iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

🆕 Tomorrow’s AI won’t meet today’s world AI could reshape the pathways to economic growth. Those looking to grow will adapt to that. Predictions of our economic futures should account for both: indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...

indevelopmentmag.substack.com

Tomorrow’s AI Won’t Meet Today’s World

AI could reshape the pathways to economic growth. Those looking to grow will adapt to that. Predictions of our economic futures should account for both.

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

AI RCTs have been growing over recent years, a trend that's likely to intensify given recent funding announcements. w/ Tim Ohlenburg, Sharif Kazemi, Joseph Levine & Shahrukh Wani, we’ve summarised trends, challenges & potential solutions: voxdev.org/topic/method...

voxdev.org

AI RCTs are booming – to be useful they must evolve

AI RCTs are on the rise; a trend that’s set to continue, and is likely to intensify. But randomising a rapidly evolving, increasingly widely adopted, technology poses a distinct set of challenges. So ...

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Err, well this was really cool. I joined @sarahoconnorft.ft.com & @jburnmurdoch.ft.com on the @financialtimes.com's The AI Shift. Featuring my call for the economic research teams currently being built out within Anthropic, OpenAI & DeepMind to actually hire some development economists & much more!

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

🆕 AI and development economics: What to read, watch and listen to I've updated my @voxdev.bsky.social blog. You can read this collection of the early evidence, and the resources I use to keep up, here: voxdev.org/topic/ai-and... As always, let me know what I've missed so I can add it :)

voxdev.org

AI and development economics: Early evidence and how to keep up

I have been (trying) to keep track of the latest AI-related thinking and research that is relevant to low- and middle-income countries. It is hard to know where to look and what to trust, here are the...

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Listen, watch, or read wherever you get your podcasts: - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2Lcy... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/892469... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/has-develo...

youtube.com

Rachel Glennerster on micro vs macro, academic consensus, and impactful careers in development

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

🆕 Has development economics lost its way? On this episode of Ideas in Development, @rglenner.bsky.social @cgdev.org joined me for a wide-ranging chat about micro vs macro, how academic consensus is built, and what impactful careers currently look like in economics.

youtube.com

Rachel Glennerster on micro vs macro, academic consensus, and impactful careers in development

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Read, listen, watch wherever you get your podcasts: - YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgwc... - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5EEC... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/892241... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/how-global...

youtube.com

How global supply chains really work | Bill McRaith on building factories from China to Ethiopia

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

🆕 How global supply chains are built Today on Ideas in Development, Bill McRaith joins me to discuss his experience setting up factories from 90s China to Ethiopia today, what it's like to be pitched by governments & the mistakes they make + the future of the apparel industry.

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Listen or watch wherever you get your podcasts: - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5pZo... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/891938... - YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGam... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/elite-barg...

podcasts.apple.com

Stefan Dercon on elite bargains and kickstarting economic growth (via the AUL Podcast)

Podcast Episode · Ideas in Development · June 23 · 1h 25m

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Elite bargains for growth - Stefan Dercon joins Kurtis Lockhart to discuss elite bargains and kickstarting economic growth. Slightly different episode today, a repost of a recent episode on the Africa Urban Lab's podcast, very much an episode I wish I’d recorded!

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

We are live! Join to learn about the impacts of, and solutions to, air pollution: www.youtube.com/live/LcnyDGn...

youtube.com

Air Pollution | A VoxDev Launch Event

YouTube video by VoxDev

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on Air Pollution is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editors Teevrat Garg (UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy) & Anant Sudarshan (Warwick Economics) summarise the economic evidence on air pollution. Read & download here: ow.ly/9WR150ZcCUO

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Watch, read, or listen wherever you get your podcasts: - YouTube - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/12Uq... - Everywhere else: audioboom.com/posts/891709... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/moving-bil...

youtube.com

Moving billions towards evidence, evidence labs and the research-policy gap | Dean Karlan

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

🆕 Moving billions towards evidence @deankarlan.bsky.social joined me on Ideas in Development to discuss how he and his team moved ~1.7 billion in funding at USAID, the growth of embedded labs and how they work, and the two key gaps between research and policy.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on Technology & Development is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editors Julieta Caunedo (Cornell University) & Tommaso Porzio (Columbia Business School) summarise economic research on technology and development. Read & download here: ow.ly/U2f450ZbJwK

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Listen, watch or read wherever you get your podcasts: YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGRv... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/0fR2... Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/891418... Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/economic-r...

youtube.com

Ethiopia’s Economy: Mamo Mihretu on Industrialisation, Growth and Economic Reform

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

🆕 Economic reform in Ethiopia and the foundations of growth For this wide ranging podcast, Kartik Akileswaran (Growth Teams) and I were joined by Mamo Mihretu who has worked across many of Ethiopia's recent economic reforms, including as the tenth governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia.

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

“There’s just very little serious attempt to deal with noise. People do these power calculations that are mostly, to be honest, made up or kind of reverse engineered. And we wouldn’t accept that in other areas of our statistical practice.”

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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I missed this but VoxDev @olihanney.bsky.social interviewed CGDev fellow and my wonderful past phd student @mrao.bsky.social about her work on the relationship between evidence and policy! So exciting to see this work getting more of the attention it deserves :)))) youtu.be/FNzZHYvhMG0

youtu.be

The evidence gap on evidence use | Michelle Rao | Ideas in Development

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Thanks for joining! and providing so many good quotes to pick from :)

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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Oliver has chosen the coolest pull quote ever for me… I urge you all to pick up the phone if voxdev ever calls you because they know how to make you sound cool

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Now available wherever you get your podcasts: - Watch on YouTube. - Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/79k5... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/891014... - Read on Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/aggregatin...

youtube.com

Rafe Meager on aggregating evidence, the research process, and how to read results in economics

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

🆕 Aggregating evidence, the research process, and empowering the public to understand research All that & more in this week's episode of Ideas in Development with @economeager.bsky.social. Really enjoyed discussing how we can improve the evidence base in economics by aggregating.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

📢 Air pollution is the world’s leading environmental health risk, and its burden falls overwhelmingly on LMICs. In this VoxDevLit launch event on June 17th, Teevrat Garg & Anant Sudarshan will review the economic evidence on air pollution. Register➡️ ow.ly/WGlf50Z4CGN

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Wherever you get your podcasts: - Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNzZ... - Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3KHd... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/890782... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/the-eviden...

youtube.com

The evidence gap on evidence use | Michelle Rao | Ideas in Development

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

🆕 The evidence gap on evidence use This week on Ideas in Development, @mrao.bsky.social @cgdev.org joined me to discuss evidence use, her research on how evaluations shape funding, and a key evidence gap in development economics ⤵️

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Lauren Gilbert @lgilbert.co · 21/05/2026

The last piece of the first issue of In Development is out! There are 7.7 million people with opioid use disorder in India. Only 45,000 of them are receiving evidence-based treatment. Akshay Narayanan explains how this happened. indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/cheap-drug...

indevelopmentmag.substack.com

India's Treatable Crisis: Why 7 Million Opioid Patients Go Without Care

India produces enough buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid addiction, to serve about 450,000 patients each year. It is treating only 45,000. How do we fix this?

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/glfYWJp... Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5Nr9... Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/890623... Read on Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/the-end-of...

youtube.com

Dani Rodrik: Why I changed my mind on manufacturing

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

🆕 The end of the manufacturing escalator? @drodrik.bsky.social joined me to discuss why he has become a manufacturing skeptic, service-led growth & what industrial policy should look like for this new era. Really enjoyed this live conversation, available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcgk... Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3AkV... Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/890484... Read on Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/how-two-re...

youtube.com

Adopt or innovate? How Taiwan and Brazil did both

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

🆕 In 1973, two research institutes were founded that would dramatically alter their countries' development paths. Today on Ideas in Development, I'm joined by @karthiktadepalli.bsky.social to discuss ITRI in Taiwan and Embrapa in Brazil. Available wherever you get your podcasts ⤵️

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Why has @drodrik.bsky.social changed his mind on manufacturing? Really excited for this live episode of the Ideas in Development podcast, taking place next week on Wednesday May 20th (2pm UK). Dani is joining me to discuss his evolving views, the evidence that changed his mind & more.

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Dani Rodrik @drodrik.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Many have expressed surprise (and dismay) at this. So I'm happy to have a chance to discus why I think manufacturing's promise for developing countries is fading with Oliver Hanney over at VoxDev. Bring your questions. cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thu...

cdn.bsky.app

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Links to watch, listen and read: - YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjXm... - Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... - Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3MfS... - Audioboom: audioboom.com/posts/890231... - Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/the-perfec...

youtube.com

Ed Glaeser on the perfect city, the demons of density and what makes cities work

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

🆕 The perfect city? In the final episode of our series on cities, Ed Glaeser joined Kurtis Lockhart and I to discuss the perfect city, the demons of density and what makes cities work.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

🆕 Understanding development in the long run Today on VoxDev, Jean-Paul Faguet (@lseid.bsky.social) & Fabio Sánchez (Universidad de los Andes) challenge the consensus that extractive institutions always harm long-run development: voxdev.org/topic/instit...

voxdev.org

Understanding development in the long run: Cracks in the consensus on institutions?

New evidence from colonial history is challenging the consensus that extractive institutions always harm long-run development, showing that outcomes depend on whether extraction left behind durable pu...

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

On Ideas in Development, Leonard discusses recent unrest in Kenya & Tanzania, clientelism & more. YouTube. Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6BoY... Elsewhere: audioboom.com/posts/889928... Substack: ideasindevelopment.substack.com/p/cities-of-...

youtube.com

Leonard Wantchekon on youth and governance in African cities

YouTube video by VoxDev

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

🆕 Leonard Wantchekon on youth, governance & Africa's urban future. Are African cities a powder keg of restless youth – or the most promising place to build prosperity, peaceful politics and shared civic life?

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

What’s holding back agriculture in Ghana? Today on VoxDev, Nkechi Owoo outlines why closing the technology gap will require coordinated policy action that addresses financing, infrastructure, and information constraints together, rather than in isolation: voxdev.org/topic/agricu...

voxdev.org

What’s holding back agriculture in Ghana?

Despite a long decline in agriculture's share of Ghana's economy, the sector remains vital, yet productivity gains are undermined by partial and uneven adoption of modern technologies across seeds, fe...

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

🆕 The lies we sell I am sick of hearing the ‘foreign aid will reduce migration’ sales pitch. The best evidence we have suggests that foreign aid will not reduce migration. In fact, it will most likely increase it: olihanney.substack.com/p/the-lies-w...

olihanney.substack.com

The lies we sell

I am sick of hearing the ‘foreign aid will reduce migration’ sales pitch.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Sharing research evidence with senior rather than junior staff significantly raises the chance it spreads through an organisation, but shifting peer beliefs about the evidence has no clear effect.

Impact of evidence sharing, by seniority and positive information

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

🆕 Boosting farmers' profits 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks w/ Tim, Craig McIntosh (UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy) discusses whether relaxing credit constraints can boost farmers profits: voxdev.org/topic/agriculture/boosti…

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

🆕 How does evidence diffuse through organisations? Today on VoxDev, Mahvish Shaukat (World Bank), Andreas Stegmann (Universität Münster) & Mattie Toma (University of Warwick) discuss how seniority influences evidence use in an organisation: ow.ly/fIXT50YRAos

ow.ly

How does evidence diffuse through organisations?

Sharing research evidence with senior rather than junior staff significantly raises the chance it spreads through an organisation, but shifting peer beliefs about the evidence has no clear effect.

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Oliver Hanney @olihanney.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

🆕 How does organised crime take over a city – and can mayors act before it does? @chrisblattman.bsky.social joins Kurtis Lockhart and I on Ideas in Development to discuss: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKF3...

youtube.com

Chris Blattman on how crime captures a city, Medellín, and the future of African cities

YouTube video by VoxDev

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