VoxDev

After adjusting for labour input differences, the apparent agricultural productivity gap in India is largely a formal-informal sector divide. Differences in education and labour hours fully explain the productivity gap between informal sector and agriculture.

Rethinking the agricultural productivity gap: Informality matters After adjusting for labour input differences, the apparent agricultural productivity gap in India is largely a formal-informal sector divide. Differences in education and labour hours fully explain the productivity gap between informal sector and agriculture. If these are addressed, incomes can increase even without convergence to formal sector productivity levels.

🆕 Rethinking the agricultural productivity gap: Informality matters

Today on VoxDev, Rajveer Jat (Western Digital) & Bharat Ramaswami (Ashoka University) find that India's agricultural productivity gap is largely a formal-informal sector divide: https://ow.ly/mgAk50YrHP4

Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis Eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed. The new generation of malaria vaccines provides a highly cost-effective way to realise these benefits.

🆕 Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis

Today on VoxDev, Minki Kim (Economics department, University of Mannheim.) discusses how eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed: https://ow.ly/JWuR50YrINw

Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis Eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed. The new generation of malaria vaccines provides a highly cost-effective way to realise these benefits.

🆕 Malaria is not just a health crisis, it is an economic crisis

Today on VoxDev, Minki Kim (Economics department, University of Mannheim.) discusses how eradicating malaria could deliver much larger economic gains in sub-Saharan Africa than previously believed: https://ow.ly/JWuR50YrINw

Rethinking the agricultural productivity gap: Informality matters After adjusting for labour input differences, the apparent agricultural productivity gap in India is largely a formal-informal sector divide. Differences in education and labour hours fully explain the productivity gap between informal sector and agriculture. If these are addressed, incomes can increase even without convergence to formal sector productivity levels.

🆕 Rethinking the agricultural productivity gap: Informality matters

Today on VoxDev, Rajveer Jat (Western Digital) & Bharat Ramaswami (Ashoka University) find that India's agricultural productivity gap is largely a formal-informal sector divide: https://ow.ly/mgAk50YrHP4

🆕 AI, India & the future of service-led growth

This week on Ideas in Development, @deenamousa.com and I were joined by Raghuram Rajan to discuss India's growth prospects in the age of AI.

Listen to Ideas in Development wherever you get your podcasts, links below ⤵️

Upgrading Karachi’s electricity network from bare low-voltage wires to aerial bundled cables significantly reduced theft and feeder losses, leading to improved revenue recovery and fewer power outages.

Read today's article to learn more:

The ABCs of electricity theft: Can anti-theft cables improve electricity service? Upgrading Karachi’s electricity network from bare low-voltage wires to aerial bundled cables significantly reduced theft and feeder losses, leading to improved revenue recovery and fewer power outages. However, while the intervention strengthened the utility’s finances and service reliability, it increased billing complaints and may have disproportionately affected poorer households who were newly formalised and consumed relatively little electricity.

🆕 The ABCs of electricity theft: Can anti-theft cables improve electricity service?

Today on VoxDev w/ Husnain Ahmad (Trinity University), Ayesha Ali (LUMS), Robyn Meeks (Duke University), Zhenxuan Wang (NC State University) & Javed Younas (American University of Sharjah): https://ow.ly/WjVk50Yr7cK

The ABCs of electricity theft: Can anti-theft cables improve electricity service? Upgrading Karachi’s electricity network from bare low-voltage wires to aerial bundled cables significantly reduced theft and feeder losses, leading to improved revenue recovery and fewer power outages. However, while the intervention strengthened the utility’s finances and service reliability, it increased billing complaints and may have disproportionately affected poorer households who were newly formalised and consumed relatively little electricity.

🆕 The ABCs of electricity theft: Can anti-theft cables improve electricity service?

Today on VoxDev w/ Husnain Ahmad (Trinity University), Ayesha Ali (LUMS), Robyn Meeks (Duke University), Zhenxuan Wang (NC State University) & Javed Younas (American University of Sharjah): https://ow.ly/WjVk50Yr7cK

When official statistics are unavailable or unreliable, researchers can use a range of forensic methods to extract credible economic information, with North Korea illustrating both the possibilities and limits of studying economic ‘black holes’.

Read today's article to learn more:

When official statistics are unavailable or unreliable, researchers can use a range of forensic methods to extract credible economic information, with North Korea illustrating both the possibilities and limits of studying economic ‘black holes’.

Read today's article to learn more:

North Korea's economy: The study of economic black holes When official statistics are unavailable or unreliable, researchers can use a range of forensic methods – such as satellite imagery, mirror trade data, price monitoring, refugee surveys, humanitarian ...

🆕 North Korea's economy: The study of economic black holes

Today on VoxDev, Stephan Haggard (@gpsucsd.bsky.social), Kyoochul Kim & Munseob Lee discuss the range of forensic methods available to researchers when official statistics are unavailable, or unreliable: voxdev.org/topic/method...

This week in development economics at VoxDev: 06/03/2026 This week we featured research on China's solar industry, collectivisation's long shadow, food prices and more!

This week we featured research on China's solar industry, collectivisation's long shadow, food prices and more!

Read a summary of this work here: https://voxdev.org/topic/week-development-economics-voxdev-06032026

How can you study an economy when official statistics don't exist, or can't be trusted?

Really enjoyed today's article which outlines six 'forensic' methods available to economists, and applies them to North Korea ⤵️

North Korea's economy: The study of economic black holes When official statistics are unavailable or unreliable, researchers can use a range of forensic methods – such as satellite imagery, mirror trade data, price monitoring, refugee surveys, humanitarian ...

🆕 North Korea's economy: The study of economic black holes

Today on VoxDev, Stephan Haggard (@gpsucsd.bsky.social), Kyoochul Kim & Munseob Lee discuss the range of forensic methods available to researchers when official statistics are unavailable, or unreliable: voxdev.org/topic/method...

New @voxdev.bsky.social piece on our Ramayan paper! The Ramayan TV show in 1987-88 strengthened Hindu religious identity, contributing to the rise of the BJP in India.

Thanks to awesome collaborators @pbrimble.bsky.social, @resuf.bsky.social, @akhila-kovvuri.bsky.social, and Alessandro Saia!

In China, cities that adopted solar policies saw a 64% increase in patenting alongside sharp rises in revenues, production capacity, exports and firm numbers. These effects grew over time and persisted long after subsidies were introduced.

Read today's article to learn more:

Negotiation training improves the ability of Liberian communities to strike beneficial deals around forest and land management by strengthening leaders’ ability to identify mutually beneficial, higher-value agreements.

Read today's article to learn more:

China’s solar subsidies triggered innovation and learning-by-doing that dramatically lowered global solar costs while generating domestic economic gains large enough to outweigh the subsidy costs, showing that green industrial policy can boost growth and help fight climate change.

Fostering negotiation skills in land and forest agreements Negotiation training improves the ability of Liberian communities to strike beneficial deals around forest and land management by strengthening leaders’ ability to identify mutually beneficial, higher-value agreements. However, it does not substantially improve their ability to assess outside options or walk away from disadvantageous deals, suggesting that gains are driven mainly by better deal-making rather than rejection.

🆕 Fostering negotiation skills in land and forest agreements

Today on VoxDev, Darin Christensen (UCLA), Alexandra Hartman (UCL Political Science), Cyrus Samii (NYU) & Alessandro Toppeta (The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)) outline research on Liberia: https://ow.ly/OXlE50Ypvug

Ray of hope? The rise of solar energy in China China’s solar subsidies triggered innovation and learning-by-doing that dramatically lowered global solar costs while generating domestic economic gains large enough to outweigh the subsidy costs, sho...

🆕 Ray of hope? The rise of solar energy in China

Today on VoxDev, Ignacio Banares-Sanchez, Robin Burgess, Dávid László, Pol Simpson, John Van Reenen & Yifan Wang outline their research on China's green industrial policy: voxdev.org/topic/energy...

Fostering negotiation skills in land and forest agreements Negotiation training improves the ability of Liberian communities to strike beneficial deals around forest and land management by strengthening leaders’ ability to identify mutually beneficial, higher-value agreements. However, it does not substantially improve their ability to assess outside options or walk away from disadvantageous deals, suggesting that gains are driven mainly by better deal-making rather than rejection.

🆕 Fostering negotiation skills in land and forest agreements

Today on VoxDev, Darin Christensen (UCLA), Alexandra Hartman (UCL Political Science), Cyrus Samii (NYU) & Alessandro Toppeta (The Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI)) outline research on Liberia: https://ow.ly/OXlE50Ypvug

Ray of hope? The rise of solar energy in China China’s solar subsidies triggered innovation and learning-by-doing that dramatically lowered global solar costs while generating domestic economic gains large enough to outweigh the subsidy costs, sho...

🆕 Ray of hope? The rise of solar energy in China

Today on VoxDev, Ignacio Banares-Sanchez, Robin Burgess, Dávid László, Pol Simpson, John Van Reenen & Yifan Wang outline their research on China's green industrial policy: voxdev.org/topic/energy...

“Our research suggests that vehicular transport in the cities of poor and middle-income countries is slower than travel in rich country cities more because of slow speed in the absence of traffic than because of congestion per se.” Adam Storeygard today on VoxDevTalks:

Evidence from Vietnam shows that institutional barriers not only misallocate resources but also discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements, compounding the losses from misallocation.

Read today's article to learn more:

Why collectivisation in Vietnam still holds back agricultural productivity decades later Evidence from Vietnam shows that institutional barriers not only misallocate resources but also discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements, compounding the losses from misallocatio...

🆕 Why collectivisation in Vietnam still holds back agricultural productivity decades later

Stephen Ayerst (IMF), Loren Brandt (@econuoft.bsky.social) & Diego Restuccia discuss how institutional barriers discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements: voxdev.org/topic/agricu...

🆕 Transport policy for economic development 📢

Today on VoxDevTalks, Adam Storeygard (@tufts.edu @tuftseconomics.bsky.social) discusses transport policy in developing countries: voxdev.org/topic/infras...

Why collectivisation in Vietnam still holds back agricultural productivity decades later Evidence from Vietnam shows that institutional barriers not only misallocate resources but also discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements, compounding the losses from misallocatio...

🆕 Why collectivisation in Vietnam still holds back agricultural productivity decades later

Stephen Ayerst (IMF), Loren Brandt (@econuoft.bsky.social) & Diego Restuccia discuss how institutional barriers discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements: voxdev.org/topic/agricu...

🆕 Transport policy for economic development 📢

Today on VoxDevTalks, Adam Storeygard (@tufts.edu @tuftseconomics.bsky.social) discusses transport policy in developing countries: voxdev.org/topic/infras...

Rising crop prices usually quiet conflict, as labourers choose farming over fighting. In Myanmar, rising rice prices instead fuelled state-led violence against civilians. These findings challenge narratives that frame such atrocities as a reaction to insurgencies.

Read today's article to learn more