The Millennium Development Goal for primary schooling completion has focused attention on a measurable output indicator to monitor increases in schooling in poor countries. The authors argue the next step - which moves towards the even more important Millennium Learning Goal - is to monitor...

Kenya’s rapid electrification in the past decade has improved the lives of millions, and can serve as a template for other countries that are growing their electricity systems and coverage. However, significant challenges remain: many more remain without access, there is low consumption among...

In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) endorsed the Bali Action Plan to pay for reductions in tropical deforestation. While many saw these initiatives as complementary,...

India is at the forefront of the use of digital technology to transform the way in which citizens interact with states. This paper provides a picture of the perceived impact of digitization reforms in Rajasthan, based on a survey of beneficiaries of several benefit programs. We find that, on...

The new millennium brought renewed attention to improving the health of women and children. In this same period, direct deaths from conflicts have declined worldwide, but civilian deaths associated with conflicts have increased. Nigeria is among the most conflict-prone countries in sub-Saharan...

In this paper, we apply a novel analytical technique—k-means clustering—to understand the relationship between the growth of firms and the availability of power in sub-Saharan Africa. We develop a classification of firms and show how firm clusters are distributed across industries and...

Controlling healthcare costs while promoting maximum health impact in the recipient countries is one the biggest challenges for global health donors. This paper views global health donors as the regulators of monopolistic service providers, and explores potential optimal fund payment systems...

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) are frequently asked to demonstrate their additionality — meaning that they make investments that the private sector would not — but what evidence of additionality would look like is rarely articulated. This paper examines potential quantitative and...

In recent years, many global health institutions have adopted eligibility and transition frameworks for the countries they support, generating questions about how these frameworks apply in practice—and whether global health progress will be put at risk through premature or poorly planned...

Although family planning programs can improve women’s welfare directly through changes in realized fertility, they may also have important incentive effects by increasing parents’ investments in girls not yet fertile. Exploiting the staggered implementation of family planning programs in...