Skill versus voice in local development

When the state is weak, autocratic traditional chiefs control the provision of public goods. If they don’t have the technical skills that these tasks need, can delegation to technocrats or inclusive decision-making improve outcomes? Katherine Casey tells Tim Phillips about the results of an experiment in Sierra Leone.

Six Questions with Ted Miguel

Edward (Ted) Miguel is the Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at Berkeley. After a famous early paper with Michael Kremer had him known as “that worms guy”, Ted has gone on to study a wide range of topics on African economic development, including health, infrastructure, ethnic divisions, violence (and even witchcraft), agricultural productivity, and vocational education. He has also been a leading voice in the movement towards greater transparency (helping popularize pre-analysis plans), and done important work on the environment and development before it was even trendy to do so. 

What Have We Learned From a Summer of Climate Reckoning?

This summer has been a parade of broken climate records. June was the hottest June and July was not just the hottest July but the hottest month ever on record. At the same time, it looks like we are at the start of a green revolution: Decarbonization efforts have gone far better than what many had hoped for just a few years ago, and renewable energy is getting cheaper.