Molly Lipscomb will join us to outline the key policy takeaways from their forthcoming VoxDevLit on Sanitation Infrastructure. Register here.
Using a text-based approach to measuring industrial policy, Réka Juhász, Nathan Lane, Emily Oehlsen, and Verónica C. Pérez reveal that advanced economies are leading a global surge in industrial policy—the consequences of which developing countries must navigate.
Indonesia aims to be one of the world's five largest economies by 2045. Which policies can help the country propel to the high-growth levels necessary to achieve this goal? In this week’s episode of VoxDevTalks, Muhamad Chatib Basri, economist and former Finance Minister of Indonesia, discusses his experiences promoting the country’s economic growth and its current economic trajectory.
In Pakistan, private schools account for 45% of all primary enrolments. Tahir Andrabi, Jishnu Das, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, and Selcuk Ozyurt provide the first causal estimates of impact investments in private sector schooling—finding that these investments not only consistently improve the lives of children, but also generating financial returns for investors.
Christina Brown, Supreet Kaur, Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, and Heather Schofield demonstrate that promoting sustained effortful mental activity in Indian primary schools markedly improved student cognitive and educational outcomes across a wide range of subjects.
Despite the potential of solar power in sub-Saharan Africa, many rural households opt for low-quality solar products due to lack of affordability and information. In Senegal, Aidan Coville, Joshua Graff Zivin, Arndt Reichert, and Ann-Kristin Reitmann show that third-party certificates and warranties increase willingness to pay for high-quality solar lamps by 12–14%.
Can discretion in corrupt bureaucracies reward talent? Shan Aman-Rana examines whether discretion in promotions enables senior officials to reward ability or favour social ties. Evidence from Pakistan’s civil service suggests merit can prevail—when incentives align.
In Uganda, Jörg Ankel-Peters and Julian Rose present follow-up evidence from a cash grant programme conducted 12 years prior, finding that impacts partly reappear during crises and shedding light on the challenges of long-term RCTs.
In Sierra Leone, Kevin Grieco, Abou Bakarr Kamara, Niccolo F. Meriggi, Julian Michel, and Wilson Prichard show that digital participatory budgeting can increase government legitimacy in weak states but only increases tax compliance for supporters of the incumbent government.
In Brazil, Yuri Barreto and Rodrigo Oliveira find that the witches’ broom disease decimated cocoa plantations, resulting in disrupted livelihoods, altered labour contracts, and reduced educational and earnings outcomes in the long term.
Elsewhere in development, on foreign aid:
GiveWell’s CEO and co-founder, Elie Hassenfeld, speaks with Principal Researcher Alex Cohen discuss forecasting the future of global health funding.
Eduardo Porter writes that the retreat from aid is a costly mistake.
Project Resource Optimisation has partnered with Founders Pledge and The Life You Can Save to leverage the Rapid Response Fund and direct dollars where they are most needed.
And there is this list of Urgent and Vetted Projects in need of funding.
On the Center for Global Development:
CGD Podcast: Climate Finance in an Era of Uncertainty with Rachel Glennerster, Dirk Meyer and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos.
Charles Kenny asks: Is China Unfairly (Dis)Favored at the World Bank?
Caroline Mallory and Lee Crawfurd summarise what we're learning about lead.
Elsewhere:
Peter Evans joined the fantastic Flywheel Economics podcast to discuss the politics of the future of aid.
On the economics that really matters podcast, a macro dev focused interview with Kristina Manysheva.
James Abdey on how to master data visualisation for impactful storytelling.
Ken Opalo writes about the Kenyan economy under William Ruto’s presidency.
Jevgenijs Steinbuks and Mathilde Lebrand on why maintenance matters when rebuilding roads and peace.
Recordings: 80th Economic Policy Panel meetings on Conflict and Development; the 2025 Africa Evidence Summit; AI in Tax Administration; and Financing Firm Growth: The Role of Capital Markets in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.
Submissions open for the Autumn 2025 season of the Webinar Series in Finance and Development (WEFIDEV).
On IFC by Dilek Aykut: Push for Efficiency and Tech Upgrades May Counter Falling Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Economies.
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