Academic economists appear to be intensely interested in rankings of journals, institutions, and individuals. Yet there is little discussion of the uncertainty associated with these rankings. To illustrate the uncertainty associated with citations-based rankings, I compute the standard error of...

International experience has shown that mining and resources sector participation in Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) can realise substantial health benefits not only for the company, but also for its public sector partners and communities. This paper summarises the international experience,...

New forms of aid, including “philanthrocapitalism” such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are rapidly altering the international aid architecture for health. These organisations have financial power, actively shape agendas and influence policy. The rise of non-traditional donor...

This paper provides an overview of issues relating to aid effectiveness. It argues that it is impossible to give a definitive answer to the question of whether aid is effective, and that it is more useful to ask what can be done to make aid more effective. The paper then groups the various...

Social capital is considered to be an important factor in economic development. It is argued that it generates a flow of (economic) benefits through collective action, by reducing free riding and increasing individual contribution. This study examines whether social capital increases individual...

Do citations accumulate too slowly in the social sciences to be used to assess the quality of recent articles? I investigate whether this is the case using citation data for all articles in economics and political science published in 2006 and indexed in the Web of Science. Surprisingly,...