Reposted by Vijayendra Rao, Michael A. Clemens
This year's #ABCDE2025, themed “Development in the Age of Populism,” sparked discussions on trade and geopolitics, poverty reduction, & more.
Following the conference, @eeshani.bsky.social shares what we learned—and didn’t—about populism & poverty in LMICs:
www.cgdev.org/blog/populis...
Following the conference, @eeshani.bsky.social shares what we learned—and didn’t—about populism & poverty in LMICs:
www.cgdev.org/blog/populis...
Populist Rhetoric, Poverty Realities: Lessons from ABCDE 2025
There is no easy escape from the deepening populist retrenchment around the world. But let’s not forget that development is measured not by how fast an economy grows, but rather by the improvements to...
www.cgdev.org
My cousin Rama Ranee changed my life—introducing me to yoga, meditation, and fieldwork in rural India.
For 35 years, she’s transformed a barren patch near Bangalore into a biodiverse, biodynamic sanctuary.
This stunning film by Good Food Movement captures her journey. youtu.be/W1XA-KOgKoA?...
For 35 years, she’s transformed a barren patch near Bangalore into a biodiverse, biodynamic sanctuary.
This stunning film by Good Food Movement captures her journey. youtu.be/W1XA-KOgKoA?...
She turned a barren wasteland into a forest farm in Bengaluru
YouTube video by Good Food Movement
youtu.be
Our study is the first predominantly qualitative paper accepted in The World Bank Economic Review.
It makes the case for listening carefully to what people say—especially when the numbers look good.
📄 Read it here: documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
It makes the case for listening carefully to what people say—especially when the numbers look good.
📄 Read it here: documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
Is There an Underside to Economic Growth ? A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Malaysia
This paper sheds light on a Malaysian paradox that may have lessons for the rest of the world. Despite high gross domestic product growth with concurrent sharp reductions .
documents.worldbank.org
Three key takeaways for development policy:
1️⃣ Growth is not enough.
2️⃣ We need to protect people from the market’s vagaries.
3️⃣ Reconnecting economic and social life is critical—especially amid rising populism.
1️⃣ Growth is not enough.
2️⃣ We need to protect people from the market’s vagaries.
3️⃣ Reconnecting economic and social life is critical—especially amid rising populism.
Quantitative indicators—like GDP or consumption surveys—often miss this underside.
Open-ended conversations reveal the lived experiences and emotional undercurrents that data alone can’t capture.
Open-ended conversations reveal the lived experiences and emotional undercurrents that data alone can’t capture.
This is what Hirsch meant by “social congestion”:
More money doesn’t buy better lives when education, housing, health, and leisure become rationed by class, and social networks fragment under economic strain.
More money doesn’t buy better lives when education, housing, health, and leisure become rationed by class, and social networks fragment under economic strain.
Drawing on Karl Polanyi and Hirsch, we argue that economic growth can fracture the social fabric.
It prioritizes individual mobility over collective well-being—leading to anomie, congestion, and declining access to formerly free public goods.
It prioritizes individual mobility over collective well-being—leading to anomie, congestion, and declining access to formerly free public goods.
Strikingly, the less developed western regions expressed less discontent.
There, people seemed more attuned to relative rather than absolute income—and less affected by what Fred Hirsch called “positional competition.”
There, people seemed more attuned to relative rather than absolute income—and less affected by what Fred Hirsch called “positional competition.”
We conducted 56 open-ended focus group interviews across Malaysia.
What we heard:
▪️ “Imbalance” between income & living costs
▪️ Reliance on multiple jobs
▪️ Rising debt
▪️ Stress & social disconnection
▪️ Ethnic polarization
What we heard:
▪️ “Imbalance” between income & living costs
▪️ Reliance on multiple jobs
▪️ Rising debt
▪️ Stress & social disconnection
▪️ Ethnic polarization
Malaysia is often hailed as a success story of the “East Asian Miracle”:
✔️ High growth
✔️ Sharp poverty reduction
✔️ Falling inequality
But what do people themselves say about this progress?
✔️ High growth
✔️ Sharp poverty reduction
✔️ Falling inequality
But what do people themselves say about this progress?
Why do people feel worse even as their countries grow richer?
In an age of populism, we need to ask what policy misses when it focuses solely on growth.
A thread on our paper: Is There an Underside to Economic Growth? 👇
📄 documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
In an age of populism, we need to ask what policy misses when it focuses solely on growth.
A thread on our paper: Is There an Underside to Economic Growth? 👇
📄 documents.worldbank.org/en/publicati...
Is There an Underside to Economic Growth ? A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Malaysia
This paper sheds light on a Malaysian paradox that may have lessons for the rest of the world. Despite high gross domestic product growth with concurrent sharp reductions .
documents.worldbank.org
Development folks (usually of a particular vintage) who are prone to making Denmark comparisons - note that you can fit six Denmarks in Delhi, five in Jakarta, four in Cairo….
Given that high quality codes are necessary in order to assess whether an LLM introduces bias, we argue that it may be preferable to train a bespoke model on a subset of transcripts coded by trained sociologists rather than use an LLM.
We find that using LLMs to annotate and code text can introduce bias that can lead to misleading inferences. By bias we mean that the errors that LLMs make in coding interview transcripts are not random with respect to the characteristics of the interview subjects.
We ask whether LLMs can help code and analyse large-N qualitative data from open-ended interviews, with an application to transcripts of interviews with Rohingya refugees and their Bengali hosts in Bangladesh.
Instead of “nudging” people to get them to do what YOU think is good for them, “boost” their agency so that they are better able to think and act for themselves. Wonderful paper from Behavioral Public Policy that encapsulates what many of us have been thinking. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Moving from nudging to boosting: empowering behaviour change to address global challenges | Behavioural Public Policy | Cambridge Core
Moving from nudging to boosting: empowering behaviour change to address global challenges
www.cambridge.org
Ah yes, Gauss. I also used something called LISREL for my dissertation
Very interesting Owen. Disciplinary distinctions on software have been around a long time. When I started grad school in 1985 it was SAS(Economists) vs SPSS (Sociologists), and all the fancy ones used Fortran. 🙂
My essay is on VKRV Rao, who developed the first set of national income estimates for a poor country, founded the Delhi School of Economics, and laid the intellectual foundations of IDA, the concessional funding arm of the World Bank azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/indian-econo...
V.K.R.V. Rao
Institutional Builder Extraordinaire By Vijayendra Rao
azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in
Indian economists have been central to development thinking from the early 19th century. This amazing collection of biographical essays on distinguished Indian economists of the past is really worth reading azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/distinguishe...
Distinguished Indian Economists
Swaying Minds and Shaping the Modern Indian Economy
azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in
Both Mansur and Amonkar belong to the Jaipur Atrauli gharana. Her mother and guru Vid Moghubai Kurdikar employs a different lyric for the raga. So why Amonkar appropriated the bandish for a different raga is a mystery youtu.be/my5Zh8ze3eY?...
Moghubai’s version youtu.be/WWjePAW0ZD0?...
Moghubai’s version youtu.be/WWjePAW0ZD0?...
Mallikarjun Mansur Raga Yamani Bilawal
YouTube video by Pokri Poki
youtu.be
What is unusual is that the same lyric is also employed by Vid Kishori Amonkar in this performance of the much more common raga Alhaiya Bilawal which is simply raga Bilawal (the western major scale) with a komal Nishad. “Pure” Bilawal is rarely sung in Hindustani music.
Mallikarjun Mansur Raga Yamani Bilawal
YouTube video by Pokri Poki
youtu.be
This is Pt Mallikarjun Mansur singing the beautiful and uncommon raga - Yamani Bilawal which is a combination of ragas Yaman and Bilawal youtu.be/JUXfF8iEDOQ?....
The bandish is Ale Re, Kituve Gaye Loguva.
The bandish is Ale Re, Kituve Gaye Loguva.
Mallikarjun Mansur Raga Yamani Bilawal
YouTube video by Pokri Poki
youtu.be
Thinking of posting Indian classical music videos here like I do on Twitter. Is there any interest in this?
Michael Woolcock and I have written a (very) short paper on “Ten Consequential and Actionable ‘Social’ Contributions to the Theory, Practice, and Evaluation of Development” largely drawing on our own work over the last 20 years. Comments welcome documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/0...
documents1.worldbank.org
James Ferguson helped me understand how The World Bank works. His The Anti-Politics Machine is a must-read for anyone in development. RIP 🙏🏾https://stanforddaily.com/2025/02/19/james-ferguson-professor-of-anthropology-and-former-department-chair-dies-at-65/
James Ferguson, professor of anthropology and former department chair, dies at 65
James “Jim” Ferguson played a pivotal roles in the department's history and will be remembered for his remarkable character, kindness and contributions to the field.
stanforddaily.com
Congratulations Ranil! Hope you will continue to write and blog.
So, (1) quantitative data may hide struggles faced by many people that are better revealed with open ended conversations. (2) Growth is not enough and may need to be coupled with approaches that do not disconnect economic and social life, and protect the vulnerable from the vagaries of the market.