VoxDev Development Economics

When FDI mandates joint ventures foreign firms get market access, and their local partners get access to knowledge and technology in return. Does the policy benefit the host economy and its consumers more than other forms of FDI would have done? Jie Bai of Harvard Kennedy School talks to Tim Phillips.

Do healthcare workers in Sierra Leone work harder when they know that promotion is based on performance, rather than friendships or connections? And if they discover that promotion isn’t only unfair but has a big bump in pay, what effect does that have on productivity? Erika Deserranno tells Tim Phillips about an experiment with good news and some warnings for public sector employers.

When Indonesia’s dictatorship became a democracy in 1999, did it affect the investment in healthcare? And was that spending allocated where it was most needed, or where it would win the most votes? Allan Hsiao talks to Tim Phillips about whether, in this case, democracy was a force for good? Photo: Ikhlasul Amal.

In Madagascar, the taxes and duties collected by customs are half of the government’s tax revenue: so the potential cost of corruption is huge. Ana Fernandes and Bob Rijkers are two of a team that developed a new methodology to detect that corruption. They tell Tim Phillips what they found – and what the government did about it.

We naturally assume that maintaining highways helps developing economies to grow and people to thrive. But there’s surprisingly little hard evidence on what the return on this investment could be – until now. Alex Rothenberg tells Tim Phillips whether repairing Indonesia’s roads has been a good investment.

When governments want to raise revenue, they often look for state-owned assets to privatise. What is the effect on the people who work in these firms? David Arnold talks to Tim Phillips about the impact of privatisation in Brazil.

Millions of Sri Lankans have migrated to the Gulf region to work, but almost one in 10 makes a formal complaint to the consulate about abuse or employer malpractice. Is there a better way to protect them? Nilesh Fernando tells Tim Phillips about a successful policy to regulate the agencies that match workers and employers.

Imagine an intervention that combined funding, best practice delivered at scale, and near-universal compliance. Should this guarantee it will succeed? Not necessarily, according to a study of a program to improve quality in Indian schools. Abhijeet Singh talks to Tim Phillips.

What role do bureaucrats play in a crisis? We might think that the best bureaucracy would be made up of people who are very good at doing exactly what they are told. But research into the impact of the 1918 flu pandemic in India suggests that other factors may be important too. Guo Xu talks to Tim Phillips.

What are the consequences for workers if they are employed by a firm that is sanctioned for corruption? We’re back in Brazil: Christiane Szerman tells Tim Phillips that the quest to do the right thing is catching guilty companies – but with devastating consequences for thousands of employees.