Podcasts about development research group

In conversation with Patrick Behrer, Research Economist, Development Economics, World Bank How the subtle but significant consequences of a hotter planet have already begun-from lower test scores to higher crime rates-and how we might tackle them today. In Slow Burn, R. Jisung Park draws upon vast amounts of raw data and novel economics to examine the consequences of climate change on an astonishing array of social groups and institutions. An assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, environmental and labor economist he holds positions in the School of Social Policy and Practice and the Wharton School of Business. He has spent more than a decade investigating and writing about economic inequalities and outcomes created by climate change. A Rhodes Scholar, a research affiliate at the Institute of Labor Economics, and a faculty fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, Park has consulted with such organizations as the World Bank and the New York City Departments of Education and Health. Patrick Behrer is an Economist in the Sustainability and Infrastructure team of the World Bank's Development Research Group. Behrer's work focuses on the economics of air pollution, climate change, and climate adaptation. His work has focused on the impacts of air pollution and climate change on human capital formation and the relationship between agriculture and air pollution. His work leverages big data from online and administrative sources and recent advances in satellite remote sensing technology. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2021, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in 2020 from Harvard University in Public Policy. Because you love Author Events, please make a donation to keep our podcasts free for everyone. THANK YOU! (recorded 4/17/2024)

A new episode of Mathematica's On the Evidence podcast explores the idea that a more comprehensive approach to evaluation, including study of a program's design and implementation, maximizes a program's chances of success. The episode draws from a convening in January at Mathematica's D.C. office at which experts from the federal government, philanthropy, academia, and research organizations discussed insights from the Oxford Handbook on Program Design and Implementation Evaluation, edited by Mathematica's Anu Rangarajan. The episode features Rangarajan as well as seven other speakers who expand upon the idea that a more comprehensive approach to evaluation could provide more useful information about whether a program is working, and if not, how it could be tweaked to work. The following speakers also appear in the episode: - Michael Woolcock, lead social scientist, Development Research Group, World Bank - Paul Decker, president and chief executive officer, Mathematica - Emilie Bagby, director, international education, Mathematica - Alix Zwane, chief executive officer, Global Innovation Fund - Melissa Chiappetta, senior education advisor, Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. Agency for International Development - Douglas J. Besharov, professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy - Michelle Sager, managing director for strategic issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office A transcript of the episode is available at https://mathematica.org/blogs/improving-the-impact-of-social-programs-through-better-evaluation Learn more about Mathematica Global, the new name and identity of Mathematica's international unit: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/mathematica-global-brings-hindsight-insight-and-foresight Watch the full video recording from the January convening about improving the impact of social programs through a comprehensive approach to design and evaluation: https://www.mathematica.org/events/improving-the-impact-of-social-programs-through-a-comprehensive-approach-to-design-and-evaluation Listen to a previous episode of Mathematica's On the Evidence podcast that features two of the speakers from the January event, Emilie Bagby and Melissa Chiappetta, discussing how the U.S. Agency for International Development and the International Rescue Committee are building on an evidence review from Mathematica to help local education leaders implement effective programs and policies in northern Central America that will reduce local violence and crime: https://www.mathematica.org/blogs/developing-education-programs-to-prevent-violence-and-crime-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean

There's tension at the border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan as forces exchanged gunfires. So, what's behind this recent flare-up?  Join host Tom McRae. Guests: Faiz Zaland - Professor of political science at Kabul University. Orzala Nemat - Director of Development Research Group. Ayaz Wazir - Pakistan's former ambassador to Afghanistan.

In this episode of Between the Lines, Michael Woolcock, Lead Social Scientist in the World Bank's Development Research Group, interviews Professor Mariz Tadros, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies.Mariz is editor of the book: What About Us? Global Perspectives on Redressing Religious Inequalities.Produced by the IDS-led Coalition Religious Equality and Inclusive Development (CREID), the book explores how we can make religious equality a reality for those on the margins of society and politics.This book is about the individual and collective struggles of the religiously marginalised to be recognised and their inequalities, religious or otherwise, redressed. It is also about the efforts of civil society, governments, multilateral actors, and scholars to promote freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) whatever shape they take.This podcast is essential listening for all studying and researching religious inequalities. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, RISE Research Fellow Jason Silberstein speaks to Jishnu Das, Professor at Georgetown University and a Principal Investigator of the RISE Pakistan Country Research Team. They discuss Jishnu and his team's ambitious research agenda, which is not simply studying the impact of a new education policy or intervention, but trying to build a fresh description of how the education system works. They talk about what makes a good school and how to measure it; why comparing public and private schools hides more than it helps; 'Zombie Schools' that are feeding on kids brains; and why every child that doesn't learn is the fault of a badly engineered system and the ways we can change that.LinksHeterogeneity in School Value-Added and the Private Premium by Andrabi, Bau, Das, and Khwaja (RISE Working Paper)The Value of Private Schools: Evidence from Pakistan by Carneiro, Das, and Reis (Journal Article)Teacher Value Added in a Low-Income Country by Bau and Das (Journal Article)Upping the Ante: The Equilibrium Effects of Unconditional Grants to Private Schools by Andrabi, Das, Khwaja, Özyurt, and Singh (Working Paper)Why Do Households Leave School Value Added on the Table? The Roles of Information and Preferences by Ainsworth, Dehejia, Pop-Eleches, and Urquiola (Working Paper)Bad Boys by Ferguson (Book)Low-Cost Private Schools in Tanzania: A Descriptive Analysis by Sabarwal, Sununtnasuk, and Ramachandran (Working Paper)Guest biographyJishnu DasJishnu Das is a Principal Investigator on the RISE Pakistan team. He is a Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. His work focuses on health and education in low and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on social markets, or common, but complex, conflagrations of public and private education and health providers operating in a small geographical space. He was previously a lead economist at the World Bank's Development Research Group, where his research focused on the delivery of quality education and health services. He has authored numerous education-related works, including “India Shining and Bharat Drowning: Comparing Two Indian States to the Worldwide Distribution in Mathematics Achievement” (Journal of Development Economics), and “Teacher Shocks and Student Learning: Evidence from Zambia” (Journal of Human Resources), in addition to work co-authored with Tahir Andrabi and Asim I. Khwaja. Das was awarded a PhD in economics from Harvard University and a BA from St. Stephen's College in New Delhi, India. He was an author of the Learning and Educational Achievement in Punjab Schools (LEAPS) report, an extensive study of the schooling environment more than 100 villages in rural Pakistan.Jason SilbersteinJason Silberstein is a Research Fellow for RISE at the Blavatnik School of Government. His research explores the relationship between schools and the communities they serve.Before joining RISE, he worked as a consultant...

In this public lecture, Lead Social Scientist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank Michael Woolcock, discusses his forthcoming book International Development: Navigating Humanity's Greatest Challenge. This hybrid event took place on 10/11/2022.

1.4 billion adults have no access to banking - that means it's harder for them to save, to borrow, to send money or to start a business - than for those of us that do.Our guest on Radio Davos is an expert on the global state of people's access to financial services, who helped create the Global Findex database, a huge survey on financial inclusion Leora Klapper, a Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, has a truly global view of this issue. She tells Radio Davos why financial inclusion - which is, fortunately, on the rise - can be crucial in eliminating poverty and improving lives.   Also mentioned on this podcast: The Global Covid-19 Fintech Market Impact and Industry Resilience Study from the World Economic Forum,  with data from 1,448 fintech firms from 192 countries. Host: Robin Pomeroy Editing: Jere Johannson Studio production: Gareth Nolan Transcript: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/09/financial-inclusion-findex-radio-davos-world-bank-economist  

1.4 billion adults have no access to banking - that means it's harder for them to save, to borrow, to send money or to start a business - than for those of us that do.Our guest on Radio Davos is an expert on the global state of people's access to financial services, who helped create the , a huge survey on financial inclusion , a Lead Economist in the Finance and Private Sector Research Team of the Development Research Group at the World Bank, has a truly global view of this issue. She tells Radio Davos why financial inclusion - which is, fortunately, on the rise - can be crucial in eliminating poverty and improving lives.   Also mentioned on this podcast: The  from the World Economic Forum,  with data from 1,448 fintech firms from 192 countries. Host: Robin Pomeroy Editing: Jere Johannson Studio production: Gareth Nolan Transcript: 

Dr. April Knill is the SunTrust Associate Professor of Finance and Courtesy Professor of Law at Florida State University. Before joining Florida State University, she was a consultant for the Development Research Group at the World Bank in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park. Dr. Knill currently serves as a Consulting Editor at the Journal of International Business Studies and an Associate Editor at Global Finance Journal.  Her research interests include corporate finance, international finance, venture capital, and the intersection between law, finance and politics. Professor Knill has published in journals such as Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Business, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Financial Management and Journal of Comparative Economics, among others. Her research has received numerous awards including the Dean's Emerging Scholar Award and the CIBER/FMA Award for the Best Dissertation in International Finance. Professor Knill has served as a Guest Editor at both Journal of International Business Studies and Journal of Corporate Finance and has recently been elected by her peers to be the Vice President of Programs for the Eastern Finance Association. Visit https://www.aib.world/frontline-ib/april-knill/ for the original video interview.  

In this episode of the RISE Podcast, Carmen Belafi, RISE Research Associate at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, speaks with Dr Ritva Reinikka. During the episode, they discuss the role that financing plays in education systems. Ritva shares her insights from having worked closely with the governments of Uganda and South Africa, and illustrates the crucial role that the Ministries of Finance have played in the transformation of education in both countries. She also talks about the importance of applying a system's approach to education, including not just the actors squarely within the education sector—the Ministry of Education, administrators, school principals and teachers—but the broader political and societal context in which the education sector operates. Links World Bank. 2004. World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Washington DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986 (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986). Ritva's research on Uganda includes: Reinikka, R. and Svensson, J. 2005. Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda. Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol. 3, No.2/3. 259-267. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004969?origin=JSTOR-pdf (http://www.jstor.org/stable/40004969?origin=JSTOR-pdf). Reinikka, R. and Svensson, J. 2004. Local Capture: Evidence from a Central Government Transfer Program in Uganda. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 119, No.2 (May). 679-705. https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382120 (https://doi.org/10.1162/0033553041382120). Ablo, E. and Reinikka, R. 1998. Do budgets really matter? Evidence from public spending on education and health in Uganda. June 1998. Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=604999 (https://ssrn.com/abstract=604999). Ethnographic study of education reforms in Delhi: Aiyar, Y., Davis, V., Govindan, G. and Kapur, T. forthcoming. Rewriting the grammar of the education system: Delhi's education reform. A tale of creative resistance and creative disruption. Forthcoming RISE Working Paper. Webinar on the role of bureaucracies in successful education reform (chaired by Ritva, where Delhi reform is discussed): https://riseprogramme.org/events/bureaucratic-barriers-or-administrative-actions-role-bureaucracies-successful-education (https://riseprogramme.org/events/bureaucratic-barriers-or-administrative-actions-role-bureaucracies-successful-education).  Studies on stagnating learning outcomes in different countries: Indonesia: Beatty, A., Berkhout, E., Bima, L., Pradhan, M. and Suryadarma, D. 2021. Schooling progess, learning reversal: Indonesia's learning profiles between 2000 and 2014. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 85 (September). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102436 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102436).  Pakistan: Bau, N., Das, J. and Chang, A.Y. 2021. New evidence on learning trajectories in a low-income setting. International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 84 (July).https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102430).  Guest biography Ritva Reinikka, a Finnish national, is Professor of Practice at the Helsinki Graduate School of Economics, based at Aalto University School of Business in Helsinki and former RISE Delivery Board Chair (2015 – 2020).  Ms. Reinikka worked at the World Bank in 1993-2013. She joined the Bank as a Country Economist in East Africa and was a Research Manager in the Development Research Group. She was Co-Director of the 2004 World Development Report Making Services Work for Poor People. During her career at the World Bank, Ms. Reinikka was also Country Director for South Africa, based in Pretoria; Director for Poverty Reduction, Economic Management, Private Sector and Finance in the Middle East and North...

Sir Paul Collier is a British development economist. He is currently a professor of economics at the University of Oxford and was the Director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank between 1998 and 2003. Paul has authored numerous books, including The Bottom Billion, The Plundered Planet, and The Future of Capitalism. His latest book, co-authored with John Kay, is Greed is Dead: Politics After Individualism. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sir Paul Collier is a British development economist. He is currently a professor of economics at the University of Oxford and was the Director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank between 1998 and 2003. Paul has authored numerous books, including The Bottom Billion, The Plundered Planet, and The Future of Capitalism. His latest book, co-authored with John Kay, is Greed is Dead: Politics After Individualism.

Today my guest is Vijayendra Rao, or as he's known, Biju Rao, a lead economist in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. His recent book coauthored with professor Paromita Sanyal called Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies, is an excellent study of citizens voice in India's Gram Sabhas, or village assemblies, which are also the largest deliberative institution in human history.  I had a chance to speak with Biju about deliberative democracy in India, federalism and local governments, conducting ethnographic research, what it means to be a development economist, the relevance of methodology and history, and much more.  Full transcript of this episode enhanced with helpful links:  https://www.discoursemagazine.com/tag/ideas-of-india-podcast/ Connect with me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/srajagopalan Connect with Biju on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bijurao

Today, I talk about the language we use to discuss disaster and why it matters with Disasters Deconstructed podcast co-hostsKsenia Chmutina and Jason von Meding. Dr Jason von Meding is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida and a founding faculty member of the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience (FIBER). Before moving to the U.S. he spent 6 years at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where he established the Disaster and Development Research Group, andworked with communities in the Aisa-Pacific region using participatory methods to study disaster risk. In the past 5 years he has developed a focus on communicating science to non-academic audiences, writing for blogs, magazines and newspapers, creating video content and through the Disasters: Deconstructed podcast. Dr Ksenia Chmutina a Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism at the School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. She’s originally from Russia, and beforemoving to the UK, she lived in China, where she got her Masters. Her research explores the processes ofdisaster risk creation and politics of disasters, especially under the pressures of neoliberalism, urbanisation and climate change. Ksenia uses her work to draw attention to the fact that disasters are not natural. Ksenia is a co-author of a textbook ‘Disaster Risk Reduction for the Built Environment’ (Wiley, 2017) and a co-host of a podcast ‘Disasters: Deconstructed’.

This week, host Kristin Hayes talks with Michael Toman, lead economist on climate change for the World Bank’s Development Research Group. Toman worked at Resources for the Future (RFF) for many years, during which he collaborated with former RFF Vice President for Research Molly Macauley in her pioneering effort to develop the economics of outer space as a topic for research and policy analysis. Hayes and Toman discuss the commercialization and privatization of space, both in light of the recent successful SpaceX launch to the International Space Station, and given that the day of recording (June 10) would have been Molly’s 63rd birthday. References and recommendations: "Racism and Injustice: A Letter from RFF President Richard G. Newell" from RFF; https://www.rff.org/racism-and-injustice-letter-rff-president-richard-g-newell/ "In Loving Memory of Molly K. Macauley" from Resources magazine; https://www.resourcesmag.org/archives/in-loving-memory-of-molly-k-macauley/

"Oral Democracy: Deliberation in Indian Village Assemblies" featuring Vijayendra Rao (Lead Economist, Development Research Group, The World Bank) in conversation with Gautam Nair (CASI Visiting Dissertation Fellow)

Descritpion: Over the past 70 years, more than one million troops from more than 110 nations have participated in 70 UN peacekeeping missions. It is a remarkable achievement, but at a time when multilateral institutions are increasingly asked to justify their relevance, the future of peace operations is less certain. The global order is changing and this uncertainty has profound implications on the world’s biggest international organisation and its flagship activity. This roundtable generates a discussion about UN approaches to peace by analysing challenges and opportunities that the UN is facing in the changing global order. Participants will collectively grapple with the following dilemmas: How is the rebalancing of relations between states of the global North and the global South impacting UN decision making? How is the rise of regional organisations as providers of peace impacting the primacy of UN peace operations? How have violent extremism and fundamentalist non-state actors changed the nature of international responses and what does this mean for previously advanced longer-term approaches to conflict resolution? How are demands from non-state actors for greater emphasis on human security impacting the UN’s credibility, and is the UN even able to prioritise people-centered approaches over state-centered ones? Speaker bios: Mats Berdal is Professor of Security and Development in the Department of War Studies and Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group (CSDRG) at King’s College London. Between 2000 and 2003 he was the Director of Studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). From 2015 to 2016, Berdal served on the Norwegian Commission of Inquiry on Afghanistan set up to evaluate Norway’s military, humanitarian, and civilian involvement in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014. Cedric de Coning is a Senior Research Fellow with the Peace, Conflict and Development Research Group at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), where he also co-convenes the NUPI Center on UN and Global Governance. He is also a Senior Advisor for the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) and he has served in various advisory positions in the African Union and United Nations, including to the High Representative of the African Union Peace Fund, the head of the AU’s Peace Support Operations Division, and on the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund Advisory Group. He holds a PhD in Applied Ethics from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Ian Martin was the Executive Director of Security Council Report in New York from 2015 to 2018. He served as a member of the High Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO) appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which reported in June 2015. He has headed United Nations missions in several countries, most recently as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) 2011-12. His previous senior UN appointments include Head of the Headquarters Board of Inquiry into certain incidents in the Gaza Strip; Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal; Special Envoy for Timor-Leste. Mateja Peter is Lecturer at University of St. Andrews, where she co-directs the Centre for Global Constitutionalism. She is also Senior Research Fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Peter obtained her PhD from Cambridge University and subsequently held post-doctoral positions at research institutes in Washington, Berlin and Oslo. Her recent peer-reviewed articles appear in Third World Quarterly, Global Governance, and Cambridge Review of International Affairs. Peter works at the intersection of international relations and law, researching on global governance and international organisations, peace operations and peacebuilding.

Michael Woolcock has been at the World Bank for 20 years, where he is the Lead Social Scientist in the Development Research Group. For twelve years he has also been a (part-time) Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. As a sociologist, he's written about culture, social development, and social capital. Michael is also on the editorial board for Accord's new journal, Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy (CRDA). Nathan Mallonee from Living Water International talks with Michael about how he got to the World Bank from Australia, his new book on building state capability, the case for using mixed methods for research, and ideas for papers he'd like to see submitted to the CRDA journal. Here is a link to Michael's new book, Building State Capability: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-state-capability-9780198747482?cc=us&lang=en& Here is a link to the call for papers for the CRDA journal: https://crdajournal.org/index.php/crda/announcement Michael's Book Recommendations: ‘Epic Wanderer: David Thompson and the Opening of the West', by D'Arcy Jenish. A biography of the life of first person to map the western coast of North America, from (what is now) Oregon through to British Columbia, and vast areas inland to Hudson Bay. His maps became the basis for where exactly the border was drawn between the US and Canada along the 49th parallel, and included being the first to traverse (and map) the full length of the Columbia River. Doing all this entailed surviving decades of unimaginably cold winters, crossing the Rocky Mountains on foot endless times, learning some of the languages of indigenous peoples, and doing all manner of complex negotiations – all without ever losing a man. ‘The Tyrannicide Brief: The Story of the Man Who Sent Charles I to the Scaffold', by Geoffrey Robertson. Incredible account of the first legal team to challenge the divine right of kings, in the 1640s, arguing that no-one was above the law -- when that notion had never before been tested on a head of state, in this case a king (Charles I) whose civil wars had led one in ten Englishmen to their deaths. The lead lawyer, John Cooke, undertook this task knowing full well that it would likely lead to his own death, which it duly did in the most gruesome manner… Makes a bad day for me seem like a stroll in the park… And the justly classic ‘The Hiding Place', by Corrie Ten Boom. “Give thanks in all things” takes on a whole new meaning after reading this book…

Date of Recording: 29/10/2018 Description: There is an emerging consensus that women’s participation in peace negotiations contributes to the quality and durability of peace after civil war. However, to date, this proposition has remained empirically untested. Moreover, how women’s participation may contribute to durable peace has not been systematically explored. Our research demonstrates a robust correlation between peace agreements signed by female delegates and durable peace. We further find that agreements signed by women show a significantly higher number of peace agreement provisions aimed at political reform, and higher implementation rates for provisions. We argue that linkages between women signatories and women civil society groups explain the observed positive impact of women’s direct participation in peace negotiations. Collaboration and knowledge building among diverse women groups contributes to better content of peace agreements and higher implementation rates of agreement provisions. Our findings support the assumption that women’s participation in peace negotiations increases the durability and the quality of peace." Bio: Dr. Jana Krause is an Assistant Professor in Security/Conflict in the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on political violence and international security, with interests in communal conflicts and civil wars; non-violence and civilian protection; post-conflict peace building and social resilience; and gender and security. She has conducted extensive field research on these issues in Indonesia and Nigeria. Previously, Dr Krause was a Visiting Research Fellow with the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group in the Department of War Studies at King's College London (2013-2016), and the lead researcher and co-investigator of a research project on gender, conflict and peacebuilding at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva (2014-2016). __________________________________ For more news and information on upcoming events, please visit our website at KCL.AC.UK/WARSTUDIES.

Date of recording: 24/09/2018 Description: On the 24th of September, the Department of War Studies and the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group welcomed Jeff Colgan, Associate Professor at Brown University, for his talk titled, 'Should the US withdraw from the Middle East.' According to Prof. Colgan, ‘over the past 25 years, US foreign policy outcomes in the Middle East have gone from more or less acceptable to downright awful.’ Arguably, the most notable US foreign policy failure in the region was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, but to this day, US success in the Middle East is further challenged by complex conflicts, including those in Afghanistan and Syria, and is also impacted by the presence of terrorist organizations within Middle Eastern states faced with instability. Due to undesirable and costly outcomes in the past, many in Washington DC have contemplated whether the US should withdraw from the Middle East. However, if the US were to withdraw, this decision could not only impact US national interests but also have security consequences for the Middle East. Bio: Jeff Colgan is the Richard Holbrooke Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Watson Institute for Public and International Affairs at Brown University. His research focuses on international order, especially as related to energy and the environment. His book, Petro-Aggression: When Oil Causes War, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. He has published work in International Organization, Foreign Affairs, World Politics, International Security and elsewhere. He also occasionally blogs at the Monkey Cage and Foreign Affairs. On Twitter, he is @JeffDColgan. Prof. Colgan previously taught at the School of International Service of American University 2010-2014, and was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC in 2012-13. He completed his Ph.D. at Princeton University, and was a Canada-US Fulbright Scholar at UC Berkeley, where he earned a Master’s in Public Policy. Prof. Colgan has worked with the World Bank, McKinsey & Company, and The Brattle Group. ______________________ For more news and information on upcoming events, please visit our website at kcl.ac.uk/warstudies.

Discussant: Thea Hilhorst, Senior Land Governance Specialist, Development Research Group, World Bank 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of "The Tragedy of the Commons" by Garret Hardin. Its widely accepted message about the inevitable degradation of shared resources prompted privatization or nationalization of much common property. Yet sustainable management of the commons has a long history, and new evidence is increasing our understanding of effective governance of these resources for the future. This policy seminar will discuss recent developments in research and policy on the commons, with particular attention to tenure and governance. Following an overview of key issues, speakers will present the factors that led to the adoption of the UK Commons Act to protect the commons; results of an international review of tenure security of land-based commons, particularly forests and rangelands held by communities and indigenous peoples; new evidence on how tenure can affect investment in shared resources by community members and outsiders; and factors shaping national policies on common resources and implications for the future.

Date of Publication: 05/10/2018 Description: According to Jeff Colgan, Associate Prof at Brown University, ‘over the past 25 years, US foreign policy outcomes in the Middle East have gone from more or less acceptable to downright awful.’ Arguably, the most notable US foreign policy failure in the region was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, but to this day, US success in the Middle East is further challenged by complex conflicts, including those in Afghanistan and Syria, and is also impacted by the presence of terrorist organizations within Middle Eastern states faced with instability. Due to undesirable and costly outcomes in the past, many in Washington DC have contemplated whether the US should withdraw from the Middle East. However, if the US were to withdraw, this decision could not only impact US national interests but also have security consequences for the Middle East. On the 24th of September, the Department of War Studies and the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group welcomed Prof Colgan for his talk titled, Should the US Withdraw from the Middle East. But, before his talk, I met up with Prof Colgan and Dr Stacey Gutkowski, Senior Lecturer in the Dept of War Studies, for a general discussion on the headlining question posed by Prof. Colgan's talk. Let’s hear what they had to say. ____________________ A recording of Jeff Colgan's talk at KCL will be available soon! ____________________ This podcast was produced by Kirk Allen.

Discussant: Hanan Jacoby, Lead Economist, Development Research Group, World Bank Growth in many developing countries has surged in the last 25 years, driving major shifts in food demand, production, policies, and trade. What do these unprecedented changes mean for our research agenda? This seminar will look at the impacts of rapid developing country growth and convergence with developed countries, and the implications for future research in agricultural economics.

The Social Observatory (SO) is a unit in the World Bank’s Development Research Group. It has worked for seven years with a $5 billion portfolio of community-based livelihoods projects in India. This work combines rigorous impact evaluations with ethnography, process evaluations, and the development of new citizen-led data systems to transform how such projects learn and adapt. This talk reports on some aspects of this work, showing how randomised control trials (RCTs) and ethnographies can be meaningfully combined, and demonstrating new tools to deepen collective action. For more see: http://socialobservatory.worldbank.org/about Vijayendra Rao is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. His research has spanned subjects that include gender inequality, mixed-methods, culture, decentralisation, community development, and deliberative democracy. He obtained a PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and taught at the University of Chicago, Michigan, and Williams College before joining the World Bank.

Event recording from 10/04/2017 STATE OF REBELLION: VIOLENCE AND INTERVENTION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Speaker: Louisa Lombard, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Yale. Chair: Dr Kieran Mitton, War Studies, KCL. A joint event of the Africa Research Group and the 'Approaches to Understanding Violence Seminar Series' of the Conflict, Security & Development Research Group. Join Professor Louisa Lombard as she discusses her new book 'State of Rebellion: Violence and Intervention in the Central African Republic', drawing on extensive fieldwork to challenge conventional wisdom about the causes of CAR's violent conflict. About the book: In 2012, a wave of violence swept through the Central African Republic as Seleka rebels clashed with anti-Balaka militias. In the face of seemingly senseless bloodshed, journalists, politicians, and scholars struggled to account for the conflict’s origins. In this first comprehensive account of the violence, Louisa Lombard argues that the conflict was more than a straightforward religious clash between Christians and Muslims. Instead, she traces the roots of the conflict to fears of spiritual insecurity and a social breakdown that drove inter-communal violence. Placing the uprising within its broader social, cultural, and historical context, Lombard reveals the complicated roles played by marginalized rural youths, local political leaders, and the global community in sustaining the conflict, and she offers an urgent corrective to our perceptions of this little-understood country, making a compelling case for international leaders to rethink their approach to resolving the conflict. Reviews: “This valuable, indeed important, study helps us make sense of a little-known but strategically important African country. Those who wish to know Africa today need to know this book.” - Paul Richards, author of No Peace, No War: An Anthropology of Contemporary Armed Conflicts “If you want to understand why the CAR seems a perpetual work in regress, then Lombard’s book is a must-read. Her new perspectives illuminate a neglected recess of globalization.” - Stephen W. Smith, Duke University “With a stunning combination of conceptual clarity and vivid ethnography, Louisa Lombard’s book challenges conventional wisdom on the roots of violence in the CAR. A must-read for anyone wanting to engage with current debates on peace-building and state-building initiatives.” - Marielle Debos, author of Living by the Gun in Chad “In this stimulating and provocative book, Lombard proposes a new approach to peacekeeping, peace enforcement, and humanitarian action that rests upon a politics of redistribution and acknowledgement of the social dignity of fighters lacking a state.” - Jean-François Bayart, Graduate Institute Geneva “Provides a magisterial reading of the role of violence in the making of the CAR. Authoritative, nuanced, and empirically rich, Lombard offers a new and compelling lens through which so-called state failure and post-conflict transitions can be understood.” - Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley For more information, visit http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/events/eventsrecords/lombard.aspx.

Can the poor in India access quality healthcare? What are the barriers and the potential solutions? In this episode of the podcast, Dr Jishnu Das, a Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR and lead economist in the Development Research Group at The World Bank, draws on 15 years of research and extensive field-work to shed light on these issues. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Can the poor in India access quality healthcare? What are the barriers and the potential solutions? In this episode of the podcast, Dr Jishnu Das, a Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR and lead economist in the Development Research Group at The World Bank, draws on 15 years of research and extensive field-work to shed light on these issues. Music: The Jazz Piano - Bensound.com

Event recording from 7/11/2016 Speaker: Dr Samir Puri , Department of War Studies , KCL. Chair: Dr Domitilla Sagramoso, CSDRG, Department of War Studies, KCL. This event was part of the CSD MA Monday Seminar Series, hosted by the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group. Dr Samir Puri reflects on the conflict resolution and human security challenges presented by the war in east Ukraine. Immediately before becoming a Lecturer in War Studies, Dr Puri spent one year (2014-2015) with the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. He recently returned to Ukraine to author a report on the human security situation in parts of the Donetsk region. He will speak about the state of the ceasefire in the east, and will examine the local dynamics of the conflict from an on-the-ground perspective. Although the Ukraine conflict has slipped from international media headlines, fighting still persists. For as long as a resolution to the war remains elusive, the impact on the people of the region remains significant. Having worked in government, academia and think tanks, Dr Puri's capabilities extend across theory and practise in international security affairs. He spent six years working for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2009-15). His assignments included counter-terrorism strategy and policy support to a number of peace processes. In 2014-15 he was seconded to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine. His duties involved patrolling in the field, and reporting on ceasefire violations and weapons withdrawals in line with the Minsk process. His book, Fighting and Negotiating with Armed Groups, has been published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as part of its Adelphi series. His first book, Pakistan’s War on Terrorism, was published by Routledge. For more information about the event, visit https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/events/eventsrecords/Ukraine-A-Frontline-Perspective-of-the-War-in-the-East.aspx.

Dr. Stuti Khemani is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. She joined through the Young Professionals Program after obtaining a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Khemani's area of research is the political economy of public policy choices, and institutional reforms for development. Her work is published in leading economics and political science journals, such as the American Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics and American Political Science Review. Stuti has studied the impact of electoral politics on fiscal policy and intergovernmental fiscal relations; drawn policy implications for the design of institutions to promote fiscal responsibility; and analyzed political constraints to efficient allocation of resources for health and education services. She is also the lead author of the forthcoming Policy Research Report ‘Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement’. Her research and advisory work spans a diverse range of countries, including Benin, China, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Check out the links, books and resources mentioned by Dr. Khemani over at the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/stutikhemani 

Shanta Devarajan is the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region.  Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, South Asia, and Africa Region. Shanta was the director of the World Development Report 2004, ‘Making Services Work for Poor People’. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Shanta is the author and co-author of over 100 publications, with his research covering public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries. Born in Sri Lanka, Shanta received his B.A. in Mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley. In this episode, you will learn: why Shanta decided to take a sabbatical from lecturing and never went back. about Shanta’s passion to end world poverty. how experiencing living on a $1 a day with a poor family made Shanta realize that the failure lies with government. how empowering people in poverty-stricken countries with information could be the catalyst to end poverty. the huge government failures and market distortions threatening the economy in India. why teachers and doctors in India are absent from work 25% and 40% of the time respectively and how this is affecting progress. how the powerful medical union in India are making healthcare inaccessible to the poor. about how crony capitalism is preventing SMEs from growing in the MENA region. why Tunisia has failed to develop into an export-oriented economy due the legacy of the Ben Ali family and their connections to firms operating in heavily protected markets. that the failure for governments to continue with social contracts due to high deficits triggered the Arab Spring. about Colonel Gaddafi’s regime and how he managed to keep peace between tribes.   how water subsidies and water-intensive crops are depleting water resources in Yemen. and much much more. Never miss an episode by subscribing on iTunes and get access to all previous Economic Rockstar podcast episodes. Join my community of educators - teachers and lecturers - who want to learn how to build a website, launch a podcast and create educational videos. Take the Economic Rockstar podcast survey and be in with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

Dr Jolyon Ford is with the Global Economic Governance Programme at the University of Oxford, and an Associate Fellow at Chatham House. His research focuses on the regulation of investor and business activity in fragile and conflict-affected states, options for fostering responsible and conflict-sensitive business practices, and public policy on the private sector's role in meeting development goals. His blog is Private Sector - Public World. Until the end of 2013 he headed the sub-Saharan Africa practice for Oxford Analytica. On 24 March 2015 Dr Ford came to the War Studies Department to talk about some of the themes in his book ‘Regulating Business for Peace’, published in February by Cambridge University Press. Examining ways in which the UN peace architecture has engaged with the private sector, Dr Ford explored the nature of post-conflict transitional regulation and governance. The talk was hosted by the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group, and was chaired by Dr Christine Cheng. DISCLAIMER: Any information, statements or opinions contained in this recording are those of the individual speakers. They do not represent the opinions of the Department of War Studies or King's College London.

Sarah Chayes is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A former reporter, Chayes covered the fall of the Taliban for National Public Radio. She then opted to leave journalism and remain in Afghanistan to contribute to the reconstruction of the country. During a decade living in Afghanistan, Sarah advised two commanders of the international troops in-country and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She is also author of ‘The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban’ (2006) and a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Times. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post and Foreign Policy, among other publications. On 10 March 2015, Sarah came to the Department of War Studies to present her new book ‘Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security’ (Norton), which argues that corruption is the common thread that ties together the world’s contemporary international security crises. The event was chaired by Dr Christine Cheng and hosted by the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group. DISCLAIMER: Any information, statements or opinions contained in this podcast are those of the individual speakers. They do not represent the opinions of the Department of War Studies or King's College London.