In Pursuit of Development

While much of the success of the show is due to my fabulous guests, I am also lucky to have a wonderful team to assist me at the University of Oslo. I wish to in particular thank Kristoffer Ring, our IT guru, and Oda Fagerland, Bella Reid, and Eliska Sottova for research assistance and transcripts.My colleague Desmond McNeill, who was on the show earlier this year discussing the power of ideas and metaphors in international development policy, has invented a game which he calls “acronisation”. The game is designed to test your knowledge about international organizations and bilateral aid agencies. If you can identity 10 acronyms or more, Desmond would be delighted to receive an e-mail from you latest by the 11th of January. Please write to Desmond at: desmond.mcneill@sum.uio.noHappy holidays! Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Scandinavian countries are well-known for high standards of living and many people wonder about the origins of the welfare state model in Scandinavia and why it has worked so well. The features of the welfare state in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden typically include high state spending, strong universal public services, and relatively high equality in gender roles.But what explains the success of this model of development and how did these countries get to where they are today? These are some of the questions my guest – Harald Eia – tries to answer in a recent book co-authored with Ole-Martin Ihle. The book – The Mystery of Norway – discusses how Norway became one of the most prosperous countries in the world. It focuses on the relationship between wealth and happiness, and the power of civil society and trade unions in negotiating wages and a range of benefits. The book also highlights the important role played by The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration – popularly known in Norway by its acronym – NAV, which administers a third of the national budget through schemes such as unemployment benefit, work assessment allowance, sickness benefit, pensions, child benefit and cash-for-care benefit.Harald Eia is a sociologist and became a household name in Norway in the mid-1990s having starred in several hit comedy shows. He has since then been one of the country's most popular and well-known comedians. Key highlights Introduction - 00:52Is there a Norwegian model of development? - 03:18Origins and functions of the welfare state in Norway: 06:22Can money make you happy? 20:20Relative poverty in one of the world's wealthiest countries: 28:30Immigration: 35:13Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

While many Latin American states have experienced severe public-safety crises in the context of fiscal duress, elite engagement in state building has taken place in some countries but not in others. Why is that the case?In explaining the adoption of elite taxes for public safety, Gustavo Flores-Macías argues that the conventional crisis-centered explanations are insufficient. Whereas economic elites are generally reluctant to shoulder a greater tax burden, public-safety crises can soften this opposition – when they affect elites directly – and thereby open the door to negotiations with the government. However, the deterioration of public-safety conditions is not enough to elicit elite taxation. Rather, the resulting tax arrangement will depend on the strength of business–government linkages in the form of formal and informal collaboration mechanisms. When linkages are weak, elite taxation is likely to fail, if attempted at all. Stronger linkages will make elite taxation more likely.Gustavo Flores-Macías is a Professor of Government and Public Policy and Associate Vice Provost for International Affairs at Cornell University. His latest book is Contemporary State Building: Elite Taxation and Public Safety in Latin America. Twitter @Gustavo_F_M Key highlights Introduction - 00:52Contemporary state building in Latin America - 04.00Economic elites in Latin America – 12.34Elites as an obstacle to state building - 19.04Determinants of fiscal reforms and elite taxation - 25.46Differentiation of public safety from other public goods - 34.50Taxing elites, the El Salvador case - 46.50How to mobilise security tax for development and welfare – 52.26Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Ever wondered why the state in China is so powerful? Yasheng argues that Keju — the Imperial civil service examination — has historically maximized a specific type of knowledge in the minds of the population such as memorization. It also reduced the scope of, or eliminated, alternative ideas. Keju made the state all powerful. The state was able to monopolize the very best of human capital. And in doing so, the state deprived society access to talent and pre-empted organized religion, commerce, and intelligentsia. While it is China’s blessing, Keju is also a curse as it decimated society.Yasheng Huang is a Professor of International Management and Faculty Director of Action Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His forthcoming book, which will be published by Yale University Press, is The Rise and the Fall of the EAST: Examination, Autocracy, Stability and Technology in Chinese History and Today. Twitter: @YashengHuangKey highlights  Introduction – 00:52Recent protests in China – 03:15Protest strategies and logistical capacity – 13:25Why is the Chinese state so powerful? – 19:35The role of the civil service exam in China – 35:00Meritocracy and the Chinese bureaucracy – 47:15  Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Cash transfer schemes have grown in popularity in many parts of the world in the past few decades. Numerous studies find that cash transfer programs can be one of the most effective social protection tools at our disposal in the fight against poverty. There is now also growing empirical evidence of how cash transfers can provide quick relief during major economic crises. In addition to economic effects, they may change gender hierarchies and improve the position of women in local society, increase school attendance, and improve nutrition. It is therefore no surprise that cash transfer programs have been warmly embraced by many civil society organizations and international agencies. But is it all win-win? What works and what does not, and how can cash transfers be made even more effective as a tool for global development? Ugo Gentilini is an economist and the global lead for social assistance at the World Bank. He has worked extensively on the analytics and practice of social protection, including in relation to economic crises, fragility and displacement, and resilience and disaster risk management. He also writes a popular weekly newsletter and is my go-to-person on everything to do with social protection. In a new paper — Cash Transfers in Pandemic Times — Ugo combines analysis of large datasets with a review of about 300 pandemic papers, evaluations, and practical experiences and concludes with 10 lessons from the largest scale up of cash transfers in history. Twitter: @UgentiliniKey highlights  Introduction – 0.48 Definition and understanding of cash transfers – 3.46 Increased interest in cash transfers – 6.15 Evolution of conditional and unconditional cash transfers – 14.38 Challenges and benefits of cash transfers – 19.33 What works, cash transfers and in-kind transfers - 25.36 Logistical and structural challenges of cash transfers - 31.00 How the pandemic has changed cash transfers – 40.10 Cash transfers going forward and advice for the future – 43.42 Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Democracy is valued by many people because it enables us to achieve freedom and political equality in addition to numerous economic and social goals. But democracy also allows us to decide from time to time by whom we wish to be governed. Through elections, we can place in office those who we expect to like and also remove from office those we do not like.Adam Przeworski argues that the essence of democracy is that it processes in relative liberty and peace whatever conflicts that arise in society. And elections are the main mechanism by which conflicts are managed. This is because elections generate temporary winners and losers designated by specific rules. Elections peacefully process conflicts when the losers do not find their defeat too painful and if they expect to have a reasonable chance of winning in the future. This also means that the winners do not inflict too much pain on the losers and do not foreclose the possibility of being removed from office.Adam Przeworski is Emeritus Professor of Politics at New York University and one of the world’s foremost scholars on democracy. He has studied political regimes, democracy, autocracy, and their intermediate forms, the conditions under which regimes survive and change, as well as their consequences for economic development and income equality. His latest book is Crises of Democracy, where he discusses the political situation in established democracies, places this in the context of past misadventures of democratic regimes, and speculates on the future of democracy. Twitter: @AdamPrzeworskiKey highlights:Introduction - 0:44Definitions and understandings of democracy – 2:42The distinction between democracy and freedom – 11:15Democracy and minority rights – 17:54Income and democracy – 30:08Processing conflicts – 37:27The future of democracy in Poland  – 45:36 Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Global health organizations are mainly located in the global North and experts from low- and middle-income countries are underrepresented in global health leadership positions. Thus, it is unsurprising that there has been considerable criticism and heated debate on who should represent the underrepresented. According to our guest this week, it is crucial to ask: Who Speaks for Whom and About What?Professor Address Malata is the Vice Chancellor of the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). She trained to be a nurse and is former President of Africa Honor Society of Nursing and former Vice President of International Confederation of Midwives. She has previously served as principal of the University of Malawi’s Kamuzu College of Nursing and is the recipient of numerous honors both at home and abroad. Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Development is a gamble because success is not guaranteed when benefits materialize in the long-term and a host of factors may undermine elite positions. Some countries are able to settle on elite bargains that favour growth and development, and others are unable to reach such settlements.While elite bargains in China, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Ghana ended up being development bargains, the opposite was the case in Nigeria, DRC, Malawi and South Sudan. Stefan Dercon is Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department at theUniversity of Oxford, where he also directs the Centre for the Study of African Economies.His latest book – Gambling on Development: Why some countries win and others lose– draws on his academic research and his policy experience across three decades. Twitter: @gamblingondevKey highlights:Introduction - 0:55Bridging the gap between research and policy – 3:09Why a general recipe for development is not very helpful – 11:22Gambling for development: Key arguments – 28:38The future of foreign aid – 45:13 Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodInstagram: @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/E-mail: InPursuitOfDevelopment@gmail.com  HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

Issues with the global food system and the need for radical transformation. Global food security, inequitable distribution, and combatting food waste. The EAT-Lancet report on sustainable diets and upcoming commission. Pushback and misunderstandings surrounding the report. Shift towards vegetarian options and influencing policy. Importance of collaboration to tackle global food system challenges.

While there are millions of hostile rivalries around the world, only a fraction of these erupt into violence. It is easy to overlook the underlying strategic forces of war and to see war mainly as a series of errors and accidents. It is also easy to forget that war shouldn’t happen—and most of the time it doesn’t. Chris Blattman is a Professor at the University of Chicago in the Harris School of Public Policy. He is an economist and political scientist who studies violence, crime, and underdevelopment. His most recent book is Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace, which shows that violence is actually not the norm; and that there are only five reasons why conflict wins over compromise. Twitter: @cblatts Host:Professor Dan Banik, University of Oslo, Twitter: @danbanik  @GlobalDevPodApple Google Spotify YouTubehttps://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.com/ HostDan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/