This week we featured research on India's dying firms, global capital flows, mental health and more...
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Earlier this week we announced our forthcoming VoxDevLit on Organised Crime and Development. Register here to join Senior Editors Santiago Tobón and Maria Micaela Sviatschi at the launch event on September 11th.
High institutional and regulatory barriers make it unusually costly for manufacturing firms to exit in India. Shoumitro Chatterjee, Kala Krishna, Kalyani Padmakumar, and Yingyan Zhao demonstrate how this discourages entry, keeps inefficient firms afloat, and lowers productivity.
Why doesn’t global capital flow to where it’s most productive, in developing countries? Bruno Pellegrino, Enrico Spolaore, and Romain Wacziarg discuss how removing barriers to global capital allocation could increase global GDP while narrowing inequality between nations.
In Ghana, Belinda Archibong and Francis Annan find that providing low-income adults with small, regular mobile communication credits significantly reduced mental distress and domestic violence during COVID-19.
In this week's episode of VoxDevTalks, Johan Swinnen and Purnima Menon discuss IFPRI’s landmark 2025 Global Food Policy Report, reviewing 50 years of progress and setbacks in global food systems.
Digital connectivity boosts export participation in developed countries by lowering trade costs for a wide range of firms, but disproportionately benefits only the most productive exporters in developing regions. Joël Cariolle, Jaime de Melo, and Michele Imbruno explain the implications for global trade inequality.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, heightened uncertainty made banks more risk-averse, leading to tightened credit conditions, despite their relatively strong fundamentals. Alex Rivadeneira, Rodolfo Oviedo, and Brenda Samaniego de la Parra find that the resulting negative credit supply shocks had sizable adverse effects on employment and firm survival, highlighting that policies limited to liquidity provision may be insufficient without mechanisms – such as credit guarantees – to counteract heightened risk aversion.
When firms expect little help from the state, they over-adapt to shocks at the cost of long-term growth. Maha Rehman presents evidence on Pakistan following the 2005 earthquake.
Elsewhere in development:
- On Data for India, Ishan Deodhar and Abhishek Waghmare summarise and visualise India's manufacturing hubs.
- David Pilling writes Africa must deal with a world of shrinking aid.
- On UC Berkeley's YouTube, Edward Miguel explains foreign aid in 101 seconds.
- David Jones outlines the first evidence of a take-off in solar in Africa.
- If you didn't know, Africa is misrepresented on the world maps - check out this video explainer by the Correct The Map Campaign.
- Mushfiq Mobarak in Financial Times via Yale EGC: "Living in remote areas shouldn’t be a death sentence".
Plus these exciting opportunities:
- The International Growth Centre are hiring a Head of Climate and Growth Initiative.
- CGD are hiring a Senior Fellow for a new initiative on Jobs, Firms and Growth.
Next week, we will be back with a series of articles on the economics of conflict.