December 11-12, 2025, University of Manchester, UK.

With support from The University of Manchester’s Global Development Institute Journal of Development Studies Conference Fund

Keynote speakers: Ravi Kanbur (Professor of Economics, Cornell University) and Anandi Mani (Professor of Behavioural Economics and Public Policy, University of Oxford).

Development economics has come a long way from being at the margins of the economics discipline in the 1950s and 1960s to the point where the profession has been mainstreamed in economics departments. While the focus of development economics has been the study of poor countries, the distinction between development economics and economics in general is increasingly untenable, with the sharp decline in the number of countries in the low-income category, and the methodological convergence between development economics and economics as a whole in theory and empirics. What is distinctive about development economics? What is the rationale for it to remain a separate sub-discipline of economics?

In addition to these broader conceptual issues, three headwinds in recent times pose a significant challenge to the practice of development economics. Firstly, the recent cuts to ODA implies a shrinking resource base for development economics research, constraining the type of research that may be possible with limited funds. Secondly, with a clear re-orientation of foreign aid towards issues of national interest, and away from the earlier focus on poverty reduction world-wide, the priorities of donors may no longer be aligned with the research agenda of development economists. Thirdly, the fragmentation in the world trading system calls into question the standard recipe of export oriented industrialisation that development economists have conventionally offered to policy-makers as a route out of poverty. In light of these headwinds, what is the future of development economics? How can development economics remain relevant in contemporary times, both in academia and in policy communities?

The Growth and Distribution research group in the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, will hold a conference on 11th and 12th December 2025 to discuss the future of development economics. The conference will provide the venue for the launch of the UK Development Economics Association, and will bring together leading development economists from development studies and economics departments in the UK, policy makers and funding agencies and NGOs to debate the relevance of development economics in the UK today.

We invite researchers and practitioners to submit extended abstracts of 500 words or full papers in a wide range of topics in development economics linked to the conference theme.

Submissions on the following topics are particularly welcome:

• New methods and innovations in the theory and empirics of development economics.
• The implications of the fragmentation of the world trading system and the return of protectionism for developing countries, and for low income countries in particular.
• Alternate models of development for aid dependent countries in light of the recent cuts in overseas aid.

We also encourage submissions from PhD students and early career researchers based in the UK. We have some funds available for travel and accommodation.

Please send your extended abstracts or full papers to deveconconference_gdi@manchester.ac.uk by September 30, 2025 (decisions to be announced by October 15). For further questions, please contact the conference organisers using the email address above.

Top image by MART PRODUCTION

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