VoxDev Development Economics

The podcast discusses the impact of global value chains on development, highlighting the positive effects on growth and poverty reduction. It explores the characteristics and roles of global value chains in the garment and coffee industries. The concept of incomplete contracts in global value chains and the role of foreign buyers in financing trade are also discussed. Market power in global value chains and the challenges faced by small producers are explored. The role of institutions in shaping trade transactions and the complexity of global value chains in various industries are examined. The podcast emphasizes the need for nuanced understanding and effective policy-making.

In developing countries, electricity is still mostly generated from fossil fuels. So how quickly can that change? And what policies are needed to speed innovation in renewables and the transition to using them? John Van Reenen of the London School of Economics and Mar Reguant of Northwestern talk to Tim Phillips.

We tend to discuss changes to the natural environment in big, global numbers. But the impact of those changes is felt in different ways by different people in different places. Tamma Carleton and Reed Walker talk to Tim Phillips about the inequality of environmental damage, and how more detailed data and analysis can help policymakers target their interventions.

Where there are no markets for clean air or drinkable water, can regulation step in? The latest lecture in the Bread-ICG lecture series on environmental economics explored the challenges of environmental regulation in developing economies. Rohini Pande and Nick Ryan talk to Tim Phillips.

When the state is weak, autocratic traditional chiefs control the provision of public goods. If they don’t have the technical skills that these tasks need, can delegation to technocrats or inclusive decision-making improve outcomes? Katherine Casey tells Tim Phillips about the results of an experiment in Sierra Leone.

Policies and commitments to tackle climate change emerge from global meetings and conferences. In our latest episode examining policy for environmental economics in development, Bard Harstad talks to Tim Phillips about how economics can help us make (and stick to) international commitments.

In future we’re going to have to cope with a more volatile climate, but how can we increase the resilience of the most vulnerable communities? An analysis of droughts in the US in the 1950s shows how the financial sector can help communities to adapt to large climate shocks – and what happens when credit is not available. Raghuram Rajan and Rodney Ramcharan talk to Tim Phillips.

In the second of our episodes examining policy for environmental economics in development, Seema Jayachandran and Ben Olken talk to Tim Phillips about how to reduce pollution and increase conservation, while protecting the livelihoods of the global poor.

In the first of a series of episodes that investigates policy for environmental economics in development, Kelsey Jack and Robin Burgess introduce the topic to Tim Phillips, and its implications for adaptation, natural capital conservation, and innovation. 

The study of institutions and political power is a strand of development research that in recent years has taught us a lot about – in the name of the famous book – Why Nations Fail, but also what improves their chances of success. James Robinson talks to Tim Phillips about what he and his fellow researchers have discovered, and which directions for future research are the most exciting. Photo credit: Jeremy Weate