Featured Event & Videos
The sixth in the Global Empowerment Meeting series, GEM13 brought together 100 senior policy makers, business leaders, and development experts to discuss new strategies for accelerating growth and unlocking the potential of developing countries. Richard Thaler and Sendhil Mullainathan talked behavioral economics. Ricardo Hausmann and Robert Boyd led a panel on Harnessing Know-How. Larry Summers shared his thoughts on the global economy and fiscal debt. Banny Bannerjee and other design experts discussed innovative solutions for systemic global problems. Asim Khwaja, Nathan Nunn & David Yanagizawa-Drott discussed how beliefs and culture shape global prosperity. Marcela Escobari showcased the Atlas online and its new features. MDGs and poverty were a hot topic for Vuk Jeremic, Nancy Birdsall, Homi Kharas and Lant Pritchett. Niall Ferguson examined the global economic situation from an historical perspective and Matt Andrews detailed the limits of institutional reform. Watch videos >> |
 Featured Publication
New research by Rema Hanna and Shing-Yi Wang reveals that college students who cheat on a simple task have a preference to work in government. The research is also predictive of fraudulent behaviors by real government officials. In a study involving more than 600 college students in Bangalore, India, those who cheated in a dice rolling game were 6.3 percent more likely to want government jobs. It also revealed that questioning students about corruption was ineffective in predicting their behavior. The research offers a key policy insight: government agencies could benefit by a recruitment and screening process that stresses character above ability. Read more | Media coverage
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 Featured Publication
Uganda has been a public sector reform leader in Africa. It has pursued reforms actively and consistently for three decades now, and has produced many laws, processes and structures that are 'best in class' in Africa (and beyond). The problem is that many of the reforms have been limited to form instead of function - producing new institutions that perform poorly and yield limited impact. Data shows that in areas such as civil service and public administration, public financial management, revenue management, procurement, and anti-corruption, laws are often not being implemented, processes are poorly executed, and there is insufficient follow-up to make sure that new mechanisms work as intended. This research paper by Matt Andrews and Lawrence Bategeka suggests government should reframe its reform agenda to address these limitations and close the implementation gap between what Uganda's system looks like and how it functions. Read more >>
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 Featured Book
Why do successful people get things done at the last minute? Why does poverty persist? Why do organizations get stuck firefighting? Why do the lonely find it hard to make friends? These questions seem unconnected, yet Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir show that they are all examples of the psychological reaction to scarcity. Drawing on cutting-edge research from behavioral science and economics, Mullainathan and Shafir show that scarcity creates a similar psychology for everyone struggling to manage with less than they need. Just as busy people fail to manage their time efficiently for the same reasons, the poor and those maxed out on credit cards fail to manage their money. Read more | Video
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