For decades, economists and others have tried to supplant GDP-driven indicators with measures that take human well-being into account, as opposed to only material living standards. But how easy is that, and how close are we?
The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, by Deborah Brautigam. Oxford University Press, 2009, 397 pp.A review by Daniel Large
It is now widely recognized that GDP has many shortcomings as an indicator of social welfare. It is time for macroeconomists and policy makers to finally take action.
The usually serene world of peace researchers is currently being rocked by a veritable war about who can count the best, and who is counting what. The row is not about something trivial, but about war victims.
Doris Mpoumou joined the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) as its director in February 2010. She is a human rights and social justice advocate/activist with over 12 years’ experience in policy analysis, advocacy an...
Since 1972, economists and others have tried to supplant GDP-driven indicators with measures that take human well-being into account. But how easy is that, and how close are we?
The Obama administration faces the unenviable task of persuading sceptics of the need for a revamped and relevant foreign assistance policy. But is the administration’s message falling on deaf ears?
Miriam Struyk, Jan Gruiters and Jan Pronk
Our increasingly interdependent world requires development policies that acknowledge the global context and address a new reality where a variety of actors as well as the state play a role.
We need to expand our knowledge and use it in more context-specific analyses. The question is at what scale: national, regional or global?
A new institutional architecture for global development is sorely needed. How can this be done without shifting the focus away from those who need it most, namely the poor and the marginalized?
The energetic online debate about the motives, definitions and perceptions of development is a starting point for reformulating development policies.
In its report Less Pretension, More Ambition, the WRR recognizes that aid can make only a limited contribution to development. A shift of emphasis is needed towards development and growth, with more focus on global and regional issues.
Background information on the follow-up discussionLess Pretension, More Ambition, a report written by the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), has succeeded in shaking up the aid debate. It has reiterated the urgency of thoroughly rethi...
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One possible view of this story is that it is just ‘gossip’, what development aid officials chat about after office hours over a beer. Shouldn’t a serious magazine like The Broker focus on the real challenges of the Paris Declaration and not distr...
Harmonizing aid seems like a straightforward, sensible thing to do. But how easy has it been in practice? Amy Pollard tells of the challenges involved in establishing a multi-donor office in Indonesia, while Rosalind Eyben assesses the implication...