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Eyes on Development

Eyes on Development

by Stanford King Center on Global Development

Erica Field and Alessandra Voena on Gender Norms and the Labor Market

Erica Field and Alessandra Voena explore the relationship between deeply entrenched gender norms and global economies. They discuss the sticky nature of informal societal rules, the double-edged sword of technology and remote work in shifting household dynamics, and how gender transitioned from a niche topic into a mainstream pillar of modern economic research. Erica Field is a James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Economics at Duke University specializing in the fields of Development Economics, Health Economics and Economic Demography. Her work examines the microeconomics of household poverty and health in developing countries, with an emphasis on the study of gender and development. Her work has been published in several leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Journal. Alessandra Voena is Holbrook Working Professor of Price Theory at Stanford University. She is a labour and development economist whose research focuses primarily on the economics of the family and the economics of science and innovation. Her most recent work studies the economic consequences of the cultural norms around marriage on human capital investments in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Michael Callen on Economic Development in Fragile States

Michael Callen, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Noosheen Hashemi Visiting Fellow at the King Center, explores how conflict and institutional instability reshape the path to economic progress. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Afghanistan and beyond, Callen examines the hurdles of policy implementation when the landscape is in flux. He also discusses why the insights gained from fragile states are becoming vital for understanding institutional resilience in developed nations. Callen's research focuses on development economics, political economy, and behavioral economics, with a primary emphasis on Afghanistan, Nepal, and Pakistan. He serves as co-director of the State Capabilities Program and the lead academic for the Fragile States Initiative at the International Growth Centre. Additionally, he is the Scientific Director for Inclusion Economics – Nepal and a research associate at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). He also currently serves on the editorial boards of the Review of Economic Studies and the Journal of the European Economic Association, and is a co-editor at VoxDev.

Rachel Glennerster on Smarter, Cost-Effective Aid

Rachel Glennerster, President of the Center for Global Development (CGD), discusses the need for smarter, more cost-effective aid, especially in a time of shrinking budgets. Glennerster stresses the value of focusing aid on areas with proven high-impact returns, and the critical role of research and innovation. She also calls for communicating more clearly with the public to rebuild trust and support for global development. Prior to joining CGD, Glennerster was an Associate Professor of Economics in the Division of Social Science at the University of Chicago. Glennerster previously served as Chief Economist at the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for International Development in the UK. From 2004 to 2017, she served as Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Glennerster helped to establish “Deworm the World”, which has helped provide 1 billion deworming treatments to children worldwide, and played a pivotal role in establishing initiatives and providing advice to governments about the most effective education strategies. She also currently serves as the Chair of Teaching at the Right Level Africa (TaRL Africa).

Iqbal Dhaliwal on Building Better Aid Systems

Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal, the Global Executive Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), dives into the shifting landscape of global development as foreign aid faces cuts. He discusses how we can address the significant changes—through new coalitions and evidence-based solutions—and why strategic philanthropy is more crucial than ever. Dhaliwal leads J-PAL's global strategy, research, and policy outreach across seven regional offices. He co-directs J-PAL South Asia and co-chairs the Partnership for AI Evidence, which identifies the most promising avenues for applying AI in development and climate policy and evaluating applications of AI. Under his leadership, J-PAL has expanded into new sectors, launched regional and country offices, and helped scale programs reaching over 600 million people.

Alex Odundo on Eco-Innovation and Period Poverty

New host Asha Sundaram, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland and former visitor at the King Center, chats with Alex Odundo about his journey in tackling period poverty, the "inability to afford and access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene facilities and education and awareness to manage menstrual health." Odundo is a Kenyan engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur specializing in sustainable materials and agricultural technology, as well as founder of Sifa Machineries Enterprises. With a focus on frugal science and sustainability, he has developed innovative machinery for processing sisal fiber – a renewable, biodegradable resource – into eco-friendly products.

Dean Karlan on Bridging Academia, Government, and Social Impact

Faculty Director Katherine Casey speaks with Dean Karlan, Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University and Chief Economist at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He is also the Founder and former President of Innovations for Poverty Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting solutions to global poverty problems.

Saumitra Jha on Political Polarization

Guest host Alice Evans, Senior Lecturer in the Social Science of Development at King’s College London speaks with Saumitra Jha, Associate Professor of Political Economy at Stanford University, on political polarization. Professor Jha's research focuses on the effectiveness of organizations and innovations that societies have developed to address the problems of violence and political risk in the past and to develop new lessons for contemporary policy. He also convenes the Conflict and Polarization Lab within the Stanford King Center on Global Development and manages the Democratic Fragility and Conflict program at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Affairs (FSI).

Soledad Artiz Prillaman on Women's Political Participation

Guest host Alice Evans, Senior Lecturer in the Social Science of Development at King’s College London speaks with Soledad Artiz Prillaman, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, on women’s political participation. In 2023, Professor Prillaman published her book, The Patriarchal Political Order, in which she shares her King Center-funded research. She analyzes data from more than 9,000 women and men in India to reveal how coercive power structures diminish political participation for women. She also explores how women working in solidarity combat their political exclusion.