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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Independent research & practical ideas for global prosperity
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Global Prosperity Wonkcast
Confronting the Global Tobacco Epidemic: Thomas BollykyFebruary 7, 2011By Lawrence MacDonald in Global Development, Global Health Policy Tags: Global Health, Tobacco, Tom Bollyky
My guest on this show is Thomas Bollyky, a visiting fellow here at CGD. Tom recently marked the 10th anniversary of Clinton’s order with articles in Foreign Policy and the Journal of the American Medical Association about how U.S. efforts to combat the global tobacco epidemic have remained modest, while tobacco companies have aggressively expanded markets for their products and opposed tobacco control and prevention programs in low- and middle-income countries. Tom tells me that people in poor countries historically have not been big smokers but in the past ten years, that has changed dramatically. Tobacco companies, eager to expand their customer base outside the heavily regulated markets of rich countries, are employing an arsenal of new tactics to get developing countries hooked. The toll isn’t only in the five million lives lost each year, but also in a drag on poverty-reducing economic growth: “The World Economic Forum has estimated that non-communicable diseases…for which tobacco is [a]…leading risk factor, is a greater threat to global economic development than fiscal crises, natural disasters, transnational crime, and infectious disease,” Tom says. He offers practical suggestions for the United States to begin to follow through on President Clinton’s executive order, many that utilize existing programs and won’t cost Americans a dime. Listen to this week’s Wonkcast to learn more of Tom Bollyky’s take on global tobacco control. Have something to add? Ideas for future interviews? Post a comment below, or send me an email. If you use iTunes, you can subscribe to get new episodes delivered straight to your computer every week. My thanks to Wren Elhai for his production assistance on the Wonkcast recording and to Will McKitterick for drafting this blog post. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Comment »USAID Modernization Efforts Amid Budget Cut Fever: Connie VeilletteJanuary 24, 2011By Lawrence MacDonald in Rethinking US Foreign Assistance Tags: Connie Veillette, USAID
Podcast: Play in new window | Download Comment »The Data Is In, More Money = More Happiness: Justin WolfersJanuary 18, 2011By Lawrence MacDonald in Aid Effectiveness, Inequality, Poverty Tags: Happiness, Inequality, Justin Wolfers
Turns out the conventional academic wisdom on money and happiness is somewhat counterintuitive. According to the widely cited work of Richard Easterlin, wealth beyond a certain amount does not make us happier: once we’ve achieved a reasonable degree of financial security (internationally, an annual income of roughly $15,000 per year) our basic needs are met and our sense of wellbeing does not improve as income rises. Or so studies by Easterlin and his followers have suggested. Podcast: Play in new window | Download 2 Comments »Leapfrogging Technology, the Case for Biometrics: Alan GelbJanuary 11, 2011By Lawrence MacDonald in Aid Effectiveness, Global Development, Population and Development Tags: Alan Gelb, Biometrics, Cash transfers, Haiti, Pakistan
In our conversation, Alan explains the depth of the problem in the developing world. “In most rich countries there are already identity systems that work more or less well,” he says. “In many poor countries, not only is there no consistent identity system but at least half of the people don’t have records of birth at all. They simply don’t exist.” Podcast: Play in new window | Download Comment »The Year Ahead in Global Health at CGD: Amanda GlassmanJanuary 4, 2011By Lawrence MacDonald in Global Health Policy Tags: Amanda Glassman, Global Health
Amanda summarizes her priorities for CGD’s global health program with two big questions. First, how can donors deploy their global health aid budgets (more constrained than ever) to have the greatest impact on health in poor countries? Second, how can these same donors help poor countries and poor people use their own resources more effectively? Podcast: Play in new window | Download 1 Comment » |
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Ten years after President Clinton’s initiative to avert a global epidemic of tobacco-related disease, smoking is down in the United States but rising fast in poor countries, where Washington turns a blind eye to aggressive cigarette marketing banned at home.
It’s been a busy time for 
You might not think you’d need a Ph.D. to figure out that people with more money are happier than people with less. Yet that relationship is surprisingly controversial and—not so surprisingly—highly relevant for development policy. This week’s Wonkcast features a young academic whose new work on subjective wellbeing, income and economic development is upending the conventional academic wisdom on happiness. Justin Wolfers, a visiting fellow at Brookings and associate professor at the Wharton School, spoke last week at a Massachusetts Avenue Development Seminar (or MADS), a series of events that CGD hosts in cooperation with The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. (You can sign up for invitations to future MADS 
In developed countries, official identification systems are a fact of life, providing the foundation for a myriad of transactions including elections, pension payments, and the legal system. Without functional ID systems, citizens of many developing countries miss out on the benefits of official identification. On this week’s Wonkcast, I am joined by CGD senior fellow 
To mark the start of the new year, my guest is 
