Education has been a major driver of global growth and poverty reduction since 1980, accounting for nearly half of overall income gains – boosting productivity while reducing inequality and making public schooling a key engine of poverty reduction.

This week we featured research on electrification, dowry, famine, construction and more!

Education has been a major driver of global growth and poverty reduction since 1980, accounting for nearly half of overall income gains – boosting productivity while reducing inequality and making public schooling a key engine of poverty reduction.

The 1933 Soviet famine was not the inevitable result of poor harvests but of Stalin’s collectivisation and procurement policies, which disproportionately targeted Ukrainians and produced catastrophic,...

Cross-country measures of investment networks reveal how the structure of capital flows across sectors shifts systematically with development. This accounts for around one-third of global income disparities, with the payoff of policies shifting sectorial productivity depending critically on a country’s stage of development and its investment linkages.

The 1933 Soviet famine was not the inevitable result of poor harvests but of Stalin’s collectivisation and procurement policies, which disproportionately targeted Ukrainians and produced catastrophic,...

Cross-country measures of investment networks reveal how the structure of capital flows across sectors shifts systematically with development. This accounts for around one-third of global income disparities, with the payoff of policies shifting sectorial productivity depending critically on a country’s stage of development and its investment linkages.

Development economists are harnessing satellite imagery, mobile phone metadata, government tax records and even leaked documents to answer questions that were previously out of reach.

New data from India shows that parents often retain a share of dowry, which may enable sons to migrate for work, and provide a new role for dowry in modern times.

Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

Political elites don’t just govern, many also own businesses. In Mozambique, public office is often converted into private business capital, highlighting how political power can be a direct route to economic influence, both for office holders and their families.

New data from India shows that parents often retain a share of dowry, which may enable sons to migrate for work, and provide a new role for dowry in modern times.

COP30 comes with an ambitious agenda for advancing climate goals amid unprecedented global uncertainty. How can the economic evidence covered on VoxDev since COP29 – on biodiversity, agriculture, citi...