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Stefan Dercon is a Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and the Economics Department, and a Fellow of Jesus College. He is also the Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. He combines his academic career with work as a policy advisor, providing strategic economic and development advice, and promoting the use of evidence in decision making. Between 2011 and 2017, he was Chief Economist of the Department of International Development (DFID), the government department in charge of the UK’s aid policy and spending. Between 2020-2022, he was the Development Policy Advisor to successive Foreign Secretaries at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His research interests concern what keeps some people and countries poor: the failures of markets, governments, and politics, mainly in Africa, and how to achieve change. His latest book, Gambling on Development: Why some countries win and others lose, was published in May 2022.
The premier literature award in the UK is the Booker Prize; in 2020 it was won by Scottish writer Douglas Stuart (now resident in the US) for his first novel, Shuggie Bain. The novel opens in Glasgow 1992 with the 16-year protagonist Shuggie living alone
Well, apart from medicine, irrigation, health, roads, cheese and education, baths and the Circus Maximus, what have the Romans ever done for us? (Monty Python and the Life of Brian, 1979) What does a 5,000-year-old road in England tell us about the governance of England
In December 2023, Malawi’s Parliament passed transformative legislation allowing secondary cities and urban centers to be designated as Special Economic Zones (SEZs). This new law marks a significant shift towards integrating SEZs with urban development, moving beyond traditional industrial parks to create comprehensive economic hubs.
This policy brief delves into the organizational frameworks that have made Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in Singapore, Ireland, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Costa Rica successful in driving economic growth. By examining the mandate, autonomy, and structural dynamics of these IPAs, the brief highlights how their powerful
This policy brief critically examines the Export Processing Zones Act of 1995 in Malawi, which aimed to promote export-oriented manufacturing through Special Economic Zones (SEZs). The brief argues that the Act was fundamentally flawed, leading to the collapse of Malawi’s SEZ experiment by the mid-2000s.
This policy brief explores the successful strategies of Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) in five small countries: Singapore, Ireland, Mauritius, Rwanda, and Costa Rica. These agencies have played a crucial role in their countries’ economic growth by implementing a combination of general investment promotion, targeted incentives,
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