Does microfinance work?

How can we investigate its impact?

What about pooling Randomised Control Trials?

Dr. Rachael Meager (Assistant Professor at the LSE) presents an innovative research methodology:

"Aggregating Distributional Treatment Effects: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis of the Microcredit Literature".

You can read the full paper here: https://economics.mit.edu/files/12292

How to improve state capability - such that low- and middle-income country governments can effectively tackle local problems?

Instead of 'best practice' recommendations or cocooned donor projects, Dr. Matt Andrews emphasises 'Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation' (PDIA).

Governments explore challenges, identify their causes, incrementally address obstacles, and build their capabilities through doing.

But can such incremental adaptations enable inclusive growth?

And how can researchers/ donors support this process?

Listen to our discussion!

You can register for their free online course here: www.buildingstatecapability.com/

Read the open access book: bsc.cid.harvard.edu/building-state-…analysis-action

How did China escape the poverty trap?

And what can other emerging economies learn from China's success of 'directed improvisation'?

Dr. Ang discusses findings from her fascinating new book: http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100715940

Is inequality inevitable?

Why has inequality fallen in Latin America?

Is this due to democratisation?

How should we study inequality?

Given globalisation and precarity, are unions dead?

What can they achieve?

What enables unions to be more effective?

How can they be better supported?

Dr. Sian Lazar discusses her fascinating book on unions in Latin America, the Middle East and Europe: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Where-Are-Unions-Workers-Movements-ebook/dp/B06XF4LZ65/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489824067&sr=8-1&keywords=Where+Are+The+Unions%3F+Workers+and+Social+Movements+in+Latin+America%2C+the+Middle+East+and+Europe

What are 'affects' and emotional 'atmospheres'?

Why are Geographers so enraptured by them?

How do they help us understand neoliberalism?

Might affects and emotions be mobilised to erode neoliberalism?

This interview relates to Professor Anderson's paper in Progress in Human Geography. You can read it here: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0309132515613167

Read more about him here: https://www.dur.ac.uk/geography/staff/geogstaffhidden/?id=985

And follow him on Twitter: @BenAndersonGeog

[illustrative painting by Paolo Troilo https://www.troilo54.com/]

Are there parallels between support for Trump and desire for a superhero? Professor Jason Dittmer thinks so...

I'm sceptical, however.

Floating above the River Cam, sharing a bakewell tart, atop a wooden punt, we discuss masculinity, geopolitics, and faith in individual agency.

He's the coolest professor I know, so I do hope you enjoy listening as much as we did recording.

Buy his book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-America-Nationalist-Superhero-Geopolitics-ebook/dp/B00AATCSD8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487708791&sr=8-1&keywords=jason+dittmer+captain+america

Follow Professor Dittmer on Twitter @realjdittmer

Four Questions for Dr Adam Branch

(expert in African politics and the International Criminal Court, ICC):

1. Does the ICC do any good?

2. Why has the AU announced its intention to withdraw from the ICC?

3. What's the alternative?

4. Would African leaders submit to a regional instrument?

[Illustrative cartoon by Gado, http://gadocartoons.com/ @iGaddo]

You can read Adam's article here: https://academic.oup.com/ijtj/article/doi/10.1093/ijtj/ijw027/2919404/Dominic-Ongwen-on-Trial-The-ICC-s-African-Dilemmas

Check out his fantastic book, co-authored with Zachary Mamphilly: "Africa Uprising" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Africa-Uprising-Popular-Political-Arguments-ebook/dp/B00UAXRVS6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488207770&sr=8-1&keywords=africa+uprising+adam+branch

Four Questions for Dr. Sara Dorman:

Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost the 2008 election. So why does he still retain power?

Why have opposition politics and civil society been unable to push back?

What - if anything - can outsiders do to support 'good governance'?

What does Zimbabwe's experience of power-sharing tell us about supporting 'good governance' more broadly?

What's driving the housing crisis for South African middle income households?

Why aren't these middling households mobilising for housing reform?

Yet we do see collective action in the case of 'fees must fall', for higher education. What explains this discrepancy?

Charlotte, why do you think 'middle class' isn't appropriate to the South African context?

Paper here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001671851530083X

Photo credits: Jonny Miller, http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/06/apartheids-urban-legacy-in-striking-aerial-photographs-south-africa-cities-architecture-racism/487808/