The authors examine the empirical evidence in support of the poverty trap view of underdevelopment. They calibrate simple aggregate growth models in which poverty traps can arise due to either low saving or low technology at low levels of development. They then use these models to assess the...

The Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015, were a global agreement to promote human development and reduce poverty. But they did not create a legalized institutional regime, in which precise obligations would be delegated to specific actors, nor were they, in many respects,...

This case study explores the role of the Afghan authorities between 2001 and 2006 - the Interim Administration, the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - in shaping the "aid relationship" between those authorities, and various components of the...

This paper examines historically the World Bank's twin features: lending to developing economies to achieve tangible results and advocating specific development policies. Section 1 provides some conceptual underpinnings for the view that an effective state is essential for development. It asks...

Can foreign aid be used to enhance good governance in recipient countries? This paper looks at the history of donor efforts to strengthen public institutions in developing countries, and how these have evolved in response to accumulated learning, changing fashions and donor interests. Systematic...

Environmental governance can be understood as 'the establishment, the reaffirmation or change of institutions (policies, laws, procedures, practices and organisations) to resolve conflicts - overt or latent - between actors over environmental resources. Environmental governance takes place at...

A growing political science literature studies the significance of emerging powers as key players in development. However, these studies have almost all considered the phenomenon from the perspective of donors. This paper assesses how recipient governments respond to the rise of new donors,...

The world faces a multitude of global problems, on top of the need for poverty eradication. Climate change, natural disasters, state collapse, illicit capital flows, refugees and increasing inequality present new challenges to the international community. They require joint action for the...