Global Development: Views from the Center

Evaluation Agency Created by CGD Shares “Best in Aid” Award

William Savedoff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:29:04 +0000

AidWatch – the brainchild of noted aid critic (and former CGD fellow) Bill Easterly – has given its Best in Aid Grand Prize to the “Smart Giving movement,” nominated by Saundra Schimmelpfennig of the blog Good Intentions are Not Enough. AidWatch included the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) as part of this “Smart Giving [...]

Birdsall tells Congress Haiti Needs More than Aid—and More Flexibility from Congress Itself

Sarah Jane Staats — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:59:33 +0000

The U.S. response in Haiti must be about more than aid, CGD president Nancy Birdsall told Congress this week. She urged members of Congress to push for better trade and migration policies—in addition to more flexibility with our assistance efforts—to help Haiti rebuild after the earthquake. In her testimony before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on [...]

A Development Perspective on China’s Currency – And a Fresh WTO Solution

Lawrence MacDonald — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:10:16 +0000

My colleage Arvind Subramanian published an intriguing Op-Ed in the Financial Times this week. In “The Weak Renminbi is Not Just America’s Problem” Arvind notes that the undervalued Chinese currency is a global problem that requires a multilateral response. He then argues persuasively that neither the United States nor the IMF can be expected to [...]

A New CGD Initiative on U.S. Development Strategy in Pakistan: What Is It and Will It Work?

Nancy Birdsall — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:15:27 +0000

This is a joint post with Molly Kinder. At CGD, we normally conduct research and analysis on development issues (trade, aid effectiveness, climate change, global health), not developing countries. Pakistan is an exception. Motivated by national security interests, the Obama administration is poised to triple its development assistance to Pakistan. The effectiveness of this new U.S. [...]

Why a Careful Evaluation of the Millennium Villages Is Not Optional

Michael Clemens — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:04:19 +0000

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is a new, large, experimental intervention to promote economic development in 13 clusters of small and very poor villages across Africa. It has been driven forward by Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world’s foremost economists, and today is a joint effort of Columbia University, Millennium Promise, and the United Nations. [...]

Truthiness and Justiness at the Haiti Debt Hearing

David Roodman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:20:48 +0000

When I was writing about third world debt a decade ago, I watched Jubilee 2000 and other debt cancellation campaigners pound their way to victory with simplistic claims about the importance of debt cancellation, such as that principal and interest payments were diverting enough government revenue from poor countries’ health budgets to kill 19,000 children [...]

Game Change: A Sudden Shift in the Global Climate Debate

David Wheeler — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:14:56 +0000

Last week, Saurabh Shome and I reported that India’s proposed massive investments in clean power will cost about $50 billion more than generating the same power with coal. As we note in our paper, Less Smoke, More Mirrors, India is considering such investments “despite the absence of any meaningful international pressure to cut emissions, no [...]

What We Talk About When We Talk About Development

David Roodman — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:30:54 +0000

You might know that I am writing a book about microfinance in public, via blogus. I’m working on the last chapter now, and that has me in a reflective mood. Here, I’d like to share one big idea that I discovered by writing the book. I am fired up about it, and I’d appreciate feedback [...]

Senators Link Trade Preferences to Development; Recognize Need for Improvement

Kaci Farrell — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:48:04 +0000

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing this week to discuss motivations and options for reforming U.S. trade preference programs. The session touched on how U.S. trade preferences affect developing countries, and questioned how they could be improved to reflect shifting global challenges. In their opening statements, Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member [...]

Mitch Smith Wins Trip to Africa with Nick Kristof!

Ben Edwards — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:57:39 +0000

This is a joint post with Katherine Douglas and Sandy Stonesifer. After three months, 893 applications, and a lot of effort by bright university students across the United States, New York Times columnist Nick Kristof selected Nebraska native Mitch Smith to join him on a reporting trip to Africa. Those of you who entered or follow the [...]