Center For International Development

A contemporary challenge is inequality, which is reinforced when it’s taken for granted. But, it can be disrupted when marginalised people gain self-esteem; challenge hitherto unquestioned inequalities; and gain confidence in the possibility of social change. These ideas are illustrated with ethnographic research from Latin America, where income inequality has recently declined. By highlighting some ways in which ideas matter, Alice Evans’ paper on Politicising Inequality: The Power of Ideas, seeks to persuade political economists to go beyond ‘incentives’. She suggests that future efforts to tackle inequality might harness the power of ideas: tackling ‘norm perceptions’ (beliefs about what others think and do); publicising positive deviance; and strengthening social movements. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Katya Gonzalez-Willette, Events and Outreach Assistant at CID, interviews Alice Evans, Associate at the Building State Capability program at CID and Lecturer at Kings College London, who provides

Today on CID’s Research Spotlight podcast, Ghazi Mirza, graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, interviews Professor Asim Khwaja, Co-Director of Evidence for Policy Design, who provides further insight on the work that he and EPoD are conducting, their “theory of change”, and the use of both quantitative and qualitative data to enrich their findings. // www.epod.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on October 22, 2018. About Asim Khwaja: Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Co-Director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) and co-founder of the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP). His areas of interest include economic development, finance, education, political economy, institutions, and contract theory/mechanism design. His research combines extensive fieldwork, rigorous empirical analysis, and microeconomic theory to answer questi

Since 2000, a large and complex global infrastructure has emerged to help finance public health improvement in low- and middle-income countries. These institutions have helped drive historic improvements in child survival, HIV mortality, and access to modern contraception—yet serious questions have arisen about their long-term sustainability, their effects on country-led health systems, and whether they create incentives that are misaligned with long-term public health impart. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Jason Keene, Masters in Public Administration and International Development student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Rachel Silverman, Assistant Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Global Development, gives us a brief overview of the current health financing architecture. She also discusses three “hot topics” in global health financing: fiscal and programmatic accountability and incentive models; strategies to “transition” countries away from re

On this week’s podcast, Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability program at CID and Tim McNaught, Building State Capability Fellow, have a conversation about the recently launched PDIAtoolkit. // download the PDIAToolkit at www.bsc.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on October 24, 2018. About the PDIAtoolkit: The PDIAtoolkit is designed to guide you through the process of solving complex problems which requires working in teams. We call it a Do-it-Yourself (DIY) kit, where the ‘you’ is a committed team of 4-6 people mobilized to work together to solve a complex problem that cannot be solved by one person. Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), is a step-by-step approach which helps you break down your problems into its root causes, identify entry points, search for possible solutions, take action, reflect upon what you have learned, adapt and then act again. It is a dynamic process with tight feedback loops that allows you to build your own solution to your problem that fits your l

The New Climate Economy’s (NCE) recently released their 2018 Report on Unlocking the Inclusive Growth Story of the 21st Century: Accelerating Climate Action in Urgent Times. The key findings of the report focus on five key economic sectors: Energy, Cities, Food and Land Use, Water, and Industry, as well as the cross-cutting issues of Finance and Just Transition. The report also highlights some examples of the low carbon transition taking root, as well as the economic and social benefits being reaped as a result. How can we work toward a sustainable development model that promotes economic growth and environmental change? Leonardo Garrido, Lead Economist at the New Climate Economy explains how countries can work towards better growth and better climate. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Nawal Qutub, graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, interviews Leonardo Garrido, who provides further insight on the work of the New Climate Economy. He also discusses their work on a Low Carbon D

Billions of dollars in cash payments are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and business transactions. The problem with these cash payments is their lack of transparency, accountability and security. Thanks to technology and connectivity, more people than ever now have access to mobile phones, the internet and cloud-based solutions. How can this digital revolution help us reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more quickly? Tidhar Wald, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations, explains how countries can begin to move away from cash. For the nearly two billion people excluded from the formal financial sector, the digitization of payments can open the door to a range of affordable financial services to help them save safely, seize economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Jason Keene, Masters in Public Administration and International

Since the end of the Second World War, the international rules-based system has been determined by developed countries with economic power who came together to form multilateral organizations like the United Nations. In today’s world, other nations with conflicting interests are challenging the foundations of the UN and this international rules-based system, making it difficult to reach consensus on pressing global issues like climate change, migration, terror, protectionism, and pandemics. How do we begin to repair this broken international rules-based system? Andrew Mitchell, British Member of Parliament and Former Secretary of State for International Development, discusses ways in which the UN can be adapted to today’s globalized society. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Anna Mysliwiec, Masters in Public Policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Andrew Mitchell who provides further insight on the deterioration of the international rules-based system and how the world can begin to r

The current exodus of Venezuelans has generated the largest migration crisis of its kind in recent Latin American history, as Human Rights Watch has pointed out in its most recent report. More than 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2014, according to the United Nations, and many others have left whose cases have not been registered by authorities. Venezuelans are fleeing their country for multiple reasons, which includes severe shortages of medicine, medical supplies, and food; extremely high rates of violent crime; hyperinflation; and thousands of arbitrary arrests, torture and other abuses against detainees. Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Nizar El Fakih, MPA/MC Mason Fellow candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch and a general expert on Latin America, who provides insight on this mass exodus and the current humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, and the role of the international community in this

On this week’s podcast, Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability program at CID, interviews Mark Moore, Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who will be teaching the new Building State Capability online course titled “Creating Public Value”. // www.bsc.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on September 13, 2018. About Mark Moore: Mark H. Moore is the Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations. His current primary focus is studying the processes that enable social innovation and change to occur in response to changing political, economic, and social conditions.

For over ten years, Venezuela has been plagued with a deep economic and political crisis that has also recently transpired into a humanitarian issue. In the past five years, GDP has gone down over 50% and hyperinflation is forecasted by the IMF to reach over 1,000,000% for this year, 2018. The economic downfall has also led to shortages in food, medical supplies, and other commodities nationwide. In their latest research paper: “Fool’s Gold: On the Impact of Venezuelan Devaluations in Multinational Stock Prices” Miguel Angel Santos, Dany Bahar, and Carlos Alberto Molina analyze how multinational companies with subsidiaries in Venezuela have been impacted by currency devaluations as the economic crisis worsened. Today on CID’s Research Spotlight podcast, Camila Lobo, CID Events & Outreach Manager, interviews one of the co-authors of this research paper, Miguel Angel Santos, who provides insight on the current economic crisis in Venezuela and what motivated them to delve into this research. Miguel Angel Sa

Many government policies and reforms fail in developing countries. Research at the Center for International Development’s Building State Capability program (or BSC) ties such failure to the tendency of governments to adopt external ‘solutions’ that do not fit their contexts and overwhelm their capabilities. The program believes that governments should build their capabilities by employing processes that empower their own people to find their way to solving their country’s real problems. They propose a process for doing this, called Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (or PDIA) and have been working since 2009 to explore ‘how to do’ PDIA practically, in the real world. This is the second of a series of interviews with the Building State Capability team – the PDIA in Practice Series, or PIPs, where they describe where the PDIA tools and ideas have emerged from, and how these ideas have taken shape. The previous interview covered their experience working with officials in Mozambique’s public financial manageme

Public organizations often have trouble implementing the policies and programs that will benefit the state and its constituents and the public sector in India is no exception. The perception of the state’s capacity to implement policy is often called into question so how can civil servants in India overcome the barriers they face to policy implementation? Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability Program at CID interviews Yamini Aiyar of the Centre for Policy Research, who provides first-hand details on culture within the public sector in India. Salimah and Yamini further examine India’s state capabilities and discuss remedies that could improve decision-making processes within the government. Yamini Aiyar is the President and Chief Executive of CPR - the Centre for Policy Research - one of India’s leading public policy think tanks. Her research interests are in the field of social policy and development. In 2008, Yamini founded the Accountability Initi

CID Student Ambassador Abeela Latif interviews Susan Scribner, Director of the Preparedness and Response Project at DAI. She discusses the risks that contribute to a pandemic, interventions to mitigate these risks, and how different government and non-government actors can contribute to pandemic preparedness and response. // www.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on April 20th, 2018. About Susan Scribner: Susan Scribner leads the Preparedness and Response project (P&R). P&R works in 16 countries in East Africa, West Africa, and Southeast Asia to support multisectoral collaboration through National One Health Platforms. These platforms strengthen countries’ abilities to prevent, detect and respond to pandemic threats. P&R facilitates countries in developing and maintaining National Preparedness and Response Plans to respond to public health events at the regional, national, and subnational levels. Prior to joining DAI, Susan worked for 17 years for Abt Associates. From 2007 to 2009, she was Chief of Part

Building State capability program Director, Salimah Samji, interviews Matt Andrews, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School on the first report of the PDIA in Practice Series. The Series will cover a few of the research engagements done by the Building State Capability program in the past 8 years, and detail what results emerged, what we learned, and what were the next steps for each of these engagements. The first report covers the team’s experience working with officials in Mozambique’s public financial management sector, between September and December 2009. Interview recorded on June 6th, 2018. // More about the PDIA in Practice Series: // https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/pdia-inform-budget-reform-mozambique About Matt Andrews: Matt Andrews is Senior Lecturer in Public Policy. His research focuses on public sector reform, particularly budgeting and financial management reform, and participatory governance in developing and transitional governments. Recent articles focus on forging a theoret

CID Student Ambassador Alexandra Gonzalez interviews Ricardo Hausmann, Director of CID and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at the Harvard Kennedy School. Ricardo discusses how he became CID’s director, our current work throughout the world, and what you can expect from future research. // www.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on April 23rd, 2018. About Ricardo Hausmann: Ricardo Hausmann is Director of the Center for International Development and Professor of the Practice of Economic Development at Harvard University. Previously, he served as the first Chief Economist of the Inter-American Development Bank (1994-2000), where he created the Research Department. He has served as Minister of Planning of Venezuela (1992-1993) and as a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela. He also served as Chair of the IMF-World Bank Development Committee. Hausmann was Professor of Economics at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administracion (IESA) (1985-1991) in Caracas, where he f

CID Research Assistant Sehar Noor interviews Ljubica Nedelkoska, Research Fellow at CID, who discusses the Growth Lab project in Sri Lanka and more specifically her research findings titled “Does Sri Lanka Need More University Graduates?” // www.srilanka.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on May 11th, 2018. About Ljubica Nedelkoska: Ljubica Nedelkoska joined the Center for International Development's Growth Lab as a Visiting Scholar in 2012 and as a Research Fellow in 2013. Before joining the CID, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher and a coordinator of the Economics of Innovation Research Group in Jena, and as a research fellow at the Zeppelin University, both in Germany. Her research area is empirical labor economics, with focus on human capital, human mobility, migration and diasporas, and skill-technology relations. By studying these topics, she aims to understand how economies change their skill portfolios through the processes of on-the-job learning, interacting with technologies,

CID Student Ambassador Patrick Hannahan interviews Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, Governor of the Central Bank of Paraguay, he discusses the challenges faced by Latin American countries in the new global context, what lessons they learned from the last financial crisis and the best policies to prepare for the next crisis. // www.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on April 23rd, 2018. About Carlos Fernández Valdovinos: Carlos Fernández Valdovinos was designated Governor of the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP) in October 2013 for a five-year period. He graduated from the Universidad Federal de Paraná (Federal University of Paraná – Curitiba, Brazil, 1990) and went on to study in the USA, obtaining a Master’s degree in Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1994. In 1999 he got his PhD degree from the University of Chicago. He has had a vast pedagogical experience and has taught at both national and international universities: Universidad Nacional de Asunción (National University of Asun

This week, CID Student Ambassador Emily Ausubel interviews Roberto Patiño, Founder & CEO of Caracas Mi Convive, and Thomas Abt, Senior Research Fellow at CID, they discuss the role of community-based organizations in preventing violence in Latin America, and on how scientific evidence can help to guide the process. // www.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on April 27th, 2018. About Roberto Patiño: Roberto Patiño is 29 years old, he is from Caracas, Production Engineer from Simón Bolívar University, a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University and a member of Primero Justicia. During his college studies, he actively participated in the student movement, being co-founder and coordinator of initiatives such as Votojoven and the Jota Movement. He was president of the Federation of USB Centers and coordinated La Fuerza Joven, youth movement of the presidential campaign of Henrique Capriles Radonsky in 2012. During his studies abroad he specialized in citizen security and undertook a research and consul

This week, CID Senior Research Fellow Thomas Abt interviews Daniel Mejia, Secretary of Security of Bogota, and Chris Blattman, Professor at University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Daniel and Chris discuss how they used and generated evidence for policymaking with regard to security interventions in the city of Bogota. // www.cid.harvard.edu // Interview recorded on April 6th, 2018. About Daniel Mejia: Daniel is Secretary of Security of Bogota, Colombia, where he is in charge of leading security and justice policies in the city of Bogota. Before becoming the first Secretary of Security of Bogota, Daniel was Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and Director of the Research Center on Drugs and Security (CESED) at Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia, where he taught since 2006. He received a BA and MA in Economics from Universidad de los Andes and a MA and PhD in economics from Brown University. Prior to joining Universidad de los Andes he worked as a researcher at the Cen

CID Communications Manager, Chuck McKenney talks to CID Research Fellows Sebastian Bustons and Tim Cheston about the recently released 2026 Global Growth Projections. These projections of annualized growth rates of 2026 are based on the latest 2016 trade data and CID’s measure of Economic Complexity, which captures the diversity and sophistication of productive capabilities in a country’s exports. Get CID's 2026 Global Growth Projections: http://atlas.cid.harvard.edu/rankings/growth-projections/ Interview recorded on May 2nd, 2018.