VoxDev Development Economics

In India, tests intended to evaluate overall student achievement, soon to be rolled out nationally, suffer from massive grade inflation - even though no children or teachers are rewarded or punished based on the results. Ahbijeet Singh tells Tim Phillips why this happens and how we can collect more reliable administrative data in future.

A structural transformation means workers moving to cities for good jobs, or better living conditions for their families, maybe also having smaller families. But these decisions are not made independently: new research examines the trade-off that we make between migration and fertility, and suggests that China's migration and one-child policies may not have been the boost to economic growth that policymakers wanted.

Entrepreneurs in developing countries need access to finance, education, and better institutions. But do they need more marketing? Stephen J Anderson of the University of Texas tells Tim Phillips about an experiment in Uganda that suggests that the answer is yes for both the entrepreneurs, and for economic growth.

There are 420 million young people in Africa today, but 140 million are unemployed, and another 130 million are underemployed or in working poverty. What type of interventions will help them in their search for a good job? Anna Vitali and Imran Rasul tell Tim Phillips about a multi-year experiment in Uganda that reaches some surprising conclusions.

In many conflict situations, should winning hearts and minds be the priority? Information operations are an essential part of military strategy, but so far there have been few systematic evaluations of how well they actually work. Using a new source of data Austin Wright tells Tim Phillips about the success of one such operation in Afghanistan.

Policy to increase tax compliance in developing countries often focuses on enforcement, and that's difficult, unpopular, and costly. Are there other ways to encourage small businesses to pay tax that may be easier and cheaper? Isabelle Cohen worked with the Uganda Revenue Authority to implement a method that raised six times what it cost.

India's caste system traditionally determined which occupation families chose. In modern India, does caste still influence someone's choice of job? Daniel Keniston tells Tim Phillips about the surprisingly complex relationship between caste, work, and India's economic development.

Satellite data from Indonesia shows the damage that out-of-control illegal forest fires, set by farmers to clear their land, do to other people's property and to the environment. Ben Olken tells Tim Phillips how we could reduce this damage by up to 80%.

Politicians can bribe their way to an election win, but in a democracy we throw them out if they perform badly afterwards. Or maybe not: Jessica Leight tells Tim Phillips that vote-buying emboldens corrupt politicians to steal more, and that voters who take the handouts are also less likely to hold them to account.

Low-income countries struggle to collect tax, hurting economic stability, raising debt levels, cutting growth, and gutting basic services. Abebe Shimeles of African Economic Research Consortium tells Tim Phillips about a successful experiment in Ethiopia that also demonstrates the problem of creating sustainable policies to increase tax revenues.