Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 2h

"Every American child is tested for this, so why isn't every British child tested too"

Excited for the new @laurahughesft.bsky.social @financialtimes.com podcast on lead exposure in the UK

open.spotify.com/episode/6M4H...

Introducing Untold: Toxic Legacy

Untold: Toxic Legacy · Episode

open.spotify.com

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · 5d

📆Oct. 15: Join CGD & the University of Chicago for a #AnnualMeetings event on lessons from research-policy collaborations that improved millions of lives.

Ft: @rglenner.bsky.social Michael Kremer, Muhamad Chatib Basri, Rema Hanna, Sasha Gallant, & Amanda Glassman.

RSVP:
https://bit.ly/4gUdUzO

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Jonathan Portes @jdportes.bsky.social · 6d

The Times finds it "unacceptable" that people who came here legally in 2021 and have been living and working here since should allowed to stay.

The sad decline of a once great newspaper into ignorant xenophobia and casual racism

archive.ph/TFZY9

There is a more pressing issue. Ministers must ensure that the vast numbers of immigrants who arrived in the so-called Boriswave of 2020-21 are not automatically absorbed into the permanent population. They are about to cross the the five-year threshold into ILR, yet Labour continues to dither. Ms Mahmood must freeze the status of this huge cohort while a new residency regime is finalised. A million or more extra permanent residents in these islands, let in on the nod, is simply unacceptable. Finally, the home secretary must acquaint herself, and the public, with an accurate estimate of the actual number of foreign nationals living here, what taxes they pay and what services they consume. Without hard data, all the political parties are fumbling around in the dark.

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 6d

It's crazy that egg donation is illegal in Germany www.kickstarter.com/projects/163...

Documentary: No, I'm Not the Mother

Sana travels from Germany to Canada to donate her eggs to a gay couple - an act of solidarity illegal in her home country.

www.kickstarter.com

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 6d

"75% of children aged 2 to 4 worldwide are regularly subjected to violent discipline across the globe." openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/pub...

Open Knowledge Repository

Showing items related by metadata.

openknowledge.worldbank.org

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 7d

Não sou especialista na situação específica do Brasil, mas, em geral, há muitas outras fontes além dessas, como a reciclagem de baterias de chumbo-ácido e esmaltes de chumbo em cerâmica tradicional. www.pureearth.org/our-projects...

Brazil - Pure Earth

Read about our projects in Brazil.

www.pureearth.org

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 7d

New estimates of the global cost of lead exposure due to reduced IQ range from $780 billion to $4.9 trillion

www.nature.com/articles/s43...

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · 7d

Despite evidence that letting pregnant girls stay in school doesn’t raise teen pregnancy rates, Catholic schools in the Congo have imposed a ban.

@daveevansphd.bsky.social & @leecrawfurd.bsky.social warn of the costs: worse employment, wellbeing & more. Read on:
https://bit.ly/3Kq77lm

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...

bit.ly

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 8d

This is inexcusable incompetence

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Athena Kugblenu @athenakugblenu.bsky.social · 9d

imagine being a consultant doctor here and having to go out litter picking to be given your citizenship lol

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Shabana Mahmood to demand migrants earn right to settled status

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Dan Sohege @danielsohege.bsky.social · 8d

Migrants already "earn the right to settlement" through extortionate visa costs, which can run into tens of thousands of pounds. They prop up key services, including through the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Pushing the hostile environment on steroids helps no-one.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mahmood demands migrants earn right to settlement in UK

New tests will include learning English to a high standard, paying National Insurance and not claiming benefits.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 9d

Other approaches include the OECD's "Country Programmable Aid" & @cgdev.org 's "Finance for International Development"

www.cgdev.org/publication/...

Finance for International Development (FID): A New Measure to Compare Traditional and Emerging Provider Countries’ Official Development Finance Efforts, and Some Provisional Results

In this working paper we present a new indicator—Finance for International Development (FID)—that attempts to fill this gap by measuring in a comparable way the flows of official, cross-border concess...

www.cgdev.org

Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 9d

Another call for better aid reporting. Axel Dreher says we should distinguish & report separately on:

1. Humanitarian aid
2. Global public goods
3. Development aid

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

www.sciencedirect.com

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 11d

Great to see that the UK Development Minister is reading @cgdev.org NRF @kopalo.bsky.social & Stefan Dercon fabians.org.uk/publication/...

Promising development | Fabian Society

Fabian Society

fabians.org.uk

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · 12d

In which @adamserwer.bsky.social makes a useful distinction between "chickenshit" and "cowardice." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Lower Than Cowards

The surrender of America’s elites

www.theatlantic.com

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 12d

The York park my kids play in was built with profits from Rowntree chocolate, that came in part from slave labour. @jrf-uk.bsky.social today works on poverty in the UK. It should do more to address the legacy of slavery in Africa from which it benefitted.

leecrawfurd.substack.com/p/why-the-jo...

Why the Joseph Rowntree Foundation needs to address its historic links to slavery

This piece is maybe a little too parochial for the CGD blog where most of my writing goes, and is gated on the Yorkshire Post, so re-posting here for all those of you both interested in historical lin...

leecrawfurd.substack.com

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Nancy Birdsall @nbirdsall.bsky.social · 12d

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...

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

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

David Evans @daveevansphd.bsky.social · 12d

Catholic schools in the Congo ban pregnant girls despite evidence that pregnancy rates don't rise when those bans are lifted. www.cgdev.org/blog/catholi... by @leecrawfurd.bsky.social and me

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 12d

"The Big Returns to Early Investments in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy"

Join us in DC (or online) Oct 17 2025 to discuss the latest evidence

with Jishnu Das, Jo Bourne, Jennifer Swift-Morgan, @daveevansphd.bsky.social

www.cgdev.org/event/big-re...

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Rob Yates @robyates123.bsky.social · 13d

Gordon Brown is right - health taxes are a great way to finance UHC reforms www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/w...

Health Taxes Are a Win-Win

Gordon Brown shows how levies on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary beverages could finance health spending and reduce disease.

www.project-syndicate.org

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 15d

Every time I talk with @mclem.org about the economics of immigration, I come away a whole lot smarter.

You can enjoy the same experience: He's written a fantastic primer on what the data reveals about the effect of slashing H-1B visas.

It's a banger. Read it.
www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

New US curb on high-skill immigrant workers ignores evidence of its likely harms

President Donald Trump on Friday ordered an unprecedented new restriction on lawful immigration to the US by high-skill workers. Starting Sunday, new applications for H-1B visas required payment of an...

www.piie.com

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 16d

There are important changes going on in our media environment that policy wonks need to get to grips with but also OMG

"Senior officials should be trained for “get ready with me” videos"

carnegieendowment.org/research/202... ht: @timhirschelburns.bsky.social

For Expertise to Matter, Nonpartisan Institutions Need New Communications Strategies

To avoid irrelevance when they are needed most, experts and nonpartisan analysts must rethink not just their channels of communication but also their theory of influence.

carnegieendowment.org

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Reposted by Lee Crawfurd

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 16d

Over the last century, many democracies have started down the road to autocracy.

Some managed to turn around. What did these 'U-turns' have in common?

Political economist @marinanord.bsky.social & colleagues' conclusions are clear and succinct.

Full research summary: www.v-dem.net/media/public...

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 18d

Striking difference in trust in the World Bank & IMF between Africa & Asia (high trust) and the rest of the world (low trust)

www.rockefellerfoundation.org/reports/dema...

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Lee Crawfurd @leecrawfurd.bsky.social · 18d

I'm optimistic about the long-awaited launch of IFFEd. It's hard to beat the returns on investing in children, so cheaper loans for middle-income countries to spend more now is probably a good bet

www.devex.com/news/moonsho...

‘Moonshot’ education finance facility aims to turn $1 into $7 in LMICs

The International Finance Facility for Education is finally up and running — and it’s “a smart aid approach,” according to its first CEO, Karthik Krishnan.

www.devex.com

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