VoxDev Talks

Millions of people around the world have no access to sanitation. They defecate in the open, or in facilities where it's hard to avoid human contact, unavoidably spreading disease. One of the Sustainable Development Goals that you don't hear about so much is the call to end open defecation by 2030. What progress are we making, and what health improvements are we seeing so far? In the latest of our episodes based on J-PAL's policy insights, Karen Macours of the Paris School of Economics, also co-chair of J-PAL's Health Sector, tells Tim Phillips about how we can achieve this development goal, why it's not a quick fix, and the surprising results of research into the health benefits of improving sanitation. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/health/improving-sanitation-what-works-and-what-doesnt Read the Policy Insight on J-PAL: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/policy-insight/improving-sanitation-access-subsidies-loans-and-community-led-programs

We often talk about providing not just jobs, but decent jobs, in developing countries. But in many parts of the world, workers still have incredibly harsh working conditions. There have been interventions at the firm level to create safer workplaces, better health, higher job satisfaction. But have they succeeded? And, if these policies succeed in raising worker well-being, is there a cost or a benefit for the employer? In the latest in our collaborations with J-PAL to discuss their policy insights, Achyuta Adhvaryu, UC San Diego about their review of the research into worker well-being, the policies that encourage firms to improve it, and the outcomes for employees and employers alike. You can find the review here https://www.povertyactionlab.org/

A large proportion of economic activity takes place in the informal sector in every country, particularly in LMICs. Informality, and the lack of rights and protection that goes with it, affects the families who live in slums, the people who take off-the-books jobs, and the firms that choose to skirt regulations. It also affects the governments who want to increase the size of the formal sector – and the revenue they can collect from it. Gabriel Ulyssea of UCL and Mariaflavia Harari of the University of Pennsylvania are two of the editors of new VoxDevLit that examines what we know about the size of the informal sector and how it operates. They talk to Tim Phillips about the grey areas between formal and informal, and the limitations of policies that try to increase the size of the formal economy. Read the VoxDevLit here: https://voxdev.org/voxdevlit/informality

In 1981, 44% of the world's population were living in extreme poverty. By 2019, that number had fallen to 9%. This seems like a good news story, but how did it happen? Tom Vogl of UC San Diego is one of the authors of a paper called simply, “How Poverty Fell”. In it, they use surveys to track the progress out of poverty of individuals and generations, to discover whether this progress has been driven by individuals and families becoming less poor over their lives or by successive generations who are less likely to be born into poverty. Has the progress been driven by women in the workplace, by government support, or by the move out of agriculture? And, significantly, do those who move out of poverty stay in that position or, is it, as Tom tells Tim Phillips, “Like climbing a slippery slope”? Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/methods-measurement/how-has-global-poverty-fallen Read the paper: https://econweb.ucsd.edu/~pniehaus/papers/how_poverty_fell.pdf

In the latest episode of the collaboration between Yale's Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, host Catherine Cheney is asking one of the most complex questions in global development: how can the clean energy transition move forward quickly and equitably, particularly for low- and middle-income countries still grappling with poverty? There is a balance between emissions reductions and economic growth. While wealthy nations historically contributed the most to climate change, LMICs are now under pressure to take costly action to avoid it. Catherine is joined by Max Bearak of the New York Times, Jessica Seddon of Yale Jackson School and the Dietz Family Initiative on Environment and Global Affairs, and Anant Sudarshan of the University of Warwick and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/climate-capital-and-conscience-who-will-pay-global-energy-transition

The Graduation approach to helping people to escape from poverty was pioneered in 2002 by BRAC in Bangladesh. Today the approach is used around the world. In more than 20 years, what have we learned about how it works, when it works best, and how to implement it at scale? Shameran Abed, the Executive Director of BRAC International talks to Tim Phillips about how the Graduation approach reaches people that other programmes miss, why it works, and how it can be scaled up to meet needs around the world. Read the full show notes The BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

Multinational enterprises in every industry are shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions. These corporate tax havens reduce tax revenues everywhere, but that hits hardest in developing countries where corporate taxes are a larger part of the overall tax take. The International Growth Centre has published a policy toolkit report into corporate tax havens. Ludvig Wier, the author, explains to Tim Phillips how profit shifting works, how a global initiative is reducing the allure of tax havens, and how AI might level the playing field for overstretched developing country tax offices. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/public-economics/profit-shifting-global-challenge-hitting-developing-countries-hardest IGC Policy Toolkit: Corporate tax havens and their impact on development

Vocational training is often seen as a silver bullet for unemployment and poverty, but does the evidence support that view? Why do so many training programs fail to lead to real job opportunities, and are we asking too much of these programs – or maybe the wrong questions entirely? In the latest episode of the collaboration between Yale's Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, host Catherine Cheney is joined by Oriana Bandiera, professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, Stefano Caria, professor of economics at the University of Warwick, and Munshi Sulaiman, Director of Research at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development and a professor in the Master of Development Studies program at BRAC University, to ask what it takes to make job skills programs work.

A fundamental part of women's economic empowerment is helping women who want to work outside the home to find and keep a job. A major part of that decision is ensuring that they can travel to work without fear of stigma, harassment or violence on public transport. In Pakistan, a study set out to discover whether an offer of safe commuter transport would tempt women who are currently not looking for a job. Kate Vyborny of the World Bank spoke to Tim Phillips from Lahore, where the study took place, about the challenges women face in commuting to work and about how safe transport can change career opportunities for millions of women. Photo credit: ADB Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/infrastructure/how-safe-transport-could-unlock-womens-labour-force-participation-pakistan

How does rising external debt in low-income countries affect the natural capital that sustains our livelihoods? A new paper focuses on three river basins that are vital to the livelihoods and biodiversity of the countries that surround them, suggesting ways that we can both measure and conserve that natural capital in the face of the economic forces that threaten it. Pushpam Kumar of UN Environment Programme talks to Tim Phillips about the alarming rise in the ratio of debt to natural capital for the 21 countries whose wealth relies on the river basins that they border, and how debt-for-nature swaps may be our best hope of avoiding both an economic and ecological disaster. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/debt-leading-unsustainable-exploitation-natural-resources

Geopolitical alliances are changing rapidly. Technological innovation is reshaping our economies. These trends offer a cocktail of risk and reward for countries in the global south. They are also both topics that are familiar to Simon Johnson of MIT. Simon speaks to Tim Phillips about how policy in developing countries should respond to President Trump's deglobalization agenda, how artificial intelligence changes the future for all countries, and where growth and jobs will come from in the future. And of course, what it was like to win the Nobel Prize. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/geopolitics-ai-future-global-development-conversation-simon-johnson Sahel and West Africa Club: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/directorates/sahel-and-west-africa-club.html Power and progress: https://shapingwork.mit.edu/power-and-progress/

Civil war – the latest in a long series of armed conflicts – broke out in Sudan in April 2023. Today, more than half of the population needs humanitarian aid, and almost 15 million people have been displaced. The war has also devastated the digital infrastructure in Sudan, deepening the crisis. African Renaissance Ventures is a VC firm that backs entrepreneurs who use technology to solve major development challenges. Magdi Amin tells Tim Phillips about how its infrastructure might be restored, and the risks to Sudan's population if it is not. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/rebuilding-sudans-digital-infrastructure-amidst-conflict

Bangladesh's development story in the 21st century is often regarded as a model of resilience and progress. But on 5 August 2024, student-led protests and public unrest caused Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, to resign and flee to India. An interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, took over. Six months on, Bangladesh's political and economic future is unclear. Imran Matin, Executive Director, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), is one of the experts in Bangladesh who are attempting to discover and communicate a clearer picture of the country's present – and its options for the future. He talks to Tim Phillips about how evidence-based policy can give the country a path forward.

With populist politicians taking power around the world, policymakers are relying less on research and expertise, as their political narratives prioritise emotion and identity over facts. This may have long-term consequences for global development: not least in the US, where the Agency for International Development has been dismantled, with thousands of staff laid off. Critical development programs have been halted, and the future of US foreign assistance is in limbo. In the latest episode of the collaboration between Yale's Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, host Catherine Cheney asks Rory Stewart, former UK Secretary of State for International Development, Stefan Dercon of the University of Oxford and formerly chief economist of the UK Department for International Development, and Trudi Makhaya, former economic advisor to the President of South Africa, how we can ensure that facts and evidence still matter in policymaking. Check out the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/development-dialogues-future-evidence-based-policymaking-and

What are the price impacts of cash transfer programs? Do they raise prices as well as incomes? And what is the impact on people in the community who don't receive the transfer? Eeshani Kandpal of the Center for Global Development is one of the researchers who has investigated this topic. She talks to Tim Phillips about the conclusions of her own research, the insights of other economists, and the implications for policy.

How does a healthy ecosystem benefit humanity? How does the normal functioning of the economy impact natural habitats and animal populations? And what are the costs and benefits of conservation? Eyal Frank of the University of Chicago works at the intersection of economics and conservation. He speaks to Tim Phillips about how economic growth often has a hidden environmental cost. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/economics-ecosystems-how-nature-and-economies-interact

The Reducing Conflict and Improving Performance in the Economy (ReCIPE) programme, established in April 2024, aims to provide a better understanding of the links between conflict, economic growth, and public policies. One of its many themes is on what happens post-conflict: peacemaking, peacebuilding, and reconstruction. Salma Mousa and Lisa Hultman, theme leaders, talk to Tim Phillips about why peacebuilding must always be both bottom-up and top-down if it is going to work.

Published this week: the latest VoxDevLit covers microfinance. After many decades, microfinance is pervasive and popular in developing countries but is often controversial. What have we learned about what works, how it works, and who it helps – and what is there still to understand? Authors Simon Quinn, Muhammad Meki, and Jing Cai talk to Tim Phillips about the problems of evaluation, the surprising uses to which microfinance has been put, and the lessons that policymakers can learn from the story of microfinance so far. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/finance/what-have-we-learned-about-microfinance Read and download the VoxDevLit from our new look website here: https://voxdev.org/voxdevlit/microfinance

In 2018, “Unorthodox policies for unorthodox times” was the title of the first in a series of blogs published by the International Growth Centre. The authors argued that the environment for development had changed, and so development policies should change too. Seven years on, as delegates gather in Davos for the 2025 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, how prescient was the analysis in these articles, and what does this mean for future growth policy? Tim Dobermann and Francesco Caselli talk to Tim Phillips about which “unorthodox policies” the delegates to Davos should be discussing this week. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-can-countries-develop-their-economies-changed-world

Many development economists would argue that the most important innovation of the last two decades has been a commitment to use only rigorous evidence for policy, and usually what they mean is evidence generated by RCTs. But are systematic reviews of the results a useful guide to policy? And should development economics continue to be focusing so much on the programmes that flow from RCT- driven research? Lant Pritchett of LSE talks to Tim Phillips about the nature of “rigorous” evidence in development economics, and the future of the discipline itself. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/rethinking-evidence-and-refocusing-growth-development-economics

For more than 30 years, optimists about technology have been telling us that the internet is transforming our economies. What is the evidence that this has happened, or is happening, in low- or middle-income countries? And if the promise has not been fulfilled, why not? Lin Tian is one of the authors of a new paper that examines the evidence so far. She talks to Tim Phillips about what the research is telling us. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-does-internet-connectivity-impact-developing-economies

Chris Woodruff has pioneered academic research into businesses, large and small, in low-income countries, He is also a non-executive Director of British International Investment (BII), a development finance institution and impact investor that partners with more than 1,500 businesses in emerging economies, with assets of £8.1 billion.  Chris talks to Tim Phillips about what he has learned from his association with BII into how research can inform policy and investment – and whether economists worry too much about external validity. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/firms/role-evidence-development-finance-institutions

In the second episode of the collaboration between Yale's Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, Catherine Cheney speaks to Amit Khandelwal of the Yale Jackson School of Public Affairs, Isabela Manelici of the London School of Economics, and Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute, As globalisation faces new headwinds, they discuss the outlook for those countries that didn't reap the trade benefits from the spread of globalisation, and the new challenges for LMICs.

When citizens demand change and feel they are not being heard, they protest on the streets. Thanks to social media and TV coverage, we see protests every night on the news. But has the frequency or the character of protests changed? Who is protesting, and what makes them take to the streets? David Yang and Noam Yuchtman are two of the authors of a new review of the literature on protests. They tell Tim Phillips what they discovered. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/why-do-protests-matter-exploring-their-causes-and-lasting

In our final episode based on this year's BREAD-IGC virtual PhD-level course on the economics of cities in low and middle-income countries, Matthew Kahn of USC and Siqi Zheng of MIT focus on sustainable urbanisation. They tell Tim Phillips about how cities can adapt in the face of climate change, both its inhabitants and its buildings. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/migration-urbanisation/how-urban-environment-can-adapt-climate-change

If you're applying for a job, you want to know what you're good at, and be able to prove it to the recruiter. If doing the recruiting, you want some evidence about who the best candidates would be. In low- or middle-income countries, this information is often in short supply. How does this affect who gets a job, and the hiring process? In the latest in our collaborations with J-Pal to discuss their policy insights, Marianne Bertrand of Chicago Booth School, also Co-Chair, Labor Markets at J-Pal, and Stefano Caria of the University of Warwick, tell Tim Phillips about the impact of skills signals on employment. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/labour-markets/helping-jobseekers-signal-their-skills-cost-effective-strategy-benefitting

There are more than 1.4 million papers about cash transfers. They inspired Ugo Gentilini, lead economist for social protection at the World Bank, to spend five years researching the surprisingly long and rich history of these cash transfers. The resulting book, called “Timely Cash: Lessons From 2,500 Years of Giving People Money”, shows that the political and ethical debates that cash transfers inspire are centuries, sometimes millennia, old. In a special episode to mark the launch of his book, Ugo explains to Tim Phillips how we can draw on history to understand the current, sometimes heated, debates about why, when, and where cash transfers should be used.

Where does electricity come from? In developing countries, the power sector uses long-term, rigid contracts called power purchase agreements (PPAs) between a private generator and government-owned utilities. These PPAs are not usually competitive, their terms – including payment guarantees by which suppliers get paid even when there is no demand – are often secret, they can last for up to 30 years, and they guarantee the use of fossil fuels far into the future. Sugandha Srivastav tells Tim Phillips about how the privatisation of electricity generation has created a way to move money “from the public coffers to vested interests”. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/why-pakistan-locked-overpriced-and-environmentally-damaging-power-sector

Can better data analysis improve the way that a government functions. The Government Analytics Handbook, published by the World Bank, is both a practical how-to guide and a fascinating insight into how administrators can improve the quality of government analytics. Daniel Rogger and Christian Schuster are the editors. They talk to Tim Phillips about the challenges, the potential – and their work to create a community of analysts. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/public-economics/how-government-analytics-can-improve-public-sector-implementation

As cities grow and spread, the uses to which land is put, and the value of that land, will also change. The challenges of urban planning, construction and renewal are complicated. But the way we address those challenges has profound impacts for the people who live, and will live, in that physical city. Vernon Henderson and Maisy Wong of University of Pennsylvania explain to Tim Phillips how cities adapt, change and grow – and how that affects the lives and prospects of the people who live in them.

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and so it has never been more important to increase the resilience of small-scale farmers. What does research tell us are the most effective interventions and policies to do this? In the latest of our special episodes to discuss J-PAL policy insights, Tavneet Suri talks to Tim Phillips about how we can strengthen the resilience of farmers to climate change. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/financing-climate-adaptation-what-works-what-doesnt-and-can-carbon-credits

In the first episode of a regular collaboration between Yale's Economic Growth Center and VoxDev, host Catherine Cheney speaks to Catherine Wolfram and Namrata Kala of the MIT Sloan School, and Rohini Pande of Yale, about how to finance climate adaptation. They discuss what works and what doesn't, what role carbon markets play, and also discuss the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP 29. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/financing-climate-adaptation-what-works-what-doesnt-and-can-carbon-credits

If you go to the IGC web site, you will discover the BREAD-IGC virtual PhD-level course in economics. The topic for 2024 is urbanisation and the economics of cities in low and middle-income countries. Ed Glaeser and Diego Puga gave the first talk, about the dynamic city. They talk to Tim Phillips about what attracts people to cities, how those cities constantly change and adapt to the needs of those new arrivals, and the urgent need for research into how cities grow and change outside high- income countries. Read the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/migration-urbanisation/role-cities-economic-development

Institutions help to determine economic growth. But studying how they do this using the rigorous experimental techniques popularised in the credibility revolution is difficult. A new review highlights an exciting new wave of empirical research into the consequences of institutional change. Michael Callen and Jonathan Weigel talk to Tim Phillips about how we can do experiments about institutions.

A new open access textbook called Food Economics analyses the connections between agriculture and resource use, commodity trade, food businesses, and retail markets. It covers how food is produced, brought to market, and sold. But it also looks at consumption: why many have too little food, and the problems caused by malnutrition. Will Masters and Amelia Finaret, the authors, tell Tim Phillips who is it for, and what they can learn. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/agriculture/what-can-we-learn-food-economics

Small businesses in LMICs provide most of the employment. But they could provide many more jobs if the best of them could unlock their potential to grow. In the latest of our series of VoxDev Talks based on J-PAL special reports, Tim Phillips talks to David Atkin about how we can do a better job of connecting firms and entrepreneurs to markets. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/firms/how-connecting-firms-markets-can-promote-economic-development

More children than ever in LMICs go to school – but they still don't learn as much as we would want, and the difference between the educational haves and the have-nots is widening. Noam Angrist joins Tim Phillips to talk about the size of the gap between education policy and practice, why it exists, why economic development alone isn't closing it, and how we can improve policy implementation in future. Read the full show notes here: https://voxdev.org/topic/education/gap-between-education-policy-and-practice

Since 2020, governments everywhere have had to grapple with the impacts of first Covid-19 and then a series of global shocks, not least the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The challenges have been particularly acute in Africa. Christopher Adam has seen the impacts of these shocks at first hand – and has also advised some of the people who have been making policy in Africa to mitigate their effects. He talks to Tim Phillips about how global shocks constrain Africa's policymakers and how the after-effects of this “polycrisis” will be felt in future.

Dev Patel of Harvard describes Bangladesh as “ground zero for the harmful effects of climate change”. Extreme weather events, particularly floods, are already affecting the lives of millions of people who live there and are making life more difficult for the country's farmers. He tells Tim Phillips how he harnessed machine learning to create for the first time reliable global data on flooding – and also used his methods to find a way to give Bangladesh's beleaguered farmers better data on what crops to grow. Check out the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/energy-environment/how-do-floods-impact-economic-development

In a meritocracy more people can do jobs that match their skills, making them more productive. It's not just good for them, it's good for the economy too. So how effective are the policies that try to make countries more meritocratic? Oriana Bandiera and Ilse Lindenlaub tell Tim Phillips how much productivity countries are sacrificing because the wrong people are in the wrong jobs, which countries are most meritocratic, and how we can best help the others to catch up. Check out the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-meritocracy-varies-across-world

More people die from contaminated drinking water and poor sanitation than from water-related disasters. What are the consequences if we don't provide safe drinking water, especially for children, and what technologies and policies can accelerate that change? In the first of a series of VoxDev Talks based on J-PAL Policy Insights, Pascaline Dupas of Princeton, also Scientific Director for J-PAL Africa, explains the importance of clean water to Tim Phillips. Check out the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/health/improving-access-and-usage-clean-water

Pranab Bardhan of Berkeley has recently published a memoir called Charaiveti: An Academic's Global Journey. It takes in his childhood in India, and his academic career in the UK, India and the US. The book takes in topics as diverse as whether the questions Marx asked are still relevant today, what economists can learn from anthropologists, what the Chinese government got right (and wrong), and the dangers of offering policy prescriptions for places we have never visited. He talks to Tim Phillips about the past, and the future, of development economics. Check out the full show notes on VoxDev: https://voxdev.org/topic/institutions-political-economy/past-present-and-future-development-economics

We don't know much about economic mobility in developing countries compared to the wealthier, data-rich societies which have been the subjects of so much recent research. What does the data tell us so far, and what is important to find out? Debraj Ray and Garance Genicot tell Tim Phillips why measuring upward mobility in low- and middle-income countries is both difficult and important, and what their research is revealing about the impact of growth on that mobility.

In May 2024 the world's largest gathering of education and skills ministers took place in London. Tahir Andrabi was there to meet policymakers in his capacity as a member of the Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel (GEEAP). GEEAP analyses existing research in education to discover which policies are “smart buys” for governments, and which are not. He talks to Tim Phillips to talk about how policymakers respond when their ideas are challenged, and the potential benefits from making better decisions about education policy.

Conflict destroys people, communities, and entire economies. If we reduce the amount of conflict in the world, we save lives and reduce poverty. Dominic Rohner of the University of Lausanne tells Tim Phillips about his new book called The Peace Formula, which sets out a different way to prevent and resolve conflict.

It makes sense that vocational training and apprenticeships would be an effective way to help young people find productive work in the global south. But evidence to support this reasonable assumption has been weak, and many researchers find little or no effect. Subha Mani and Neha Agarwal have reviewed the evidence, and they tell Tim Phillips that one type of training shows strong results. It's just not the type that is often implemented.

Mothers traditionally provide most of the care for children in early years. What role do fathers play, what difference would it make if they did more, and how could policy incentivise them to do exactly that? David Evans and Pamela Jakiela talk to Tim Phillips about the benefit of involving fathers in early childhood development, but also how adapting parenting programmes to involve fathers isn't straightforward.

Paul Collier has for many years challenged the conventional wisdom of development economics, bringing our attention to the real-world impact of policies many of us take for granted. His new book is called Left Behind. It is about how some countries or regions in the world fall behind, and what we can do to help them recover. In this week's episode he talks to Tim Phillips about what causes a place to be left behind, the difficulty in stopping that downward spiral, and what the places that have recovered have in common.

If women in developing countries want to work, what keeps them out of the labour force? Is it the other tasks they have to do, or the expectations of the people around them? Two new papers experiment with the effect of offering flexible working to women in India, Lisa Ho talks to Tim Phillips about what the results might mean for the millions of women in India and beyond who would like to work, but don't.

If you want to do good, and do not have unlimited funds, how do you choose? Which places, people, and situations are most deserving? Do you invest in economic benefits or lives saved? Open Philanthropy in an organisation that aims to rigorously optimise the impact of every dollar it spends. Emily Oehlsen tells Tim Phillips about its successes so far, and how it still sometimes gets it wrong.

Many of us can recall when we first discovered there were more than a billion people in the world who lived on “a dollar a day”. This extreme poverty line been effective at raising awareness of the goals of development. But, if we want to eradicate poverty rather than describe it, is it a useful tool – and what could improve on it? Charles Kenny discusses how the line is drawn, and how it could be improved, with Tim Phillips.