GDI Lecture: Can technology solve global poverty with Rachel Glennerster
Listen or watch Rachel Glennerster, the Chief Economist of the Department for International Development, discuss whether technology can solve global poverty. Prior to her current role she was the Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a research centre in the Economics department of MIT.
Dr Glennerster discusses how technology has driven improvements in income and health in poor countries, why there is too little innovation designed to meet the needs of the poor, and the promise of the data revolution. read more…
Watch: participatory urban planning in action
In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, local SDI groups have played a critical role in making participatory planning a reality.
Dialogue on Shelter, the Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation, together with staff and students from the National University for Science and technology, and the Bulawayo city council have come together to map, plan and deliver improvements in 12 informal settlements.
GDI Lecture: wealth levels, wealth distribution and wealth inequality with Tony Shorrocks
Listen or watch Professor Tony Shorrocks, Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, Senior Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, and Director of Global Economic Perspectives Ltd, discuss wealth levels, wealth distribution and wealth inequality.
Drawing on the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2019, the lecture reviews the latest evidence on the level and distribution of household wealth, both within and between countries. It highlights the growing importance of China and other Emerging Market economies, which have taken over as the principal engine of global wealth growth in the post-crisis era. It also identifies and assesses the underlying factors which help explain the level and trend of global wealth inequality since 2000. read more…
The potential contribution of the co-production of research to urban transformation
Diana Mitlin, Professor of Global Urbanism, is leading new research which looks into the importance of participatory planning and the co-production of knowledge in urban transformation.
The latest paper, by sharing the experiences of the authors – as academics and professionals, highlights the importance of co-producing knowledge to improve urban development outcomes in the Global South.
Randomised experiments and global development
Dr Gindo Tampubolon, Lecturer in Poverty, Global Development Institute
On 14 October 2019 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. The trio include Duflo, the youngest laureate and only the second woman after the late Elinor Ostrom to have been awarded the prize. Jakob Svensson, an economist committee member, told journalists in Stockholm that randomised experiment method to development research which the laureates have been refining in economics is highly influential in efforts to tackle poverty around the world across many areas including income generation, education achievement, political participation and health behaviour. read more…
Digital financial inclusion in ten African countries: foregone digital dividends?
Dr Gindo Tampubolon, Lecturer in Poverty, Global Development Institute
The story of mobile money in Africa, such as Mpesa, is one of the success stories to have arisen from the continent in recent years. A World Bank report in 2016, featured mobile money services, together with innovations from other places, to illustrate how digital technologies are yielding digital dividends in development. Specifically, the report highlighted the prevalence of smartphones. With their spread, digital technologies are having a huge impact by enhancing inclusion, increasing efficiency and enabling innovation. read more…
GDI Lecture: Urban warfare: housing under the empire of finance with Raquel Rolnik
Listen or watch Raquel Rolnik, professor of Urban Planning at the University of São Paulo discuss her new book ‘Urban warfare: housing under the empire of finance’
In cities across the world the story is the same – housing is in crisis and increasingly available only to the wealthy. Models of home ownership that originated in the US and UK are now exported across the globe. Cities are being reshaped at a unprecedented rate, with gentrification and displacement a normal feature of 21st century urbanisation. All this was organised by those who stood to benefit most: construction companies and banks, supported by compliant governments. But how did we get to this place? And what can we do about it?
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In conversation: Raquel Rolnik discusses the financialisation of housing
In this episode, Raquel Rolnik talked to Tom Gillespie and Isaac Rose about the financialisation of housing and her new book ‘Urban Warfare: housing under the empire of finance’.
Raquel Rolnik is a professor of Urban Planning at the University of São Paulo. She was National Secretary for Urban Programmes of the Brazilian Ministry of Cities (2003–2007). From 2008 to 2014, she held the mandate of UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. Tom Gillespie is Lecturer in International Development at the Global Development Institute. Isaac Rose is a a campaign coordinator at Greater Manchester Housing Action.
New monthly newsletter tracking the latest developments of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Nick Jepson is a Hallsworth Fellow in Chinese political economy within the Global Development Institute at The University of Manchester. Later this year his book, In China’s Wake: How the Commodities Boom Transformed development strategies in the Global South, will be published by Columbia University Press.
In addition to his book, Nick writes a monthly digital newsletter which explores current affairs relating to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. read more…
In conversation: Rhys Jenkins discusses China’s economic involvement in the Global South
In this episode, Nick Jepson talks to Rhys Jenkins about China’s growing economic involvement in Africa and Latin America and his book ‘How China is Reshaping the Global Economy: Development Impacts in Africa and Latin America’
Rhys Jenkins is Professor of Development Economics at The University of East Anglia.
Nick Jepson is a Hallsworth Research Fellow in Chinese Political Economy at the Global Development Institute.