S1 Ep51: The effects of crime on jobs in Mexico
When drug-related violence exploded in Mexico, its effects were felt by everyone. Andrea Velásquez tells Tim Phillips how rising violence in Mexico City affected the willingness of people - especially women - to go to work.
18m Sep 06, 2021
18m
S1 Ep50: Reshaping gender attitudes in India
Children decide what's normal for girls and boys early in their development. Seema Jayachandran tells Tim Phillips how a program of discussions about gender equality at school can successfully change damaging attitudes to women's rights.
15m Sep 03, 2021
15m
S1 Ep49: Letting managers manage
If you want to succeed as a boss, business books tell you, you have to delegate. But we know less than you think about the impact of delegation on productivity and profitability. Namrata Kala of MIT tells Tim Phillips how some Indian SOEs decided to  let managers manage, giving us a new insight into the impact of managerial autonomy.
15m Sep 01, 2021
15m
S1 Ep48: The false promises of agricultural trials
Often we hear exciting news of crop yields from experimental trials, but then the gains don't show up in the real world. Rachid Laajaj tells Tim Phillips how a group of researchers solved this puzzle, and what this means for how we conduct trials in future.
23m Aug 30, 2021
23m
S1 Ep47: Public disclosure as a political incentive: Evidence from municipal elections in India
Councilors who thought performance reports would be published before an election invested more in infrastructure, with positive impacts on re-election Read “Public Information is an Incentive for Politicians: Experimental Evidence from Delhi Elections” by Abhijit Banerjee, Nils Enevoldsen, Rohini Pande, and Michael Walton here (https://economics.yale.edu/sites/default/files/delhivoter_shared-4_...
15m Feb 24, 2021
15m
S1 Ep47: The unintended impacts of formal credit programmes on social networks: Evidence from India
The introduction of financial institutions in communities may generate long-lasting externalities, including losses in informal social linkages Read “Changes in social network structure in response to exposure to formal credit markets” by Abhijit Banerjee, Emily Breza, Arun G. Chandrasekhar, Esther Duflo, Matthew O. Jackson, and Cynthia Kinnan here (https://www.nber.org/papers/w28365) .
15m Feb 17, 2021
15m
S1 Ep47: Learning-by-doing: Navigating financial technologies among Bangladeshi factory workers
How automatic payments can help individuals save more and better protect themselves against consumer risks Read “Learning to navigate a new financial technology: Evidence from payroll accounts” by Emily Breza, Martin Kanz, and Leora F. Klapper here.
18m Feb 02, 2021
18m
S1 Ep47: Is faster always better? Evidence from Mexico’s digital credit market
Access to fast cash through digital credit may put consumers at risk for over-indebtedness and likelihood of default Read “Too fast, too furious? Digital credit delivery speed and repayment rates” by Alfredo Burlando, Michael A. Kuhn, and Silvia Prina here (http://www.silviaprina.com/pdfs/BKP_2021_01_15.pdf) .
20m Feb 01, 2021
20m
S1 Ep46: Designing more effective interventions to prevent childhood stunting: Evidence from Nigeria
Bundling interventions that offer parents health information along with cash transfers might yield more sustainable changes in early-life health outcomes for children
25m Jan 27, 2021
25m
S1 Ep47: Designing more effective interventions to prevent childhood stunting: Evidence from Nigeria
Bundling interventions that offer parents health information along with cash transfers might yield more sustainable changes in early-life health outcomes for children Read “The impacts of a multifaceted pre-natal intervention on human capital accumulation in early life” by Pedro Carneiro, Lucy Kraftman, Giacomo Mason, Lucie Moore, Imran Rasul and Molly Scott here (https://www.iza.org/publicatio...
25m Jan 27, 2021
25m
S1 Ep46: Urban-rural gaps in the developing world: Does internal migration offer opportunities?
Policymakers might seek to address the frictions that prevent potentially beneficial migration to urban areas from taking place Read “Urban-Rural Gaps in the Developing World: Does Internal Migration Offer Opportunities?” by David Lagakos here (https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.34.3.174) . 
18m Jan 20, 2021
18m
S1 Ep46: Unintended consequences: How workfare programmes may fuel school dropouts in India
Workfare schemes, designed as an alternative to more traditional social benefit programmes, are increasingly popular in developing countries. India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), one of the world’s largest workfare programmes, has been celebrated for leading to increased wages in rural areas. Yet research by Bryce Millet Steinberg and Manisha Shah finds that the programme...
15m Jan 13, 2021
15m
S1 Ep46: How does shame and embarrassment impact social learning? Evidence from India
Social learning is an important part of how people gain knowledge to inform their decisions. Seeking new information from one’s networks or peers can, however, be inhibited by feelings of shame or fears of reputation loss. These inhibitory mechanisms have been the focus of extensive sociological research. In this VoxDevTalk, Benjamin Golub, discusses findings from his field experiment in rural ...
14m Jan 06, 2021
14m
S1 Ep46: Failure of frequent assessment: Evidence from India’s continuous and comprehensive evaluation programme
Continuous assessment programmes, which emphasise frequent evaluation over infrequent, high-stakes testing, are an increasingly popular way to improve student learning outcomes. In this VoxDevTalk, Jim Berry discusses his work with Harini Kannan, Shobhini Mukerji, and Marc Shotland in which the authors investigate the roll out of frequent assessment policies among a large sample of primary scho...
14m Dec 08, 2020
14m
S1 Ep45: Should electricity be a right? Evidence from India
A social norm in which people deserve access to electricity regardless of payment may actually be undermining efforts for universal access
13m Nov 25, 2020
13m
S1 Ep45: Technology as a tool for governance: Evidence from China
Technology can help governments monitor agent actions more efficiently and improve public welfare
14m Nov 11, 2020
14m
S1 Ep45: How does funding influence sectoral and geographic spread of NGOs?
NGOs compete for donor attention and funding; this can influence what they choose to focus on and lead to clustering around more attractive projects.
14m Nov 04, 2020
14m
S1 Ep45: Gender norms, rule of law, and female entrepreneurship in developing countries
Unless you have both relatively equal gender laws and decent rule of law, female entrepreneurship is very low
22m Oct 28, 2020
22m
S1 Ep45: The selection of talent: Experimental and structural evidence from Ethiopia
Financial incentives for job applicants can help firms attract high-quality candidates and also encourage those from disadvantaged backgrounds to apply
15m Oct 21, 2020
15m
S1 Ep45: Paying outsourced labour: Evidence from Argentina
Temp agency workers in Argentina receive 49% of the workplace-specific pay premia earned by regular workers in user firms
15m Oct 14, 2020
15m
S1 Ep45: Incentivising behavioural change: The role of time preferences
Bundling payment incentives over time is more effective in increasing effort among the impatient, relative to increasing payment frequency
14m Oct 07, 2020
14m
S1 Ep45: Do social structures affect the success of development policies?
Policy delivery agents perform better when working with members of their own social groups thereby affecting the efficiency of policy interventions
10m Sep 23, 2020
10m
S1 Ep45: Negotiating a better future: Experimental evidence from Zambia
Can we increase girls’ educational outcomes through endowing them with negotiation skills?
17m Sep 02, 2020
17m
S1 Ep45: Cities in the developing world
Should development economists focus more on analysis of cities?
21m Aug 26, 2020
21m
S1 Ep45: Breaking down access constraints faced by women: Experimental evidence from Pakistan
How can policymakers ensure high take-up rates for programmes designed to increase women’s economic empowerment?
22m Aug 12, 2020
22m
S1 Ep44: Pipe dreams: Enforcing payment for water and sanitation services in Kenya
Editors’ note: This podcast was updated on 25.08.2020  How can policymakers solve the problem of non-payment of utility bills while still maintaining access to water and sanitation services? In the developing world, urban settings often struggle to provide basic needs, including water and sanitation. Often, the challenge lies in the cost of the last mile between the main infrastructure and indi...
18m Aug 05, 2020
18m
S1 Ep44: Trade in developing economies
Why do trade barriers remain high in developing countries despite the significant potential to drive economic growth through trade? Advanced economies have mostly removed tariffs and other barriers to trade. By contrast, in many developing countries such barriers remain in spite of the huge potential to drive economic growth through trade. In this VoxDev talk, David Atkin and Amit Khandelwal di...
26m Jul 29, 2020
26m
S1 Ep43: Inclusive growth dividend: Reframing the role of income transfers in India
Many development economists have advocated unconditional cash transfers as a crucial tool for reducing poverty, especially during the present COVID-19 pandemic. In this VoxDev talk, Karthik Muralidharan discusses the effects of a small unconditional cash transfer for India’s development goals. He argues that an inclusive growth dividend, pegged at 1% of GDP and paid to all citizens, would have ...
29m Jul 15, 2020
29m
S1 Ep43: Does vocational educational training work? Experimental evidence from Mongolia
Existing economic literature has suggested that vocational training does not improve labour market outcomes for young people in developing countries. And yet, this might not necessarily be the case. In this VoxDev talk, Ofer Malamud discusses an innovative experiment that directly analyses the impact of untargeted, long-term, and formal vocational education in Mongolia. Fascinatingly, the resea...
12m Jul 08, 2020
12m
S1 Ep42: Reducing rates of child marriage: Experimental evidence from Bangladesh
Intuitively, we would assume that improving women’s economic empowerment would put downward pressure on the rates of child marriage. And yet in Bangladesh, this has not been the case. In this VoxDev talk, Erica Field discusses new research into why high rates of child marriage have persisted in Bangladesh in spite of improving women’s economic empowerment. The researchers find that dowry costs ...
23m Jul 01, 2020
23m
S1 Ep42: Poverty and depression: How improving mental health can help economic wellbeing
Across the world, countries under spend on mental health. This disparity is worse in developing countries owing to lower overall healthcare budgets and a higher burden of other health conditions. In this VoxDev talk, Vikram Patel discusses the channels through which living in poverty can impact mental health. He also emphasises how poor mental health can cause poverty, something that is often o...
19m Jun 17, 2020
19m
S1 Ep41: Incentivising bureaucrats through performance-based postings: Experimental evidence from Pakistan
Across much of the developing world, supervisors use posting locations to incentivise bureaucrats. Yet, this is often done informally, raising concerns over transparency and the impartiality of supervisors. In this VoxDev talk, Adnan Khan discusses the findings of an experiment in Pakistan that formalised incentives for tax collectors. This involved ranking the performance of bureaucrats relati...
15m Jun 10, 2020
15m
S1 Ep40: Social learning in agriculture: Experimental evidence from Malawi
Learning from people one trusts is a crucial way in which ideas travel across much of the developing world. However, harnessing this type of social learning to improve the lives of citizens remains elusive for policymakers in many developing countries. In this VoxDev talk, Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak discusses an innovative experiment in rural Malawi, analysing social learning and the adoption of mod...
20m Jun 03, 2020
20m
S1 Ep39: Does household electrification supercharge economic development?
UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) seven targets access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. At the country level we see a clear correlation between access to electricity and GDP per capita. And yet, the existing literature is sparse when it comes to residential electrification causing individual households to thrive. In this VoxDev talk, Edward Miguel discusses n...
20m May 27, 2020
20m
S1 Ep38: Cash transfers and the wider economy: Evidence from Kenya
Development economists and policymakers frequently compare the benefits and costs of conditional versus unconditional cash transfers. In this VoxDev talk, Dennis Egger discusses an experiment in which large unconditional cash grants were given to some people living in rural villages in Kenya. Existing research has shown that households who receive these transfers benefit immensely. However, the...
16m May 20, 2020
16m
S1 Ep37: How to protect the poor in the time of COVID-19?
In locking down large segments of society, governments across the world have a responsibility to support the poorest and most vulnerable. This applies to both developed and developing countries alike. In this VoxDev talk, Clement Imbert and Kate Orkin discuss the tools available to policymakers in developing countries that best mitigate the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society’s...
22m May 06, 2020
22m
S1 Ep36: Cushioning the effects of COVID-19 on the poor
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world’s most vulnerable into further hardship. Social distancing has meant that many in the developing world have seen their sources of income evaporate. In this VoxDev talk, Rema Hanna and Ben Olken discuss the need for rapid responses across the developing world to protect the poorest. Countries must build on the unique structures and programmes that they ...
18m Apr 29, 2020
18m
S1 Ep35: Migration and risk sharing: Evidence from Bangladesh
Rural to urban migration can improve the allocation of labour as rural workers migrate to the city where there are greater job opportunities. Yet, there has been little focus on the impact of this type of migration on those left behind. In this VoxDev talk, Professor Costas Meghir analyses the effect of incentivising rural to urban migration on informal insurance in rural Bangladesh. This type ...
12m Apr 15, 2020
12m
S1 Ep35: Alcohol and self-control: Evidence from India
In many developing countries, males in low-income jobs consume a lot of alcohol, which is bad news for them personally and also for their families; it makes them less productive at work, less able to plan for the future, and of course poorer. In this VoxDev Talk, Frank Schilbach discusses an experiment on alcohol consumption amongst 229 cycle-rickshaw drivers in India. The majority of the drive...
23m Apr 08, 2020
23m
S1 Ep34: Alleviating financial strain to drive productivity: Evidence from India
The mental strain of living in poverty undoubtedly causes a significant psychological load on the poor. Yet, policymakers and academics have often neglected the effect of such stress as a source of lower productivity amongst poorer workers. An innovative experiment in rural India targeted alleviating financial stress on short-term workers and fascinatingly, found a substantial increase in produ...
18m Apr 01, 2020
18m
S1 Ep33: Increasing sleep for the urban poor: Evidence from India
 Many researchers have suggested that increased sleep at night translates into improved working outcomes, such as higher productivity. But while these researchers have often focused on settings where sleep quality is high, workers in many developing countries suffer from low sleep quality due to factors such as noise, heat, and mosquitoes. In this VoxDev talk, Gautam Rao and Frank Schilbach dis...
20m Mar 25, 2020
20m
S1 Ep32: Taxation, civic culture and state capacity
Why do some countries have high rates of taxation and high compliance, while some failed states have neither?
28m Jan 08, 2020
28m
S1 Ep31: Mexico’s economic growth puzzle: A conversation with Santiago Levy
Why has economic growth stuttered in Mexico despite, on the face of it, implementation of sensible economic policies by successive governments? Since the 1990s, Mexican governments have done a lot right economically speaking. Inflation has been brought down and the economy stabilised, while exports have also flourished. And yet Mexico has struggled to translate this into significant economic gr...
20m Dec 04, 2019
20m
S1 Ep30: Multinational enforcement of labour laws: Evidence from Bangladesh
Can multinational buyers provide their suppliers in developing countries with incentives to comply with local labour laws?
21m Oct 23, 2019
21m
S1 Ep29: Lessons from Mexico’s poverty reduction programme
Why has the success of Mexico’s poverty reduction programme not been matched by similar programmes in other countries?
34m Oct 09, 2019
34m
S1 Ep28: Does research translate into policy? Evidence from Brazilian municipalities
How much do political leaders value academic research? Can this research change not only their beliefs, but also the policies they implement?
22m Oct 02, 2019
22m
S1 Ep27: The future of the World Bank: Why knowledge is power
The World Bank is making a shift from a lending function to a knowledge function. This will amplify the role of researchers in its work.
8m Sep 11, 2019
8m
S1 Ep26: The changing face of development: Backlash against globalisation
On our two year anniversary we asked a few experts to reflect over the last two years of development economics and discuss what they think have been the most important challenges and new evidence. In this VoxDev Talk, Penny Goldberg, World Bank Chief Economist, highlights the trend of becoming more inward looking, and the emergence of new and compelling evidence on how mobile people are when hi...
15m Jun 25, 2019
15m
S1 Ep25: The changing face of development: The elite capture of democracy
On our two year anniversary we asked a few experts to reflect over the last two years of development economics and discuss what they think have been the most important challenges and new evidence. In this VoxDev Talk, Daron Acemoglu, MIT, highlights the slide of democratic and broadly inclusive institutions.   Editor’s Note: This is part of our 2 year VoxDev anniversary series
21m Jun 25, 2019
21m
S1 Ep24: The changing face of development: The gap between macroeconomic policy and research
On our two year anniversary we asked a few experts to reflect over the last two years of development economics and discuss what they think have been the most important challenges and new evidence. In this VoxDev Talk, Bill Easterly, Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute, discusses the backlash against globalisation, and the importance and challenge of conducting research on macroe...
12m Jun 25, 2019
12m