Harvard Center for International Development

A contemporary challenge is inequality, which is reinforced when it’s taken for granted. But, it can be disrupted when marginalised people gain self-esteem; challenge hitherto unquestioned inequalities; and gain confidence in the possibility of social change. These ideas are illustrated with ethnographic research from Latin America, where income inequality has recently declined. By highlighting some ways in which ideas matter, Alice Evans’ paper on Politicising Inequality: The Power of Ideas, seeks to persuade political economists to go beyond ‘incentives’. She suggests that future efforts to tackle inequality might harness the power of ideas: tackling ‘norm perceptions’ (beliefs about what others think and do); publicising positive deviance; and strengthening social movements.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Katya Gonzalez-Willette, Events and Outreach Assistant at CID, interviews Alice Evans, Associate at the Building State Capability program at CID and Lecturer at Kings College London, who provides further insight on why ideas matter for curbing inequality and how social mobilisation can catalyse greater government commitment to socially inclusive economic growth.

// www.bsc.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on November 1, 2018.

About Alice Evans: Alice Evans is writing a book on "The Global Politics of Decent Work". Through comparative research on strengthening corporate accountability, Alice explores how to resolve global collective action problems and improve workers' rights. She has published on the causes of falling inequality in Latin America; social movements; rising support for gender equality; cities as catalysts of social change; and the politics of maternal mortality. She is a Lecturer at King's College London, with previous appointments at Cambridge and the LSE.

Today on CID’s Research Spotlight podcast, Ghazi Mirza, graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, interviews Professor Asim Khwaja, Co-Director of Evidence for Policy Design, who provides further insight on the work that he and EPoD are conducting, their “theory of change”, and the use of both quantitative and qualitative data to enrich their findings.

// www.epod.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 22, 2018.

About Asim Khwaja: Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Sumitomo-Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development Professor of International Finance and Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Co-Director of Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) and co-founder of the Center for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP). His areas of interest include economic development, finance, education, political economy, institutions, and contract theory/mechanism design. His research combines extensive fieldwork, rigorous empirical analysis, and microeconomic theory to answer questions that are motivated by and engage with policy.

He has been published in leading economics journals, such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and has received coverage in numerous media outlets, such as The Economist, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, Al-Jazeera, BBC, and CNN.

His recent work ranges from understanding market failures in emerging financial markets to examining the private education market in low-income countries. He was selected as a Carnegie Scholar in 2009 to pursue research on how religious institutions impact individual beliefs.

Khwaja received BS degrees in economics and in mathematics with computer science from MIT, and a PhD in economics from Harvard. A Pakistani, U.K., and U.S. citizen, he was born in London, U.K., lived for eight years in Kano, Nigeria, the next eight in Lahore, Pakistan, and the past eighteen years in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He continues to enjoy interacting with people around the globe.

Khwaja also serves as the faculty co-chair of a week-long executive education program, "Rethinking Financial Inclusion: Smart Design for Policy and Practice," aimed primarily at professionals involved in the design and regulation of financial products and services for low-income populations.

Since 2000, a large and complex global infrastructure has emerged to help finance public health improvement in low- and middle-income countries. These institutions have helped drive historic improvements in child survival, HIV mortality, and access to modern contraception—yet serious questions have arisen about their long-term sustainability, their effects on country-led health systems, and whether they create incentives that are misaligned with long-term public health impart.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Jason Keene, Masters in Public Administration and International Development student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Rachel Silverman, Assistant Director of Global Health Policy and a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Global Development, gives us a brief overview of the current health financing architecture. She also discusses three “hot topics” in global health financing: fiscal and programmatic accountability and incentive models; strategies to “transition” countries away from reliance on external financing; and the movement away from “vertical”, disease-focused financing streams toward a more comprehensive, holistic vision for Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

// www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 26, 2018.

About Rachel Silverman: Rachel Silverman is a senior policy analyst and assistant director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, focusing on global health financing and incentive structures. During previous work at the Center from 2011 to 2013, she contributed to research and analysis on value for money, incentives, measurement, and policy coherence in global health, among other topics. Before joining CGD, Silverman spent two years supporting democratic strengthening and good governance programs in Kosovo and throughout Central and Eastern Europe with the National Democratic Institute. She holds a master's of philosophy with distinction in public health from the University of Cambridge, which she attended as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She also holds a BA with distinction in international relations and economics from Stanford University.

On this week’s podcast, Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability program at CID and Tim McNaught, Building State Capability Fellow, have a conversation about the recently launched PDIAtoolkit.

// download the PDIAToolkit at www.bsc.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 24, 2018.

About the PDIAtoolkit: The PDIAtoolkit is designed to guide you through the process of solving complex problems which requires working in teams. We call it a Do-it-Yourself (DIY) kit, where the ‘you’ is a committed team of 4-6 people mobilized to work together to solve a complex problem that cannot be solved by one person.

Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA), is a step-by-step approach which helps you break down your problems into its root causes, identify entry points, search for possible solutions, take action, reflect upon what you have learned, adapt and then act again. It is a dynamic process with tight feedback loops that allows you to build your own solution to your problem that fits your local context.

The PDIAtoolkit draws from two key resources. The first is the Building State Capability: Evidence, Analysis, Action book which is available as a free download and the second is a set of short videos explaining the key concepts of PDIA.

While the PDIA process is not linear, we recommend that you first read this toolkit in sequence to understand the steps. The toolkit has eight sections. Each section introduces a new concept and has one or more worksheets which are the tools to help you try PDIA for yourself. All the tools are dynamic and should be reviewed and adapted on a regular basis.

We hope that you find this toolkit useful and wish you the best on your PDIA Journey.

This is an open access publication, available online and distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution –Non Commercial –No Derivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

The New Climate Economy’s (NCE) recently released their 2018 Report on Unlocking the Inclusive Growth Story of the 21st Century: Accelerating Climate Action in Urgent Times. The key findings of the report focus on five key economic sectors: Energy, Cities, Food and Land Use, Water, and Industry, as well as the cross-cutting issues of Finance and Just Transition. The report also highlights some examples of the low carbon transition taking root, as well as the economic and social benefits being reaped as a result.

How can we work toward a sustainable development model that promotes economic growth and environmental change? Leonardo Garrido, Lead Economist at the New Climate Economy explains how countries can work towards better growth and better climate.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Nawal Qutub, graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, interviews Leonardo Garrido, who provides further insight on the work of the New Climate Economy. He also discusses their work on a Low Carbon Development Initiative in Indonesia, a collaboration with the Indonesian Planning Ministry (BAPPENAS) to create a low carbon 5-year development plan.

// www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 19, 2018.

About Leonardo Garrido: Leonardo Garrido is a Development Economist with more than 20 years of experience on applied economic research and empirical methods. Leonardo's main research interests include the linkages between climate, the environment and the socio-economy; the dynamics of poverty, inequality and growth; the application of heterodox approaches for understanding complex socio-economic phenomena; and the analysis of constraints to inclusive development in the developing world. Prior to joining the New Climate Economy, Leonardo worked for 15+ years conducting empirical work, macro and micro modeling and country engagement for several multilateral and bilateral development organizations, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the UK Department for International Development and USAID. During that period, he led projects in over 25 countries in support of policy making, mainly in Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Leonardo previously served as Chief Economist for a Venezuelan financial institution, as Head of Economic Research in Venezuela's Tax Revenue Authority, and as Empirical Economist for a leading Venezuelean economic private consulting institution. Leonardo obtained his Economics degree at Universidad Catolica Andres Bellow in Caracas, Venezuela. He also holds a Certificate in International Taxation from Harvard Law School, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he specialized in both macroeconomic and microeconomic analysis. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife and two sons.

Billions of dollars in cash payments are made daily in emerging and developing economies, including payment of salaries, social welfare and business transactions. The problem with these cash payments is their lack of transparency, accountability and security. Thanks to technology and connectivity, more people than ever now have access to mobile phones, the internet and cloud-based solutions.

How can this digital revolution help us reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) more quickly? Tidhar Wald, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy, Better Than Cash Alliance, United Nations, explains how countries can begin to move away from cash. For the nearly two billion people excluded from the formal financial sector, the digitization of payments can open the door to a range of affordable financial services to help them save safely, seize economic opportunities and reduce their vulnerability.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Jason Keene, Masters in Public Administration and International Development student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Tidhar Wald, who provides further insight on how this vision of digitization can only be realized if it is carried out responsibly and responsively to people’s needs.

// www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 12, 2018.

About Tidhar Wald: Tidhar Wald leads the Government Relations and Public Policy teams at the Better Than Cash Alliance, a UN-based partnership of over 60 governments, companies and international organizations that accelerates the global transition from cash to digital payments in order to drive inclusive growth and reduce poverty. At Better Than Cash Alliance, Tidhar oversees the outreach to governments, companies, international organizations and donor governments towards their commitment to digitize payments and work together to build digital economies that are inclusive. Prior to his tenure at the Better Than Cash Alliance, Tidhar held positions in political affairs and government relations for over a decade, including at the United Nations, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Oxfam International. Tidhar holds a Master of Public Policy and International Affairs from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelors in Political Science and History from Sorbonne University in Paris.

Since the end of the Second World War, the international rules-based system has been determined by developed countries with economic power who came together to form multilateral organizations like the United Nations. In today’s world, other nations with conflicting interests are challenging the foundations of the UN and this international rules-based system, making it difficult to reach consensus on pressing global issues like climate change, migration, terror, protectionism, and pandemics.

How do we begin to repair this broken international rules-based system? Andrew Mitchell, British Member of Parliament and Former Secretary of State for International Development, discusses ways in which the UN can be adapted to today’s globalized society.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Anna Mysliwiec, Masters in Public Policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School, interviews Andrew Mitchell who provides further insight on the deterioration of the international rules-based system and how the world can begin to repair it.

// www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on October 5, 2018.

About Andrew Mitchell: Andrew was born in 1956 and is married with two daughters. He was educated at Rugby School and Cambridge University, where he studied history and was elected as President of the Cambridge Union in 1978. Andrew served in the Army (Royal Tank Regiment) before joining Lazard where he worked with British companies seeking large-scale overseas contracts.

He was the Member of Parliament for Gedling from 1987 to 1997. During this period, he held office as a Government Whip and as Minister for Social Security. He also served as a Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1992 to 1993.

In 2001 he was re-elected to Parliament as MP for Sutton Coldfield. In November 2003, he was appointed Shadow Minister for Economic Affairs. From September 2004 until the end of the Parliamentary term, he was Shadow Minister for Home Affairs. Following the General Election in May 2005 Andrew joined the Shadow Cabinet and was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. Andrew Mitchell was Secretary of State for International Development from May 2010 until September 2012 and Government Chief Whip from September – October 2012. An experienced and highly effective MP, Andrew is committed to serving the people of Sutton Coldfield.

Andrew is currently campaigning on a number of important local issues in Sutton Coldfield including issues affecting our local environment and the general well-being of the Sutton Coldfield community. He is very active in addressing issues of local development where he feels they adversely affect the Town. He actively supports a number of local charities including Breastfriends, Norman Laud Association, Sutton Coldfield Branch of the RNLI, Parkinson’s Disease Society, Sutton Coldfield Sea Cadets, Greenacres, and Sutton Coldfield Guiding.

Since becoming Sutton Coldfield’s MP he is particularly pleased to have achieved the reinstatement of the Sutton Coldfield Civic Service and established the Sutton Coldfield Inter-Schools Debating Competition.

As Sutton Coldfield’s MP, Andrew deals with hundreds of letters and emails from constituents every week. He has a dedicated staff of 5 people to assist him with this work. The issues raised are wide ranging and can fall within the responsibility of Government Departments or Birmingham City Council as well as a number of the agencies that now administer specific matters such as immigration, benefits and the environment. In addition he holds regular Advice Sessions where constituents can see him to discuss political issues or matters of personal concern.

Andrew has a home in Sutton Coldfield and spends as much time as possible regularly visiting local schools, businesses and voluntary organisations.

The current exodus of Venezuelans has generated the largest migration crisis of its kind in recent Latin American history, as Human Rights Watch has pointed out in its most recent report. More than 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2014, according to the United Nations, and many others have left whose cases have not been registered by authorities. Venezuelans are fleeing their country for multiple reasons, which includes severe shortages of medicine, medical supplies, and food; extremely high rates of violent crime; hyperinflation; and thousands of arbitrary arrests, torture and other abuses against detainees.

Today on CID’s Speaker Series podcast, Nizar El Fakih, MPA/MC Mason Fellow candidate at the

Harvard Kennedy School, interviews José Miguel Vivanco, director of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch and a general expert on Latin America, who provides insight on this mass exodus and the current humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, and the role of the international community in this crisis.

// www.growthlab.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on September 26, 2018.

About José Miguel Vivanco: José Miguel Vivanco, director of Human Rights Watch's Americas division, is a general expert on Latin America. Before joining Human Rights Watch, Vivanco worked as an attorney for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1990, he founded the Center for Justice and International Law, an NGO that files complaints before international human rights bodies. Vivanco has also been an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and the School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University. He has published articles in leading American and Latin American newspapers and is interviewed regularly for television news. A Chilean, Vivanco studied law at the University of Chile and Salamanca Law School in Spain and holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

On this week’s podcast, Salimah Samji, Director of the Building State Capability program at CID, interviews Mark Moore, Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who will be teaching the new Building State Capability online course titled “Creating Public Value”.

// www.bsc.cid.harvard.edu //

Interview recorded on September 13, 2018.

About Mark Moore: Mark H. Moore is the Hauser Professor of Nonprofit Organizations. His current primary focus is studying the processes that enable social innovation and change to occur in response to changing political, economic, and social conditions.

For over ten years, Venezuela has been plagued with a deep economic and political crisis that has also recently transpired into a humanitarian issue. In the past five years, GDP has gone down over 50% and hyperinflation is forecasted by the IMF to reach over 1,000,000% for this year, 2018. The economic downfall has also led to shortages in food, medical supplies, and other commodities nationwide.

In their latest research paper: “Fool’s Gold: On the Impact of Venezuelan Devaluations in Multinational Stock Prices” Miguel Angel Santos, Dany Bahar, and Carlos Alberto Molina analyze how multinational companies with subsidiaries in Venezuela have been impacted by currency devaluations as the economic crisis worsened.

Today on CID’s Research Spotlight podcast, Camila Lobo, CID Events & Outreach Manager, interviews one of the co-authors of this research paper, Miguel Angel Santos, who provides insight on the current economic crisis in Venezuela and what motivated them to delve into this research.

Miguel Angel Santos is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University.

Read the paper:

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/publications/fellow-graduate-student-working-papers/currency-devaluations-venezuela

Interview recorded on August 2, 2018.

About Miguel Angel Santos: Miguel Angel Santos is an Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University.

At CID, he has been involved in various research projects aimed at helping governments to rethink their development strategies, both at the national and sub-national levels. Since he joined CID in August 2014, he has been involved in projects at the national level in Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela, and at the sub-national level in Mexico in the states of Chiapas, Baja California, Tabasco and Campeche; and the city of Hermosillo at Sonora state. He has also performed as project manager in the projects leading to the build-up of the Mexican Atlas of Economic Complexity, and the Peruvian Atlas of Economic Complexity.

Before joining the field of international development, Miguel worked for ten years in corporate finance and business development in Latin America, performing as Director of Finance for the Cisneros Group of Companies (1997-2003), Head of Corporate Finance for Mercantil Servicios Financieros (2005-2007), and Business Vice-President for Sony Pictures and Entertainment Latin America (2008-2009). At that point, he decided to switch tracks and get involved in development economics.

He holds two Master of Science degrees in International Finance and Trade (2011) and Economics (2012) from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University (2014), and a Ph.D. in Economics at Universidad de Barcelona (2016). He was the head of the Macroeconomic Policy Team for presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski in the Venezuelan elections of 2012.