· The increasing value of communication of research as grant funding shifts from government to philanthropy and the private sector. In Asterisk magazine, Jolie Gan on how “funding becomes a serious incentive for academics to invest in their science communication”. “Universities are good at something almost no startup can afford: deep, slow, and obscure work. Long-term cohort studies that follow people for decades. Experiments on obscure model organisms. Foundational theory. Messy longitudinal datasets that make sense only on the third or fourth reanalysis. These are exactly the things that most alternative research institutions depend on but are rarely incentivized to host themselves because they cannot be justified on a quarterly road map or as a near-term feature…The appetite and capital exist for basic research outside federal agencies. Alternative research institutions attract this capital partly through how they package their work. If academic labs adopt similar communication practices, they can compete for these growing pools. But without some shared infrastructure, their ability to survive will depend more on individual improvisation and personality than on the quality or importance of the work itself.”
· How Indian firms responded to Chinese import competition with quality-based innovation. On VoxDev, Scott Orr and Mokhtar Tabari summarize their recent ReStat paper on this effect, and discuss some of the challenges that arise in looking at this question, such as the importance of having output quantities and prices, not just revenues, to capture quality improvements; and the issues of dealing with multi-product firms and the concern that they may drop low performing products in response to competition. “Uur results suggest that competition induced productivity gains may be possible, even for lagging economies, as long as firms are able to differentiate themselves from their foreign rivals with high quality goods. As a result, policymakers in developing economies may be better off ignoring calls for protectionist trade policies, as allowing competitive to play out international markets can be an important driver of domestic innovation.”
· On the CGD blog, Lee Crawfurd discusses how to do technical assistance well. “Technical assistance can provide two distinct functions: ideas and execution. The execution part is probably what most people think of first; building the capacity of organisations to function effectively. In some cases this might constitute “gap-filling” in critical functions within dysfunctional states, but ideally, it is focused on improving organizational management. Not just providing training, but also building better systems.
The other part, though, ideas, may be just as important. It’s no use getting things done if you’re not doing the right things. Here, international experts can provide invaluable outside perspectives, pushing governments to learn from other countries and think longer-term beyond the next election…..The most effective technical assistance involves mixed teams working side-by-side in government buildings, engaged in the daily rhythm of decision-making rather than periodic consultations”
· PhD funding opportunity to conduct an RCT in Barbados: full PhD funding to evaluate the project “Youth, Trust, and Transformation: The Long-Term Impact of Police-Led Support for NEET Young People in Barbados” – a fully funded SENSS Collaborative PhD Studentship with King’s Trust International and the University of East Anglia (UK).
· Virtual course on private enterprises, productivity, and economic growth to be taught on Fridays and organized by STEG and PEDL. Starts Feb 6 with Penny Goldberg, with a great set of researchers each week on topics like informality, markets, competition, networks, trade, and more…
· Call for papers: a workshop on ''Firms, Labor Markets and Development'', will be held in Naples on June 26–27, 2026, submissions due Feb 28.
· Last call for papers: the 2026 Annual Summer Theoretical Research in Development Economics (ThReD) Conference will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, May 28, and Friday, May 29, 2026. Submissions due this weekend by midnight EST on January 25.
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