Category Archives: Trade & Development

Film magnate Jack Valenti’s death last week reminded me of a story that former Trade Minister Peter Cook once told me. During the negotiations on the Uruguay Round of WTO talks in the early-1990s, the US brought in Valenti for … Continue reading →

This should be good. David Dollar is one of the World Bank’s top economists. How long can China’s economic miracle continue? David Dollar, World Bank Wednesday 21 March, 2.30-4pm Crawford Lecture Theatre, Sir Roland Wilson Building, ANU

Two of my favourite economists – Daron Acemoglu and Ed Glaeser – debate whether democracy boosts growth. It’s worth reading not only because of the substance, but also because the duo do a nice job of arguing about their highly technical … Continue reading →

Patrick Barron and Ben Olken have a great paper out. Entitled The Simple Economics of Extortion: Evidence from Trucking in Aceh, it looks at corruption along trucking routes in Northern Sumatra. There are so many clever and original things that this … Continue reading →

Today’s NYT has an interesting oped on ‘rogue aid’, giving a neat Nigerian example: The Nigerian government operates three railways, which are notoriously corrupt and inefficient. They are also falling apart. The World Bank — where my friend works — … Continue reading →

My brother draws my attention to yet another superb Google tool, the Google Gapminder. It’s a compendium of data (I assume from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators) that shows differences across the world in incomes and 16 other social indicators. … Continue reading →

The Democratic Leadership Council offers some observations on US trade policy that are surprisingly apt here too. While the president has always been rhetorically pro-trade, he’s presided over a long series of blunders and lost opportunities for trade expansion. He … Continue reading →

Wondering how much you should give to charity? Peter Singer has some pointers, based on his classic example of how much we should expend to save a child drowning in a shallow pond. In any case, even if we were … Continue reading →

My friend and Imagining Australia coauthor Peter Tynan has just written a chapter (with John Stephenson) on the US-India nuclear agreement. They conclude that proponents have overplayed its benefits (“Although the development of nuclear energy today could aid in the … Continue reading →

Among the interesting papers that have crossed my desk recently: Fairness, Export Subsidies, and the Fair Trade Movement Mathias Risse & Malgorzata Kurjanska ABSTRACT: Subsidies and the Fair Trade movement are two topics central to reflection on fairness in trade. … Continue reading →

Lots of things don’t work in development. It’s good to come across one that does. Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Western Kenya Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, Michael Kremer & Samuel Sinei The authors report results … Continue reading →