Featured image for “Which developing countries have managed to reduce income inequality and why?”

Which developing countries have managed to reduce income inequality and why?

October 27, 2020
The wheels of academia grind slowly, but eventually grind out some fascinating stuff. Five years ago, I was involved in a series of conversations about the need for research on the history of redistribution in developing countries. What can we learn from low/middle income countries that have actually managed to reduce inequality (a bit like Ha-Joon Chang’s work on trade
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Featured image for “Links I Liked (and not a single mention of the US election!)”

Links I Liked (and not a single mention of the US election!)

October 26, 2020
Mathiness ht Antony Green → I do like an academic paper that confirms my prejudices….. ‘Jargon isn’t a sign of expertise; it’s a signal of insecurity. Based on 9 studies: when people lack status, they resort to unnecessarily technical language in an attempt to look smart. When they have status, they’re more concerned with communicating clearly.’ And check out the
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Featured image for “Development Nutshell: audio round-up (14m) of FP2P posts, w/b 19th October”

Development Nutshell: audio round-up (14m) of FP2P posts, w/b 19th October

October 24, 2020
No excerpt
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Featured image for “Malawi is the only place where democracy has improved under Covid. 80 countries have got worse.”

Malawi is the only place where democracy has improved under Covid. 80 countries have got worse.

October 23, 2020
Blimey. You never know when a tweet is going to hit the spot and get a lot of retweets and likes. That’s what happened this week with a map I tweeted from The Economist, taken from an article entitled ‘The pandemic has eroded democracy and respect for human rights’ (gated). Quite a lot of questions and disagreement came in, so
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Featured image for “Open Access rocks – How Change Happens is four years old this week and OA has made all the difference”

Open Access rocks – How Change Happens is four years old this week and OA has made all the difference

October 22, 2020
It’s Open Access Week this week (what, you’d missed it?), which I generally use as an excuse to do my annual round-up of stats on How Change Happens, and make the case for OA books, not just journals. Bit of background. The book was published by OUP in October 2016. We negotiated open access from day one (download it here).
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Featured image for “5 Common Mistakes when NGOs start strategizing”

5 Common Mistakes when NGOs start strategizing

October 21, 2020
I’ve been having similar conversations in several places over the last couple of weeks, which usually triggers a post. People send me a draft strategy document and say ‘what do you think?’ I take a deep breath and launch in. Half an hour later they look a bit shell-shocked, but (these are NGOs after all), always say what a useful
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Featured image for “Voices from the pandemic frontlines: Health worker protests and proposals from 84 countries”

Voices from the pandemic frontlines: Health worker protests and proposals from 84 countries

October 20, 2020
Guest post by Jennifer Johnson for the Accountability Research Center The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented strain on health care systems around the world. Frontline health workers have faced great risks, from lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) to discrimination and harassment. Some face repercussions for whistleblowing or walkouts. This evolving situation has given rise to a new wave of
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Featured image for “Links I Liked”

Links I Liked

October 19, 2020
Special Michel Foucault edition of Monopoly ht Patrick Dunleavy Women’s Empowerment and Economic Development: A Feminist Critique of Storytelling Practices in “Randomista” Economics. Forensic critique of Esther Duflo’s narrative/use of ‘evidence’ from Naila Kabeer Political Economy Analysis: Useful fortnightly round-up from Abt Associates. Latest is set of PEA Case studies (grouped by level of analysis – global, regional, country, sector
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Featured image for “Development Nutshell: round-up (14m) of FP2P posts, w/b 12th October”

Development Nutshell: round-up (14m) of FP2P posts, w/b 12th October

October 17, 2020
No excerpt
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Featured image for “Beating the Drum – how do influencing networks get results?”

Beating the Drum – how do influencing networks get results?

October 16, 2020
My colleagues at Oxfam Novib have published a nice set of ‘stories of influencing networks’- the coalitions of organizations and individuals that come together to press for change in everything from global institutions to individual communities. Beating the Drum’s ‘journey backstage’ asked people intimately involved with 9 such stories to reflect on their choice of strategies, methods, their successes, failures
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Featured image for “Covid-19 as a watershed in how we run the world. Important reflection from Rutger Bregman”

Covid-19 as a watershed in how we run the world. Important reflection from Rutger Bregman

October 15, 2020
I’ve been catching up with my reading this week, and really enjoyed this essay (from May – sorry for the delay!). Bregman (a Dutch historian who became an overnight global sensation with this fine outburston taxes at Davos) is brilliant on the role of ideas in driving paradigm shifts. He uses my favourite quote from Milton Friedman ‘“Only a crisis
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Featured image for “Civic Freedoms and The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Snapshot of Restrictions and Attacks”

Civic Freedoms and The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Snapshot of Restrictions and Attacks

October 14, 2020
Civicus, the international network of Civil Society Organizations, has just put out a brief on the impact of the pandemic on protest and activism around the world. Some highlights (my summary in square brackets) [Civic activism hasn’t entirely stopped, but it has moved from mass mobilization to a greater emphasis on symbolism and imagination] ‘2019 was a historic year for
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