This week we featured research on mining, preschools, caregiving, exporters, AI and more!
Can AI take off in Africa? In this week’s episode of Ideas in Development, Rose Mutiso joined Deena Mousa and Oliver Hanney to discuss the need for an energy and digital infrastructure revolution on the continent, and how to make it happen.
And in this week’s episode of VoxDevTalks, Dany Bahar and Giovanni Peri joined us to discuss the evidence on refugees’ economic integration, and which policies help most. In a new review, they assess which approaches have been tried, what works, and where major evidence gaps remain.
In this week’s episode of Economics Unpacked, we break down the economics of school feeding programmes. Drawing on evidence from Colombia and a review covering 25 countries, we speak with economists Biniam Bedasso and Fabio Sánchez on the long-term impacts of school meal programmes and education, university, incomes, health, and more.
Mines pollute their surroundings, including water flows. In Africa, Lukas Vashold, Gustav Pirich, Maximilian Heinze, and Nikolas Kuschnig outline evidence showing that plants and crops are less healthy downstream of mining sites, with the largest impacts in fertile, densely vegetated areas and regions dominated by gold mining.
Samuel Berlinski, Guillermo Cruces, Sebastian Galiani, Paul Gertler, and Fabian Gonzalez study the long-run effects of the expansion of pre-primary education in Argentina in the 1990s. They find that this substantially increased completed schooling, reduced fertility, and delivered high economic returns.
In Senegal, Thomas Thivillon shows that teenage girls spend less time on caregiving and complete more years of education after the death of an elderly household member, indicating that the burden of caring for dependent relatives affects girls’ schooling. This suggests that introducing or extending old-age social protection programmes designed to shift the burden of caring for the elderly away from adolescent girls should represent a policy priority for African governments.
Massimiliano Calì, Simón Caicedo Graciano, Devaki Ghose, and Angella Montfaucon outline research on Indonesian exporters during a major geopolitical shock – China's 2014–2018 currency depreciation – revealing that Indonesia's own import regulations, particularly non-tariff measures (NTMs) on inputs, significantly affected exporters’ ability to respond to the shock.
In India, Pulak Ghosh and Nishant Vats find that a guaranteed income programme acted as insurance rather than a substitute for credit, reducing downside risk for small farmers and increasing their willingness to borrow – unlocking large credit-financed gains in investment, productivity, and income.
Kibrom Abay, Lina Alaaeldin Abdelfattah, Hala Abushama, Oliver Kirui, Halefom Yigzaw Nigus, and Khalid Siddig evaluate the potential of digital cash transfers to support urban households grappling with active conflict in Sudan. They find that recipients of digital transfers were significantly protected and witnessed smaller reductions in food consumption scores and less severe experiences of food insecurity.
Mayara Felix and Michael B. Wong study a major reform in Brazil that made it much safer for firms to outsource ‘non-core’ services, such as security. They find that outsourcing expanded formal employment for young men, but this came at a cost for older guards in previously well-paid jobs.
Elsewhere in development:
- The programme for the CSAE's 2026 Conference is out now!
- The DIV Fund is back!
- Carlos Chavez on the history of causality in economics.
- David McKenzie on sector-targeted skills development as industrial policy.
- Jishnu Das has some advice for those applying to PhD's based on what he saw on last year's job market.
- Vishnu Venugopalan on how to move up the value chain.
- Rhishi Pethe on how Peru built scaffolding to become the leading exporter of blueberries.