iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Owen Barder @owen.org · 21/09/2026

who had "US joins Comecon" on their bingo card?

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 21/09/2026

I don't think it likely that ground beef is a Giffen good.

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Scuzzy Mortspider 🕷️ 🎃 @jussienorthside.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The British government is a major user of X. They’re not watching helplessly, they’re encouraging people to use X every day.

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Anna Alexandrova @annaalexandrova.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Frank Ramsey now on the wall along with the portraits of other former fellows of @kingscollege.bsky.social I am proud to have advocated for this recent addition

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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

How do people feel about the term "data-driven research"? I hear it a lot, and - as an epidemiologist - it makes me cringe. If your research is exploratory, then you can reasonably adopt a "data-driven" approach. But for inferential research, I believe your analysis should by theory-driven.

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Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Still have a hard time wrapping my head around development economists continuing to pay money to the guy who has done probably more damage to international development than anyone else this century

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 14/06/2026

The population of Curacao is smaller than the population of Kingston Upon Thames. (Though tbf Kingston has given us Declan Rice and Luke Shaw...)

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Lauren Gilbert @lgilbert.co · 17/04/2026

We've launched In Development! It is aiming to be the New Yorker for global development. We want to promote discourse on development without dogma - stories doing deep-dives into pressing development issues, backed up by evidence, argument, and experience. Subscribe here: indevelopmentmag.com

indevelopmentmag.com

In Development

evidence and argument for a developing world

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Ian Moss @ian.allenmoss.co.uk · 13/04/2026

I believe in the year 2026 that schools could offer their term/inset dates as calendar files and not PDFs on the website.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 26/03/2026

Why don't we ask the EU to put biometric registration terminals in the departure areas of UK aiports?

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

GDS's big refresh of www.data.gov.uk is now live "The home of UK public data to inform decisions and build services" #govtech #datasharing #opendata -adjacent

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Tobias Denskus @aidnography.de · 26/02/2026

As aid budgets gets slashed & the US withdraws from global institutions, this is an excellent opportunity to finally bring in a non-American leader for WFP (and please stop with the plastic press releases...)

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 04/02/2026

My experience exactly. LLMs do not do data cleaning or organisation reliably. And it is troubling that they do not know they cannot do this. So far the only use I have found for LLMs is vibe coding. Which is fine if you don't care about the security of your code.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 22/01/2026

I suspect we are all going to need to read up on Akrotiri and Dhekelia - an example of a military base on an island (Cyprus) for which the military power (UK) has sovereignty. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotir... www.cvce.eu/content/publ...

cvce.eu

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 19/01/2026

Would like to read analysis of: a. what would defence of the Arctic, including Greenland, look like? How much would it cost? b. what exactly are the valuable economic assets in Greenland? c. which businesses in the UK and EU countries would be adversely affected by an increase in US tarrifs?

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 19/01/2026

Joan Robinson "Beggar-My-Neighbour Remedies for Unemployment" 1937 ia802806.us.archive.org/16/items/ess... (p170-184)

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Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · 17/12/2025

FCDO's internal “best buy” documents identify which interventions deliver the greatest impact—but aren't publicly available. Euan Ritchie makes the case for publishing them to support partners and improve systems: go.cgdev.org/4q8qsa6

cgdev.org

FCDO’s Best Buys Deserve a Larger Audience

FCDO has produced several sectoral documents specifying which types of interventions are likely to be most cost-effective based on a review of evidence— known as “best buys.” These documents—while imp...

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 05/12/2025

Sweden is the most development-friendly country for the third year running.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 27/11/2025

31 years ago I set up the first UK government website to publish the budget online - the first country to do so. I took an ASCII version of the documents from the typesetters, and worked overnight to put in HTML tags by hand. I didn't FTP it to the server until the Chancellor sat down.

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Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

I am delighted to share that Nobel laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee will join our Department of Economics @econ.uzh.ch at the University of Zurich on July 1, 2026, as Lemann Foundation Professors of Economics. 🧵 1/7

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 18/09/2025

Haha. Academia.edu account duly cancelled.

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Soumaya Keynes @soumayakeynes.ft.com · 03/09/2025

As a former resident of wonk-land, this made me snort www.economist.com/britain/2025...

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 02/09/2025

I would happily buy a smart speaker that responds to voice commands to play music or the radio, and to control lights and other home automation, but which does not make recordings nor send data to a tech company. Why does this not exist? Is there not a big enough market for it?

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 18/08/2025

The evidence in favour of unconditional cash transfers continues to mount.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 12/08/2025

This does not signal a high degree of tech literacy among UK civil servants (at least, not the ones in DEFRA responsible for water). It might have been a good idea to check this with DSIT. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Screen shot of DEFRA press release which says

HOW TO SAVE WATER AT HOME
Install a rain butt to collect rainwater to use in the garden.

Fix a leaking toilet – leaky loos can waste 200-400 litres a day.

Use water from the kitchen to water your plants.

Avoid watering your lawn – brown grass will grow back healthy.

Turn off the taps when brushing teeth or shaving.

Take shorter showers.

Highlighted bullet: Delete old emails and pictures as data centres require vast amounts of water to cool their systems.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 06/08/2025

Lots of people seem to want to produce content using AI, but nobody seems to want to consume content produced by AI.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 06/08/2025

Giving cash has low overheads and it demonstrably works. (Though I don't think that evidence is driving decisions about foreign assistance right now.).

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 30/07/2025

Has anyone written (or read) anything that explains why the Government does not offer a simple age verification service? For example, I log in to a gov.uk verification service, verify who I am, get a token on my device, and use that token to verify that I am over 18 for any site that needs to know.

gov.uk

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The Feminist Scientist @feministscientist.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Happy Birthday, Rosalind Franklin. She captured an X-ray diffraction image of DNA and stated that a helical structure was probable. Watson and Crick then created a detailed model based on her results. They initially received credit for the discovery and were awarded the Nobel Prize after her death.🧪

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 09/07/2025

Assuming these screenshots are genuine then Twitter's AI bot (Grok) is spewing anti-semitism on Twitter. There is a case for Ofcom to prevent Twitter from being accessed in the UK. It is ludicrous that UK public institutions, including the Government and the BBC, are still posting on Twitter.

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360Giving @360giving.org · 02/07/2025

🎈 360Giving is 10 years old today! To celebrate, we invited 10 people who have been a key part of our story over the first 10 years to reflect on moments that shaped our evolution ⬇️ www.360giving.org/2025/07/01/1...

360giving.org

10 years of open grants data - 360Giving

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we invited some of those who’ve been part of our evolution to reflect on key moments in 360Giving’s story.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Evaluating the Impact of AI in Development Webinar starting in 1 hour, w/ @cgdev.org, @j-pal.bsky.social & @agencyfund.bsky.social, we are joined by @hanshengchia.bsky.social, Samantha Carter & Farhan Abrol to discuss the potential applications of AI. Register: cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 04/06/2025

Important and under-recognised issue being discussed at @cgdev.org today

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 31/05/2025

Cycling fans who did not watch it live will enjoy the highlights of today's Giro D'Italia. A day to remember.

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 29/05/2025

Investing in information for smallholder farmers is: - high impact for people in extreme poverty - staggeringly good value for money - hugely scaleable - increases agency of farmers Precision Development has taken another huge step forward. Kudos to the whole team. www.linkedin.com/posts/precis...

linkedin.com

#digitalagriculture #foodsecurity #climateresilience #development #impact… | Precision Development (PxD)

🌾 Evidence to Impact: Our 2024 Annual Report is Here 🌾 This year marked a major leap forward for PxD. We reached 18.5 million farmers - an 85% increase - launched new programs, and gathered compelli...

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Center for Global Development @cgdev.org · 21/05/2025

Germany & the Philippines created the first nursing Global Skill Partnership—where the destination country pays for the training of needed workers in the country of origin. @helen-dempster.bsky.social & fellow experts explore the partnership, lessons, & next steps: www.cgdev.org/blog/hundred...

cgdev.org

Hundreds of Nurses Trained Through Philippines-Germany Global Skill Partnership

In 2019, Germany and the Philippines established the world’s first nursing Global Skill Partnership (GSP). In a GSP, the destination country pays for the training of much-needed workers within the cou...

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Owen Ozier @owenozier.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

🚨Development Economists!🚨Do you use Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS Program) data, which had been supported by USAID? IPUMS ( @ipums.bsky.social ) and the UN Statistics Division have a survey for you. I just filled it out. You can too. #econsky

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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 19/04/2025

The heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising fought for freedom and dignity in the face of unimaginable horror. Today, like so many across Poland, we hold a daffodil in remembrance of their bravery. Their memory compels us to stand firm against antisemitism and hatred in all its forms.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 17/04/2025

What does global poverty look like if we rely on the notions of poverty in rich countries like Denmark, the US, or Germany? And how should this perspective inform our aspirations for the future of global poverty?

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 15/04/2025

This is all too rare in development cooperation - here is an account of how Precision Development (PxD) built, operated and transferred a digital service for the Government of Odisha. Under the government's leadership, the service has gone from strength to strength. www.linkedin.com/posts/precis...

linkedin.com

Ama Krushi - Transition Insights Report - PxD 2025 | Precision Development (PxD)

🚀 From Build to Transfer to Scale 🚀 In 2022, we partnered with the Government of Odisha to transition the Ama Krushi service—now known as Krushi Samruddhi—through a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model...

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Owen Barder @owen.org · 14/04/2025

We have so much to learn from Estonia

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Matt Collin @mattcollin.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

The market for ideas in the financial crime/AML space has been stagnent for years Miles's work is a big exception, and this piece should be self-recommending

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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 08/04/2025

Interesting piece, but it contains a complete misunderstanding of advance market commitments (AMCs). Taxpayers *don't pay* if the drug isn't successful. That's literally the point. They pay if the drug passes predetermined criteria, e.g. safety & efficacy, and proportional to the volume produced.

The other issue is that the supply-side focus of abundance happens to coincide with a strongly anti-corporate mood in American society. Big business polls very poorly among members of both parties, with the pharmaceutical industry ranking worst of all (below insurance and airlines.) Abundance includes a proposal for the federal government to use advance market commitments (AMCs) to support new technologies, but taxpayers will surely not appreciate seeing their money go to a drug company, particularly if it does not end up working. Conservatives decry the usage of industrial policy to “pick winners and losers,” but this is literally the federal government taking a gamble on a new innovation to buy the product. If one of the AMCs fails, the outrage from Solyndra will look minor by comparison.

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Sophy Ridge @sophyridge.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

We've been talking an awful lot about how the Trump tariffs will hit the big players: the UK, China, Canada, France, Germany etc But it's time to talk about the ones who DON'T have loud voices. Because some of the poorest countries in the world are going to be crippled by what happened last night

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