How the G-8 and G-20 Fared on Development: Liliana Rojas-Suarez & Sarah Jane Staats

June 28, 2010

Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Global Development Tags: Financial Access, G-20, G8, Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Sarah Jane Staats, Trade

Leaders of the world’s largest and richest countries met over the weekend in Ontario, Canada. What did they accomplish? This week on the Wonkcast, I’m joined by two guests: CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez and director of policy outreach Sarah Jane Staats. We examine the statements released by the two groups—looking specifically at what they have to say about several key policy areas for global development.

Listen to the Wonkcast to hear our conversation. Among other topics, we discuss:

• What President Obama’s G-8 announcement on his administration’s development strategy means for the U.S. aid reform agenda.
• The significance of the G-20’s release of a set of principles for financial inclusion.
• How the headline issues of financial stability and regulation might affect emerging countries.
• What was said (and wasn’t said) in Toronto on expanding trade, especially for the world’s least developed countries.
• What role an announced G-20 Working Group on development might play in the run-up to the next G-20 summit this fall in Seoul, South Korea.

Read More…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Comment »

The Gulf Gusher & Africa’s Offshore Oil Boom: Todd Moss and Vijaya Ramachandran

June 22, 2010

Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Africa, Climate Change, Fragile States, Governance/Democracy Tags: Environment, Fragile States, Oil, Todd Moss, Vijaya Ramachandran

As the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spew thousands of barrels of oil each day, media attention has been focused on the toll on nearby economies and ecosystems and on the U.S. political response. On this edition of the Global Prosperity Wonkcast, we look beyond the Gulf of Mexico to explore what implications America’s biggest environmental disaster might hold for the new offshore oil boom getting underway in Africa.

My guests are Vijaya Ramachandran and Todd Moss, both senior fellows here at the Center for Global Development.

Read More…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1 Comment »

When Medicines Fail: Rachel Nugent on Combating Drug Resistance

June 15, 2010

Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Global Health Policy Tags: Drug resistance, Global Health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Rachel Nugent

This week on the Wonkcast, I’m joined by Rachel Nugent, Deputy Director for Global Health here at the Center for Global Development. She is the lead author on a new CGD working group report entitled The Race Against Drug Resistance, which prescribes a global effort to halt and reverse the spread of drug resistant microbes.

In the Wonkcast, Rachel explains that the more people rely on antibiotics and other medicines, the faster disease pathogens adapt and become resistant. In rich countries, a resistant strain of staph now kills thousands per year– most from hospital-acquired infections. The situation is more dire in the developing world. Rachel tells me that there is only one effective treatment remaining for malaria, and that some strains of tuberculosis are now completely untreatable.

Read More…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

2 Comments »

Free Money: How to Unlock $7.5 Billion for the World’s Poorest, with Ben Leo

June 8, 2010

Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Global Development, International Financial Institutions, Poverty Tags: Ben Leo, IBRD, IDA, IFIs, World Bank

With high deficits across the developed world, aid budgets are tight and likely to remain so. However, a simple change in how the World Bank organizes its lending could free up an extra $7.5 billion for the world’s poorest countries over the next three years. My guest on this Wonkcast is Ben Leo, a research fellow here at the Center for Global Development and the author of a new working paper that sets forth this straightforward and potentially incredibly impactful proposal.

Read More…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1 Comment »

Jenny Aker: Mobile Phones for Development—Hope vs. Hype

June 1, 2010

Posted by Lawrence MacDonald in Africa, Global Development, Private Investment Tags: ICT4D, Jenny Aker, Mobile Phones, Technology

The Wonkcast is taking a brief summer vacation. We’ve selected this show from our archives- it was originally posted on June 1, 2010.

Are mobile phones revolutionizing development in Africa, or have they been over-hyped? My guest this week, Jenny Aker, says the truth is a little of both. Jenny is an assistant professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and a non-resident fellow here at the Center for Global Development. Her research interests include the impact of communication technologies in poor countries, especially Africa.

Mobile phone use has spread across Africa at a stunning pace. The percentage of Africans who could access a mobile phone leapt from only 10% in 1999 to more than 60% by 2008—far outstripping improvements in other infrastructure (roads, clean water, or indeed landline telephones). In a new CGD working paper, to be published later this summer in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Jenny and her co-author Isaac Mbiti describe four main ways phones have been applied to the problems of the poor. In the Wonkcast, we discuss these four applications:

Read More…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

1 Comment »

• 

  In Global Prosperity Wonkcast, Lawrence MacDonald interviews Center for Global Development experts and others on innovative, practical policy responses to poverty and inequality in a globalizing world.

  Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes & Stitcher.

• 

• Translator

  

• Categories

  Select Category Africa Aid Effectiveness Asia Capital Flows/Financial Crisis China Climate Change Debt Relief Economic Growth Education Finance Food and Agriculture Food Crises Fragile States G-20 Global Development Global Health Policy Globalization Governance/Democracy IMF Inequality International Financial Institutions Latin America Migration and Development Oil Population and Development Poverty Private Investment Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Trade World Bank

• Tags

  Africa Aid Aid Effectiveness Ben Leo Biometrics Climate Change Connie Veillette David Roodman Democracy Development Education Finance Foreign Aid Fragile States G-20 Ghana Global Health Haiti HIV/AIDS IDA IMF International Financial Institutions Kimberly Ann Elliott Latin America Liliana Rojas-Suarez MDGs Michael Clemens Microfinance Migration Military Aid Nancy Birdsall Nandini Oomman Natural Resources Oil Pakistan Poverty Rachel Nugent Regulation Sarah Jane Staats Technology Todd Moss Trade USAID Vijaya Ramachandran World Bank

• Recent Comments

  • Greg Jensen on U.S. Support for Sustainable Energy for All—Nigel Purvis
  • Mcv0003 on Oil 2 Cash in Iraq — Johnny West
  • Milan on “He’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard”: Criminality among Indian Politicians– Milian Vaishnav
  • nisha on “He’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard”: Criminality among Indian Politicians– Milian Vaishnav
  • Rwengabo-Rutashoboroka on Getting Aid Right in Northern Uganda—Interview with Julius Kiiza of Makerere University, Kampala

• Archives

  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009

• CGD’s Favorite Podcasts

  • Climate Connections
  • Development Drums
  • Peterson Perspectives
  • Philanthropy This Week
  • Planet Money
  • PRI: Global Health and Development
  • PRI: The Changing World
  • The World Bank Podcasts

• Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes & Stitcher.