Blogs

At Foreign Affairs, Timothy Besley asks “why are some countries rich and others poor?”

He then takes us on an interesting, albeit brief, journey into the development of economics itself, arguing that while poverty poses the greatest challenge to the discipline, traditional economics itself does not do the problem justice.

On January 17, 2012, more than 360 people joined this discussion of the Borrow Less Tomorrow (BoLT) Program, a behavioral approach to helping low- and middle-income individuals and families pay down expensive debt. Using principles of behavioral economics, the BoLT Program helps consumers devise a repayment schedule and incorporates the use of peer support and reminders so that consumers both successfully pay down their debt and improve their credit scores.

Last month, Annie Duflo assumed the executive directorship of IPA, replacing Dean Karlan, who will stay on as President. Annie has been with IPA for over three years serving as Vice President and Director of Research. With this shift in leadership, we wanted to sit down with Annie and Dean to hear directly from them about the new organizational structure and what lies ahead as IPA looks toward its tenth anniversary. This excerpt from the larger interview focuses on the origins of IPA and the organization’s scale-up efforts.

Last month, Annie Duflo assumed the executive directorship of IPA, replacing Dean Karlan, who will stay on as President. Annie has been with IPA for over three years serving as Vice President and Research Director. With this shift in leadership, we wanted to sit down with Annie and Dean to hear directly from them about what lies ahead for IPA in the coming year.

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Today, we're featuring a guest post from IPA Project Associate Hannah Trachtman. She just published a paper with co-authors James Andreoni and Justin M. Rao about what makes people give when confronted with Salvation Army volunteers ringing bells and/or asking us for money. As people finalize their 2011 donations, we think this post is particularly interesting, because it makes us think about how and why we think about giving.

Here in the US, the holiday season is upon us, and with it comes an outpouring of generosity from Americans contributing to worthy causes. At IPA, we believe that it is critical that the more than $200 billion (pdf) donated by individuals each year is used as effectively as possible, to make the biggest difference in the fight against poverty.

Jessica Creighton is a Project Associate with the “Community Reconciliation” evaluation in Sierra Leone.

The drum beats in the distance grow louder and the warmth of the flames tickles my arms and face.  Dancers around me shimmy at a moderate speed to the rhythm of their own drums awaiting the arrival of the parade of participants from the nearby village. As the two groups merge into one around the bonfire, the sound of the competing drums becomes deafening and the dancing reaches a frenzied pace.

I’m a new staff member at IPA, and on Wednesday, November 30th, I had the privilege to attend the annual conference of IPA’s Small and Medium Enterprise Initiative (SME Initiative). A group of leading thinkers on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) gathered to discuss the current state of research on how to support and encourage small and medium enterprises, particularly in the developing world.

Sarah Custer, a Project Associate for the Saving for Change project in Mali, had the winning entry from the inaugural J-PAL/IPA Photo Contest. Her blog post provides context for the photograph: