Regions
The Results are in on Microfinance
A new survey by the Poverty Action Lab on the impacts of microfinance raises as many questions as it answers.
For Sri Lanka Another Battle Lies Ahead
Sri Lanka has finally defeated the LTTE and declared victory. But to secure the peace it may learn from the experiences of Palestine and India. Building a unified state will require the government to make some sacrifices too.
Introducing Global Health Ideas.org
Health policy and practice continue to be key issues on the development agenda. A short introduction to Global Health Ideas – a blog that has been following changes in that agenda and now has a new home.
Swine Flu Exposes Limits of Google Trends
Google Flu Trends generated excitement on the possibilities of tracking and predicting disease outbreaks. But the swine flu outbreak illustrates key limitations of this methodology, and also areas where it could be enhanced.
Lessons for India in America’s Academic Achievement Gap
The state of the US primary education system has important lessons for Indian policymakers. India’s goal should be to decouple educational performance from socioeconomic background. But this requires treating the problem of access to, not just quality of, education.
Solving Piracy: Break the Legitimacy
The fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia has reached a new stage, with a more muscular approach being propogated by the US. Yet, any such approach ignores past experience and the real exploitation of Somali marine resources by the international community. To find long-term solutions, addressing the root socio-economic causes is critical.
Economics and the Disregard of Reality
Two articles on economics from leading development economists, one from the last century and another from our times, show the state of economics and the direction it should take if it is to help solve our problems, rather than simply becoming an ideological battleground.
What Case for a Vulnerability Fund?
The WSJ promotes a World Bank proposal to create a new “vulnerability fund” for poor countries to offset lost remittances. But such a fund would do more harm than good. A better idea would be to just pay the migrant workers this money and let them send it to their home countries.
