Jan 28, 2013

Imagine that a government employee holding an unfamiliar device and a laptop offers to scan your iris and create for you a unique identification record. Would you agree? For hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, the question is unequivocally “yes!”

To read a full show summary and listen to the...

Jan 23, 2013

Last month members of the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (CLAAF)

convened at CGD to discuss fiscal and monetary issues affecting the region. The CLAFF, which meets here twice a year, usually offers policy and regulatory recommendations for finance ministers and central bankers in the region. This...

Jan 15, 2013

When you opt to buy fair trade certified coffee at the grocery store instead of uncertified, how much good are you doing? My guest on this week’s Wonkcast, Kimberly Ann Elliott, draws on her recent policy paper, Is My Fair Trade Coffee Really Fair? Trends and Challenges in Fair Trade Certification, to tell me why the...

Jan 3, 2013

Economists, development and otherwise, often assume that people given the right information will make informed decisions in their own best interest. Not! Just like the rest of us, the poor people targeted by development programs sometimes lack self-control and fail to take actions that would benefit them in the long...