Andrew Fischer
@andrewmfischer.bsky.social
Prof at Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Chair of Development and Change @devandchg.bsky.social, Canuck in Europe.
Working on development economics, demography & social policy, Tibet & western China. Wrote Poverty as Ideology (2018) & other stuff.
Working on development economics, demography & social policy, Tibet & western China. Wrote Poverty as Ideology (2018) & other stuff.
Pinned
FORUM 2024: Development and Change: Vol 55, No 4
Click on the title to browse this issue
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ex-bird algorithms didn't seem to like me, so I'm reposting here:
@devandchg.bsky.social 2024 forum issue on the political economy of global #reparations is out, with an amazing line up of leading thinkers on this issue. A must read, as antidote to politics going in the opposite direction.
🧵(1/x)
@devandchg.bsky.social 2024 forum issue on the political economy of global #reparations is out, with an amazing line up of leading thinkers on this issue. A must read, as antidote to politics going in the opposite direction.
🧵(1/x)
Policy based evidence making.
RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."
October 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Policy based evidence making.
Given that the late Thandika Mkandawire was a massive inspiration for me, I am incredibly honoured to have been invited to give this memorial lecture and, now as the day approaches, also increasingly nervous about it.
tinyurl.com/Thandika-2025
tinyurl.com/Thandika-2025
September 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Given that the late Thandika Mkandawire was a massive inspiration for me, I am incredibly honoured to have been invited to give this memorial lecture and, now as the day approaches, also increasingly nervous about it.
tinyurl.com/Thandika-2025
tinyurl.com/Thandika-2025
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
This looks smashing
Epic article on Palestine by @rafeefz.bsky.social just published by @devandchg.bsky.social based on her keynote at the recent AHE conference.
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
This looks smashing
Epic article on Palestine by @rafeefz.bsky.social just published by @devandchg.bsky.social based on her keynote at the recent AHE conference.
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
September 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Epic article on Palestine by @rafeefz.bsky.social just published by @devandchg.bsky.social based on her keynote at the recent AHE conference.
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
"Development as Erasure: Palestine, Genocide and ‘Reconstruction’"
A must read!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
"Progressives" and "leftists": You must understand that we have urgent problems and the most important way to address them urgently is to saddle healthy young, productive women with 30 years of intensive parenting, and spend a million dollars each, so their kids can make a difference in the future!
August 29, 2025 at 6:46 PM
"Progressives" and "leftists": You must understand that we have urgent problems and the most important way to address them urgently is to saddle healthy young, productive women with 30 years of intensive parenting, and spend a million dollars each, so their kids can make a difference in the future!
Superb article by Adam Hanieh on renewables and fossil fuel capitalism in the Gulf states just out in @devandchg.bsky.social, as part of our forthcoming forum issue (the image shows a different issue).
doi.org/10.1111/dech...
doi.org/10.1111/dech...
Greening the Gulf? Renewables, Fossil Capitalism and the ‘East–East’ Axis of World Energy
This article examines the place of the Gulf Cooperation Council states in the global energy transition, with a focus on the recent and rapid expansion of renewable energy in the region. It argues tha...
doi.org
August 10, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Superb article by Adam Hanieh on renewables and fossil fuel capitalism in the Gulf states just out in @devandchg.bsky.social, as part of our forthcoming forum issue (the image shows a different issue).
doi.org/10.1111/dech...
doi.org/10.1111/dech...
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
In case you missed this piece on Friday (or want to be reminded that humanity is not facing imminent demise), here's your chance to learn why demographers aren't panicking about low birth rates.
Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions theconversation.com/fears-that-f...
Fears that falling birth rates in US could lead to population collapse are based on faulty assumptions
While the changes in population structure that accompany low birth rates are real, the impact of these changes has been dramatically overstated.
theconversation.com
July 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM
In case you missed this piece on Friday (or want to be reminded that humanity is not facing imminent demise), here's your chance to learn why demographers aren't panicking about low birth rates.
I think Eric doesn’t realise that populations will continue growing for most of our lifetime even after fertility falls below replacement.
And as long as there is massive room for increasing productive and decently paid employment in the Global South, fertility concerns are not relevant.
And as long as there is massive room for increasing productive and decently paid employment in the Global South, fertility concerns are not relevant.
This just isn't true. Far-right demographic panic definitely drives some natalist advocacy. But global fertility is on the cusp of falling below replacement.
Absent major gains in automation, this is going to be a major source of economic strain during our lifetimes.
Absent major gains in automation, this is going to be a major source of economic strain during our lifetimes.
June 11, 2025 at 3:12 PM
I think Eric doesn’t realise that populations will continue growing for most of our lifetime even after fertility falls below replacement.
And as long as there is massive room for increasing productive and decently paid employment in the Global South, fertility concerns are not relevant.
And as long as there is massive room for increasing productive and decently paid employment in the Global South, fertility concerns are not relevant.
Wonderful to have my research featured in the lead editorial of @theguardian.com, but only because the information is so important to share, about massive transfers of wealth out of Zambia.
They did an amazing job packaging it into 560 words in a way I could never.
@stillwatersrandeep.bsky.social
They did an amazing job packaging it into 560 words in a way I could never.
@stillwatersrandeep.bsky.social
The Guardian view on Zambia’s Trumpian predicament: US aid cuts are dwarfed by a far bigger heist | Editorial
Editorial: As the US decries corruption, a paper suggests the real scandal is multinationals legally extracting billions from Africa’s resource-rich nation
www.theguardian.com
June 10, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Wonderful to have my research featured in the lead editorial of @theguardian.com, but only because the information is so important to share, about massive transfers of wealth out of Zambia.
They did an amazing job packaging it into 560 words in a way I could never.
@stillwatersrandeep.bsky.social
They did an amazing job packaging it into 560 words in a way I could never.
@stillwatersrandeep.bsky.social
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
Andrew Fischer: We have detected massive outflows of private wealth over the past fifteen years, hidden away on an obscure part of Zambia's financial account. The outflows are most likely related to the large mining companies... developingeconomics.org/2020/11/24/h...
Haemorrhaging Zambia: Prequel to the Current Debt Crisis
Following a stand-off with commercial creditors and protracted but unresolved negotiations with the IMF, Zambia defaulted on its external sovereign debt on 13 November this year. Whi…
developingeconomics.org
June 5, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Andrew Fischer: We have detected massive outflows of private wealth over the past fifteen years, hidden away on an obscure part of Zambia's financial account. The outflows are most likely related to the large mining companies... developingeconomics.org/2020/11/24/h...
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
These people need to be told to leave if they don’t like it in First Nations territories.
May 25, 2025 at 2:10 PM
These people need to be told to leave if they don’t like it in First Nations territories.
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
Re-sharing this piece b/c one of the problems with pronatalism is that it sees women's reproductive labor as the only possible solution to issues related to population size and structure.
Too many people? Too few people? The intervention point is always women's reproductive labor.
Too many people? Too few people? The intervention point is always women's reproductive labor.
"I am curious to know why an economic dilemma, the kind you might expect to be tackled by corporations or governments or NGOs, is instead presented as a dilemma to be solved by uteruses." wapo.st/4cEcfeg
Perspective | Don’t pin the birth rate problem on the birth givers
A lot of women don’t want 2.1 kids. We need an economic model in which that’s okay.
wapo.st
May 21, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Re-sharing this piece b/c one of the problems with pronatalism is that it sees women's reproductive labor as the only possible solution to issues related to population size and structure.
Too many people? Too few people? The intervention point is always women's reproductive labor.
Too many people? Too few people? The intervention point is always women's reproductive labor.
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
"I am curious to know why an economic dilemma, the kind you might expect to be tackled by corporations or governments or NGOs, is instead presented as a dilemma to be solved by uteruses." wapo.st/4cEcfeg
Perspective | Don’t pin the birth rate problem on the birth givers
A lot of women don’t want 2.1 kids. We need an economic model in which that’s okay.
wapo.st
June 27, 2024 at 1:56 PM
"I am curious to know why an economic dilemma, the kind you might expect to be tackled by corporations or governments or NGOs, is instead presented as a dilemma to be solved by uteruses." wapo.st/4cEcfeg
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
On population collapse, @drjenndowd.bsky.social: "social engineering designed to change this unknown distant future is bound to fail, at potentially high human cost." jenndowd.substack.com/p/is-our-pop...
Is our population collapsing?
Throwing some cold water on "population panic"
jenndowd.substack.com
May 21, 2025 at 1:37 PM
On population collapse, @drjenndowd.bsky.social: "social engineering designed to change this unknown distant future is bound to fail, at potentially high human cost." jenndowd.substack.com/p/is-our-pop...
From @adamtooze.bsky.social Chartbook today, quoting Gavekal.
Did they actually to look at EM exchange rates when writing this?
MEX peso & BRA real both depreciated to USD in the last week. Slight appreciation of rand or rupiah, but nothing exciting & after sharp depreciation in case of rand.
Did they actually to look at EM exchange rates when writing this?
MEX peso & BRA real both depreciated to USD in the last week. Slight appreciation of rand or rupiah, but nothing exciting & after sharp depreciation in case of rand.
May 6, 2025 at 2:47 PM
From @adamtooze.bsky.social Chartbook today, quoting Gavekal.
Did they actually to look at EM exchange rates when writing this?
MEX peso & BRA real both depreciated to USD in the last week. Slight appreciation of rand or rupiah, but nothing exciting & after sharp depreciation in case of rand.
Did they actually to look at EM exchange rates when writing this?
MEX peso & BRA real both depreciated to USD in the last week. Slight appreciation of rand or rupiah, but nothing exciting & after sharp depreciation in case of rand.
The sad side of an otherwise good outcome (keeping Cons out). They got my vote but it was unfortunately in a safe liberal seat (this time), Laurier-Ste-Marie.
Good example: NDP candidate - the awesome Nima Machouf - was leading in polls from September to Trump, but then liberals surged.
Good example: NDP candidate - the awesome Nima Machouf - was leading in polls from September to Trump, but then liberals surged.
An emotional Singh steps down with NDP set to lose party status | CBC News
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh struggled to keep his emotions in check late Monday night as he took the stage at his campaign headquarters in Burnaby, B.C., to deliver the bad news: his fight is over.
www.cbc.ca
April 29, 2025 at 8:32 AM
The sad side of an otherwise good outcome (keeping Cons out). They got my vote but it was unfortunately in a safe liberal seat (this time), Laurier-Ste-Marie.
Good example: NDP candidate - the awesome Nima Machouf - was leading in polls from September to Trump, but then liberals surged.
Good example: NDP candidate - the awesome Nima Machouf - was leading in polls from September to Trump, but then liberals surged.
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
Reminder that the entire story of the election is NDP voters going Liberal. The Conservative base was unmoved and maybe even grew.
Poilievre could match or beat the vote share Harper got with his majority win in 2011 and still lose the election.
Ouf.
Ouf.
April 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Reminder that the entire story of the election is NDP voters going Liberal. The Conservative base was unmoved and maybe even grew.
So, at this point the liberals can govern with the NDP, which for me is always the ideal outcome of a Canadian election given the NDP can never win nationally.
April 29, 2025 at 6:16 AM
So, at this point the liberals can govern with the NDP, which for me is always the ideal outcome of a Canadian election given the NDP can never win nationally.
Trump’s kiss of death.
April 29, 2025 at 5:15 AM
Trump’s kiss of death.
Reposted by Andrew Fischer
Nice news to wake up to
Okay, the Moscrop Decision Desk is calling Carleton for Bruce Fanjoy.
April 29, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Nice news to wake up to
Tooze discovers Canada, in time for our election.
Not much to say beyond common knowledge that every Canadian learns in school.
Useful to add:
1. areas north of pop densities are mostly sub-artic (could have made a similar map with Scandinavia) &
2. how much difference a border makes!
Not much to say beyond common knowledge that every Canadian learns in school.
Useful to add:
1. areas north of pop densities are mostly sub-artic (could have made a similar map with Scandinavia) &
2. how much difference a border makes!
Chartbook 378: The anxiety of influence: economic geography, Canada and the USA.
Eyes around the world are on Canada and the election to be held tomorrow, Monday 28th April.
open.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Tooze discovers Canada, in time for our election.
Not much to say beyond common knowledge that every Canadian learns in school.
Useful to add:
1. areas north of pop densities are mostly sub-artic (could have made a similar map with Scandinavia) &
2. how much difference a border makes!
Not much to say beyond common knowledge that every Canadian learns in school.
Useful to add:
1. areas north of pop densities are mostly sub-artic (could have made a similar map with Scandinavia) &
2. how much difference a border makes!
This article aged badly, unless of course the implication is that the US didn't have "successful performance in terms of economic growth, control of corruption, peace and political stability, and public goods provision." Definitely not the 2nd or 4th, I'd say.
academic.oup.com/restud/artic...
academic.oup.com/restud/artic...
(Successful) Democracies Breed Their Own Support
Abstract. Using large-scale survey data covering more than 110 countries and exploiting within-country variation across cohorts and surveys, we show that i
academic.oup.com
April 28, 2025 at 10:13 AM
This article aged badly, unless of course the implication is that the US didn't have "successful performance in terms of economic growth, control of corruption, peace and political stability, and public goods provision." Definitely not the 2nd or 4th, I'd say.
academic.oup.com/restud/artic...
academic.oup.com/restud/artic...
Make Inquisition Great Again.
The Maga Catholics trying to take back control of the church
www.ft.com/content/8f3e...
The Maga Catholics trying to take back control of the church
www.ft.com/content/8f3e...
The Maga Catholics trying to take back control of the church
A growing number of Americans hope that Pope Francis’s death will mark a decisive conservative shift for the papacy
www.ft.com
April 26, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Make Inquisition Great Again.
The Maga Catholics trying to take back control of the church
www.ft.com/content/8f3e...
The Maga Catholics trying to take back control of the church
www.ft.com/content/8f3e...
Canadians beware.
Fortunately we do not have electronic ballot boxes that Musk can hack with Starlink.
www.ft.com/content/743c...
Fortunately we do not have electronic ballot boxes that Musk can hack with Starlink.
www.ft.com/content/743c...
Canadians bombarded with rightwing content on Musk’s X ahead of election
FT analysis finds network of social media accounts attacking Liberal leader Mark Carney
www.ft.com
April 26, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Canadians beware.
Fortunately we do not have electronic ballot boxes that Musk can hack with Starlink.
www.ft.com/content/743c...
Fortunately we do not have electronic ballot boxes that Musk can hack with Starlink.
www.ft.com/content/743c...