iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

🚨 Thinking a PhD in Economics? International Development Economics Association is hosting a two-part webinar series for students and early-career researchers considering graduate study in economics and related disciplines. Register➡️ idea.devecon.org/career-skills.html

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A paper-and-pencil-based individualised self-learning programme in Dhaka's disadvantaged communities made children markedly faster and more accurate at math problem solving, with effects still visible years later.

Impacts of Kumon on learning and cognition

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

A field experiment in Ecuador finds that a small number of children with persistent behavioural problems lower the achievement of their classmates. The effects are larger for younger children, increase with the number of poorly behaved children in the classroom, and persist for at least two grades.

The impact on classmates' achievement increases with the number of poorly behaved children in the classroom

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Over the past three decades, many low- and middle-income countries have devolved responsibility for public services to subnational governments. Read our latest VoxDevLit to learn more: voxdev.org/voxdevlit/political-econ…

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

A central insight of the political economy literature is that democratic elections create an accountability mechanism – but one that works imperfectly. Read our latest VoxDevLit to learn more: voxdev.org/voxdevlit/political-econ…

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The existence of universal suffrage and contested elections does not guarantee that democratic institutions deliver for citizens. Read our latest VoxDevLit to learn more: voxdev.org/voxdevlit/political-econ…

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The poor stand to benefit disproportionately from public services, yet their access to political power remains limited in many low- and middle-income countries. Read our latest VoxDevLit to learn more: ow.ly/Wiv150ZSZL9

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Low- and middle-income countries have lower scores on the quality of public services and the civil service, on policy formulation and implementation, and on the credibility of a government’s commitment to improving or maintaining these aspects. ow.ly/awEx50ZSZIH

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on the Political Economy of Public Service Delivery is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editor Claudio Ferraz (@ubcvse.bsky.social) reviews the evidence on the political economy of delivering public services. Read & download here: voxdev.org/voxdevlit/po...

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thousands die each year waiting for an organ transplant. In Tunisia, one expert-led classroom session tripled student donor registrations.

Treatment effects on secondary outcomes (endline)

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🆕 Corruption in public procurement: How politicians co-opt bureaucrats 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Sarah Brierley (LSE Department of Government) discusses why merit-based hiring is only the first step in tackling corruption in public procurement: ow.ly/E4sU50ZSxWa

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

📢Call for Applications: Senior Research Fellowships at the FCDO Eligibility: Applicants must be at least Associate Professor level of seniority and employed by a UK academic institution Deadline: 30 September 2026 at 5pm GMT Learn more: ow.ly/twrU50ZRo7U

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Local officials in China work harder on air quality when the target is doomed to fail, but relax their efforts when it is secured early, revealing how minimum standards shape bureaucratic effort when they are also judged on economic growth.

How AQI targets create two completion statuses

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Evidence from China suggests that big tech investment helps AI startups innovate by easing access to data, with implications for competition.

Innovation gains emerge after investment by large technology firms

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

🆕 No taxation without administration: What makes tax authorities work 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Anders Jensen (Harvard Kennedy School) & Jonathan Weigel (UC Berkeley Haas) discuss why tax administration design matters for revenue, even with scarce data: ow.ly/A0Ye50ZQteI

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In Ethiopia, community leaders tasked with selection of beneficiaries for social assistance prioritised coverage over transfer size when budgets were cut, while discretion allowed them to reach poor and conflict-affected households.

Share of households receiving a transfer and average transfer per beneficiary

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

📢 Our new VoxDevLit on Agricultural Policies for Growth is out now! In this VoxDevLit, Senior Editors Tasso Adamopoulos (York University) & Diego Restuccia (@econuoft.bsky.social) review agricultural policies for growth. Read & download here: voxdev.org/voxdevlit/ag...

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Because rural migrants are deterred far more by distance than they are drawn by higher pay, nearby towns – despite offering lower earnings than cities – end up absorbing far more migrants and doing more to reduce poverty, making them a decisive channel for inclusive urban growth.

KHDS baseline villages and urban destinations across Tanzania

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

🆕 Rethinking development cooperation: The case for a 'balance sheet' approach 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Alexia Latortue (Future of Development Cooperation Coalition) & Radha Rajkotia discuss a balance sheet approach to development aid: ow.ly/eNkn50ZObXf

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

📢Public services in low- and middle-income countries have remained low quality for decades In this VoxDevLit launch event on September 30th, Claudio Ferraz will review the evidence on the political economy of delivering public services Register➡️https://ow.ly/KYJg50ZLZBO

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Indonesia's E-Court reform reduced case duration by around 15% without evidence of deterioration in observable decision quality.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

When relatives answer on someone else’s behalf, men’s earnings are reported too low. In Mexico, this makes the measured gender wage gap 25% narrower.

Differences in reported earnings by type of respondent – Summary of validity checks

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Africa’s startup ecosystem is small but growing fast. Researchers built a new dataset to study who starts these firms, what capital they want, and who finances them.

Geographical distribution of startups in Africa

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Chile’s staggered lockdowns raised helpline calls and shelter use, but not police reports. Cash transfers mitigated the effect.

Impacts of lockdowns on indicators of domestic violence

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

🆕 Cape Town's day zero: How a water crisis built a data-driven city 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Hugh Cole (City of Cape Town) discusses Cape Town's day zero water crisis, the data-driven transformation it sparked, and lessons for cities: ow.ly/XcHI50ZL9j8

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

In an Ethiopian business plan competition, judges voted less for strong female candidates over the course of repeated assessments, but a simple reminder of the organisation’s commitment to equal opportunity offset this decline.

Female candidates were less likely to win in later rounds

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Whether a new mine raises or lowers a country's risk of violence depends not only on the mine itself, but on the country's entire ethnic and mining geography. Results for Sierra Leone and sub-Saharan Africa suggests that some deposits can be mined for peace.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In Chile, elite universities reproduce privilege, but for outsiders who get in, they also open a real path to the very top across generations.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

In Uganda, winning government contracts raises firms' total sales, but largely by reallocating supply away from private customers rather than generating net new business, with no gains in productivity or wages.

Effect of selling to the government on total sales and sales to non-government partners

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

📢Agricultural Policies for Growth Join us for this VoxDevLit launch event on September 17th with Tasso Adamopoulos, Diego Restuccia, Julieta Caunedo, @kevindonovan.bsky.social, @mushfiq-econ.bsky.social, Jacob Moscona, Ishan Nath & Karthik Sastry. Register➡️ cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

🆕 Fifty years of Chinese growth: The gradualist reform strategy explained 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Kaiji Chen (Emory Economics) & Tao Zha discuss how China's gradualist reform strategy drove fifty years of growth, and its consequences for today: ow.ly/Qyoi50ZIaUb

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

New research using hundreds of administrative reforms worldwide shows that cities that become regional capitals grow faster, especially where political status and market access reinforce one another.

Growth of new capitals relative to comparison cities

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Pairing peer-led nutrition behaviour-change groups with ongoing cash transfers substantially improved children's diets and development, but meaningful reductions in stunting required combining cash with a larger one-time livelihoods grant.

Longitudinal trends in select livelihoods outcomes

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Political polarisation is fundamentally a relational problem. In this week's episode of Economics Unpacked, Cesi Cruz and @hlarreguy.bsky.social outline polarisation in various contexts. Watch the full episode below👇

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

🆕 Caste, race, and power: The barriers to political inclusion 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Amit Ahuja (UC Santa Barbara) discusses why subaltern groups in the Global South struggle for political power, and why gains are being reversed: ow.ly/XzBV50ZFuZb

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

A light-touch training programme that helped low-skilled workers in Senegal act more conscientiously boosted their job retention and earnings.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

In Lebanon, being randomly assigned a female academic advisor makes women hold more egalitarian gender views decades later, while pushing men towards more conservative ones – widening the gender divide, especially in male-dominated fields and among religious students.

Empowerment for women, backlash among men

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

🚨BREAD-IGC virtual PhD course on political economy Starting September 8th, BREAD-IGC will be offering a twelve-week-long course designed for PhD students and early career researchers, led by expert development economists. Register now: ow.ly/67w150ZBwY8

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

In villages hit hardest by Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake, a strong relationship between poverty and mental health persisted well after the disaster, while no such relationship existed in less-affected communities.

Construction and variation in the mental health index

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Can community-provided childcare empower more women to work? In this week's episode of Economics Unpacked, Rachel Health discusses recent promising evidence on this bottom-up approach.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

New radar data shows that protected nearshore fishing zones can successfully keep industrial vessels out of African coastal waters, boosting fish stocks and small-scale catches without cutting industrial fishing overall.

Discontinuities in industrial fishing vessel presence at IEZ boundaries

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

A study of Rwanda's road paving programme finds that infrastructure investment substantially boosts local tax revenues, driven by small, informal firm entry and rising rental values, while central tax collections remain unchanged.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Who benefits from childcare subsidies? In this week's episode of Economics Unpacked, Lore Vandewalle explains why these policies sometimes favour men over women.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

🆕 Masculinity norms and their economic implications, explained 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Pauline Grosjean (UNSW) discusses global evidence linking masculinity norms to violence, poor mental health, and support for authoritarian rule: ow.ly/tQGk50ZBnya

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Evidence from Kenya’s index-based livestock insurance programme shows that satellite-triggered payouts reduce drought-induced conflict by around 25% – and prevent enough deaths to justify the programme’s subsidies on those grounds alone.

The impact of drought on conflict declined as the rollout progressed

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Exposure to fine particulate matter during cognitive assessments lowered adult cognitive performance in Kenya, and coarser pollution measures missed much of this short-run variation. Read today's article to learn more:

Cognitive performance falls when pollution is higher than usual for a given place and time

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Is microfinance still a useful tool for eradicating poverty? In this week's episode of Economics Unpacked, @muhammadmeki.bsky.social and @simonrquinn.bsky.social explain why we need to think more carefully about the design of microfinance.

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Hidden plagiarism in half a million Chinese graduate dissertations reveals that academically dishonest individuals are more likely to enter and advance in the public sector, issuing more preferential, lower-quality decisions once they hold judicial power.

Plagiarism scores for public- and private-sector entrants

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A field experiment in Bangladesh finds that requiring cash contributions for safe drinking-water wells sharply reduces take-up and impact, whereas labour contributions work about as well as no contribution at all – yet either requirement leaves the programme less cost-effective.

Cash contribution requirements reduce take-up and impact

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VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

🆕 Using mobile phones to support teachers, parents, and students 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, Jenny Aker (Cornell CALS ) & Noam Angrist (What Works Hub for Global Education) discuss what 30 studies find about mobile phones and education in LMICs: ow.ly/Qm0l50ZyPRZ

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