Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
development economist, president emerita Center for Global Development (@cgdev.org), hoping some of my Twitter followers move over to BlueSky
Nancy Birdsall is an American economist, the founding president of the Center for Global Development (CGD) in Washington, DC, USA, and former executive vice-president of the Inter-American Development Bank. .. more
Economics
57%
Sociology
17%
Commitment to Development Index | Center for Global Development
The Commitment to Development Index ranks 40 of the world's most powerful countries on their dedication to policies that affect more than 5 billion people living in poorer nations. Sweden leads this y...
www.cgdev.org
Sweden best. US worst of advanced economies. (SIgh). www.cgdev.org/cdi#/ @cgdev.org
Women Have Been Disproportionately Harmed by Trump Administration Aid, Migration, and Trade Policies
The first year of the second Trump administration has seen a broad assault on global flows of goods, services, finance, and people, with an outsize impact on low- and middle-income countries. As a sid...
www.cgdev.org
Well beyond Epstein: the harms to trafficked girls & women worldwide with Trump Admin cuts to "DEI/gender" programs: www.cgdev.org/blog/women-h.... Ths Charles Kenny @cgdev.org
"...the long game requires that the rest of us learn from this revolting era......how to constrain [the rich and powerful]." @rbreich.bsky.social substack...
Next week! Join CGD for our 10th annual Birdsall House Conference. Throughout the day, you'll hear remarks from Kehinde Ajayi, @rglenner.bsky.social, @charlesjkenny.bsky.social, Nancy Folbre, @nbirdsall.bsky.social, Todd Moss, Alexia Latortue, & more.
Happening Nov. 18:
https://go.cgdev.org/4p5V6k9
Happening Nov. 18:
https://go.cgdev.org/4p5V6k9
Come listen learn...what should be the "new course"?
Tough Times, Tough Choices: Charting PEPFAR’s Next Chapter While Safeguarding Its Legacy
The Trump administration and key congressional lawmakers are shaping a new US government approach to the future of PEPFAR, alongside other global health programs like malaria and tuberculosis. We prop...
www.cgdev.org
On Pepfar this is smart on the $$ and the politics, and full of ("compassionate", literally) wisdom. Read and see: www.cgdev.org/publication/...
Reposted by Nancy Birdsall, Caroline Krafft
Next week! Join CGD for our 10th annual Birdsall House Conference. Throughout the day, you'll hear remarks from Kehinde Ajayi, @rglenner.bsky.social, @charlesjkenny.bsky.social, Nancy Folbre, @nbirdsall.bsky.social, Todd Moss, Alexia Latortue, & more.
Happening Nov. 18:
https://go.cgdev.org/4p5V6k9
Happening Nov. 18:
https://go.cgdev.org/4p5V6k9
In 2025 We Showed Up: Notes on Resistance to the Regime
A young white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration an...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
My fellow Americans: Take heart. Resistance is everywhere, all the time. Thanks @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social www.meditationsinanemergency.com/in-2025-we-s...
Opinion | This Is What Democrats Must Learn From Mamdani’s Victory
www.nytimes.com
Mamdani's appeal to me (!) (via @davidwallace.bsky.social): "..in his real-life suit and smile, he looks the part of an eager-beaver student council president." www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
Reposted by Nancy Birdsall
In 2025 We Showed Up: Notes on Resistance to the Regime
Ayoung white woman in yoga clothes berating masked ICE agents in a parking lot this spring. A pope speaking up again and again for immigrants. Furious judges dressing down the Trump administration and...
www.meditationsinanemergency.com
I took inventory. It looked good.
Wonderful: "Mamdani on election night thanked Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties. Thanks @hcrichardson.bsky.social @mclem.org
Reposted by Ashish Arora, Michael A. Clemens, Justin Sandefur
www.aeaweb.org
Accessible to all! ...my paper in Journal of Econ Perspectives on World Bank's 1993 East Asian "Miracle" report ("Too Much A Product of Its TIme?") (www.aeaweb.org/full_issue.p...). @cgdev.org @mclem.org @arvind2011.bsky.social @justsand.bsky.social
Birth Announcement: A Sovereign Wealth Fund to Protect Tropical Forests
Luckily, good ideas have long half-lives. An idea developed here at CGD in 2018 to protect tropical forests forever (literally forever) will be born officially at COP30 in Belém. At a side meeting dur...
www.cgdev.org
On the long "pregnancy" and the imminent birth of the Tropical Forest Forever Facility: www.cgdev.org/blog/birth-a... @cgdev.org. I never lost hope....Thank you @lulaoficialbluesky.bsky.social
The Backlash Has Arrived: 6 Takeaways From a Good Night for Democrats
www.nytimes.com
Photo tells a story: Women were the driving force behind Abigail Spanberger's win in Virginia www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/u...
The large increase in steel tariffs under GW Bush did not cause an increase in steel-industry employment.
But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.
New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....
But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.
New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....
Long-run employment effects of Bush-era tariffs: When will they ever learn?
The World Bank Group Reorganization: A Retreat from Research Quality?
A recent PowerPoint presentation presents the outline for the institutional structure of “The WBG Knowledge Bank.” But a knowledge bank owes it to its stakeholders impartial and transparent considerat...
www.cgdev.org
Independent research at risk at the World Bank?!??!? Ouch/No! On why that's a bad idea: www.cgdev.org/blog/world-b... @eeshani.bsky.social @cgdev.org
Michael Clemens
@mclem.org
· 27d
The large increase in steel tariffs under GW Bush did not cause an increase in steel-industry employment.
But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.
New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....
But it did hurt the US industries that use steel to make things, reducing employment there long after the tariffs were gone.
New in @aeajournals.bsky.social —> doi.org/10.1257/pol....
Reposted by Nancy Birdsall
Indeed. Jen, the Post misses your thoughtful and well-written commentaries dearly. Your departure was the tip of the 'democracy dies on darkness' iceberg.
Trump’s Gilded Ballroom and the Fall of the American Republic
Tackiness and tyranny go hand in hand
open.substack.com
"Tackiness and tyranny go hand in hand": open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Oct 16
Gmail
Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.
mail.google.com
Bring a frog to No Kings protest and have some fun; (Trump hates being laughed at): wIsdom from Bill McKibben: mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?sh...
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Oct 10
To provide real-world evidence of aid cuts, CGD experts are using data on reported cholera deaths and US spending responses.
They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L
They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L
Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid
The United States—long the world’s largest provider of lifesaving assistance and the largest humanitarian donor to many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa—saw a sharp reversal in early 2025. ...
www.cgdev.org
The charts are terrifying. I hope someone is showing them to Rubio.
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Oct 10
Even Federal Court Judges Know the MAGA Justices are Out of Control
The Roberts Court makes obvious the need for serious reform
contrarian.substack.com
"No other country has true lifetime tenure for its justices, and for good reason". Too bad we do as the Roberts Court is "out of control". contrarian.substack.com/p/even-feder...
Reposted by Nancy Birdsall
Center for Global Development
@cgdev.org
· Oct 10
Cholera in Africa: Rising Deaths, Shrinking US Aid
The United States—long the world’s largest provider of lifesaving assistance and the largest humanitarian donor to many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa—saw a sharp reversal in early 2025. ...
www.cgdev.org
To provide real-world evidence of aid cuts, CGD experts are using data on reported cholera deaths and US spending responses.
They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L
They find elevated cholera mortality across Africa in 2025, but no corresponding aid response from the US:
https://bit.ly/4hmWV9L
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Oct 1
Who Bears the Burden? Tracking the Global Impact of Recent US Foreign Policy Shifts
Since January, the United States has adopted a range of foreign economic policies with negative impacts on the rest of the world, including higher tariffs on exports, taxes on remittances, and reducti...
www.cgdev.org
See what countries are most affected (negatively) by recent US policy changes. Impressive analysis with depressing result -- poorer countries lose out most. www.cgdev.org/blog/who-bea...
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 25
World’s oceans fail key health check as acidity crosses critical threshold for marine life
Scientists call for renewed global effort to curb fossil fuels as seven of nine planetary boundaries now transgressed
www.theguardian.com
Better go see coral reefs soon. Take photos for your children Oceans are failing. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by David K. Evans
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 25
Catholic Schools in the Congo Ban Pregnant Girls
Almost everywhere, girls who get pregnant in school are allowed to finish their education. Only five countries still have explicit bans or restrictions: Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kuwait, a...
www.cgdev.org
Please Pope Leo: speak to this foolish meanness. Sometimes it's embarrassing (and maddening) to be even a "fallen-away" Catholic: www.cgdev.org/blog/catholi...
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 24
Bill McKibben on Trump at the UN manages to be funny, sort of:https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/the-stupidest-speech-in-un-history?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=438146&post_id=174385635&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=jub32&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 24
The Kuznets Curve assumed falling inequality once structural transformation has peaked. But today, unforeseen headwinds—populism, climate damage, and more—complicate that path, especially for developing economies.
More from <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:epahg7qaiww4hby5eu3pmm2p" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@nbirdsall.bsky.social:
https://bit.ly/45DsCr4
More from <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:epahg7qaiww4hby5eu3pmm2p" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky-mention">@nbirdsall.bsky.social:
https://bit.ly/45DsCr4
Global Headwinds to Kuznets’ Low-Inequality Transformation: Plutocrats, Populism, and More
Kuznets’s prediction that inequality would fall after structural transformation faces major obstacles in today’s globalized economy, including tax evasion by elites, restrictions on labor migration, a...
www.cgdev.org
I like this representation of headwinds!
Reposted by Michael A. Clemens
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 20
The White House has chosen a truly extremist step that will kneecap American research and innovation.
It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.
It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.
Why is this horrible for Universities?
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
This Admin fears experts. I have think of colleagues/friends, now US citizens with US-born children, who are here thanks to those H1B visas.
Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
· Sep 20
A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants
You all deserved better.
www.theatlantic.com
Thank you to Bill Burns for his letter to US public servants in The Atlantic. Compelling on US best interests and full of the understanding and empathy the victims of Trump Admin/DOGE deserve. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
Michael Clemens
@mclem.org
· Sep 20
Why is this horrible for Universities?
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Just about everyone who isn't a citizen or green card holder already who's hired for a tenure track faculty position is hired through an H1B and then, after 3-5 years, applies for a green card.
This is literally "No more foreign professors can be hired"
Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
The White House has chosen a truly extremist step that will kneecap American research and innovation.
It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.
It is an additional bomb dropped on the US higher education system, illegally and recklessly, that will end up harming every Conservative and Liberal American.