International aid is often analysed as if it was a homogeneous product exclusively distributed between a relatively small numbers of public agencies. In contrast, this paper contributes to thinking about aid as a quasi-market with many different suppliers, users, channels, products and brands....

This paper relates different subjective approaches to wellbeing to different traditions of economic analysis. The dominant formula of 'Subjective Well-Being' is attractive because it promises a direct measure of utility, but other approaches bring different strengths to policy evaluation. 'Inner...

The ongoing debate on the purpose of 'development' has given rise to many new studies on happiness and quality of life situated in both developed and developing countries. Recent insights from this field include the suggestions that ever-increasing incomes do not always increase happiness, and...

Recent legal reforms in Mexico demonstrate that, it, like many other countries, still relies on an understanding of development as economic growth in order to justify social policies. The widespread social costs of this framework, however, demand now more than ever before a framework of social...

The family-planning programme of Tamil Nadu, largely a female sterilisation campaign, has been applauded as one of the successful public health interventions in India, which had arguably led to the drastic fertility decline in the state. To the state's dismay, however, the fertility decline in...

The use of challenge funds to promote economic and social development continues to grow, but has been the subject of relatively little research. This paper develops a definition of what challenge funds are and how they differ from other development funding mechanisms, taking into account their...

The ongoing debate on the purpose of ‘development’ has given rise to many new studies on happiness and quality of life situated in both developed and developing countries. Recent insights from this field include the suggestions that ever-increasing incomes do not always increase happiness,...

The family-planning programme of Tamil Nadu, largely a female sterilisation campaign, has been applauded as one of the successful public health interventions in India, which had arguably led to the drastic fertility decline in the state. To the state’s dismay, however, the fertility decline in...

This paper relates different subjective approaches to wellbeing to different traditions of economic analysis. The dominant formula of ‘Subjective Well-Being’ is attractive because it promises a direct measure of utility, but other approaches bring different strengths to policy evaluation....

This paper examines how national NGOs operating in conflict-affected or transitional regions generate and maintain legitimacy. It considers the experience of NGOs in three such contexts – Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The paper argues that existing accounts...