VoxDev Articles
VoxDev articles feature development economics research that has been reviewed by our expert Editorial Board. All of our articles use accessible language, and focus on key takeaways and policy implications.
Most Popular Articles in 2025
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The ‘missing intercept’ problem with going from micro to macro
Many applied microeconomics papers conclude with a back-of-the-envelope calculation that scales their cross-sectional estimates to the aggregate level. These types of aggregate estimates are only valid under very strong assumptions due to the ‘missin...
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Electronic waste is a silent killer in West Africa
Evidence from Ghana and Nigeria shows that e-waste dumping is causing a health crisis, claiming the lives of newborns and infants living nearby.
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What broad lessons have we learned from 115 studies on unconditional cash transfers?
A meta-analysis of 115 studies shows that unconditional cash transfers have positive impacts on a range of key economic and social outcomes, including consumption, income, labour supply, and child health and education. Around 700 million people curre...
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Decentralising development: The economic effects of government splits
When Brazil let neglected districts break away and form new municipalities, peripheral areas gained services, jobs, and growth at no visible cost to the rest of the country.
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Natural disasters destroy more than homes – they scatter communities too
Evidence from Uganda suggests that natural disasters can reduce income and life satisfaction for years, especially when households are displaced without their social networks.
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Overburdened bureaucrats, not corruption, are delaying public benefits in India
Delays in public benefit delivery can harm societies' most vulnerable households, but making management-relevant information more accessible to the bureaucrats implementing these programmes can meaningfully improve delivery speeds.
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How violence against journalists reshapes the profession – and what gets reported
In Mexico, violence against journalists reduces media activity in the months following an attack and, in the long run, reshapes the profession towards younger and less-established reporters – with lasting implications for local government transparenc...
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Female labour force participation in Pakistan and the central role of norms
The majority of women in Pakistan do not access paid, formal work. They are trapped in low-productivity agriculture and the informal sector by social norms that impose heavy domestic burdens and stigmatise working outside the home. Effective policy m...
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How conflict shocks travel along food supply chains
Conflict disrupting transport routes in Somalia raises food prices and worsens household welfare in distant, peaceful markets, showing that the economic costs of violence travel far beyond the front line through supply chains. Aid strategies focused ...
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When empowerment raises incomes – and early pregnancies
A five-year randomised trial across Tanzania finds that entrepreneurship training delivered to young women before family obligations set in produces lasting income gains, but both economic and reproductive-health programmes unexpectedly increased ear...
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The benefits of financial support after job loss and why programme design matters more than we think
In January 2022, the US suspended Ethiopia’s eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, ending Ethiopia’s preferential trade access to the US market, and leading to a major increase in tariffs, the loss of key buyers, and, at some compan...
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Women, Life, Freedom: How the 2022 protest movement reshaped Iran
Iran’s 2022 protest movement, ‘Women, Life, Freedom’, revealed the extent of public support for women’s rights. The regime made no legal concessions, yet behaviour changed.