Top Posts
Justin Sandefur - PEPFAR and the Costs of Cost-Benefit Analysis
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed to spending $8.6 billion this year
International tax policy as a potential cause area
CGD - The US government wants to make the world lead-free: why that’s a big deal, and how we can make it happen
Jacob Trefethen - 10 technologies that won't exist in 5 years
Development Finance
The US International Development Finance Corporation announced its portfolio has reached $41 billion spanning 112 countries
IMF board authorises $4.7 billion for Argentina after Milei's reforms
New financing to support 900,000 farmers and road users for economic transformation in Liberia
Devex - Can the Millennium Challenge Corporation's criteria on governance, fiscal, and social policies incentivise reforms in the DRC as it has in other countries before?
Copenhagen Consensus Center's best investment papers for the sustainable development goals
Economic Growth
I wrote a post with donation suggestions from experts focused on economic growth
Astral Codex Ten - Does Capitalism Beat Charity?
Interview with David McKenzie, lead economist in the Development Research Group, Finance, and Private Sector Development Unit at the World Bank
World Bank predicts global economy will slow for a third straight year in 2024
Dani Rodrik - What have economists learnt about using industrial policy to promote economic development?
Can satellite cities help solve urbanisation challenges in Africa
Samuel Hammond - The limits to (explosive) growth
Foreign Aid
Japan takes back $75m in unused foreign development aid
Arthur Baker, Joanna Wiaterek, & Mathias Bonde - Restoring leadership on international development: Labour’s first 100 days
How is a shift to cash changing the aid sector? (Devex Pro)
Remittances
Remittance flows to sub-Saharan Africa totalled $53 billion in 2022, beginning to overtake foreign direct investment and overseas development aid
Remittances to LMICs grew an estimated 3.8% in 2023, lower than the previous two years
Communicable diseases
Saloni Dattani - How political gridlock could kill the best global health program the US ever passed (PEPFAR)
AMA: Founder and CEO of AMF, Rob Mather
Why Bill Gates wants a COP for global health - he believes progress on global health risks sliding backward as donors increasingly focus their funding on the environment
Devex - The 4 most important calls for global health funds in 2024
Yaws (a skin disease) could soon be eradicated
Erik Hoel - Why is it so hard to know if you're helping? - Even sending mosquito bed nets to Africa carries uncertainty
Vaccines & Pandemics
Sanjay - Malaria vaccines: how confident are we?
World’s first routine malaria vaccinations start in Cameroon
R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine maintained it’s efficacy over 4 seasons
Dylan Matthews - Ultraviolet light can kill almost all the viruses in a room. Why isn’t it everywhere?
Rosie Bettle & Christian R - Are Far-UVC Interventions Overhyped?
The African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation and the Rwandan government signed a host country agreement paving the way for the foundation’s operationalisation
There is a new butantan–dengue vaccine
Effective Giving
Chris Anderson, Head of TED, has a new book called Infectious Generosity, with a chapter encouraging readers to take the Giving What We Can Pledge
Joey - A short comparison of starting an effective giving organization vs. founding a direct delivery charity
Introducing GiveHealth: a giving pledge for healthcare workers
Jeff Kaufman - When Does Altruism Strengthen Altruism?
Democracy & Conflict
Bryan Walsh - 2024 is the biggest global election year in history
Daniel Treisman - Democracy by Mistake
Dan Williams - AI-based disinformation is probably not a major threat to democracy
Ken Opalo
Recognising Somaliland
Civil War in Sudan
Migration & Displacement
Evidence for Responding to Displacement: A Scoping Review of Rigorous Impact Evaluations
David McKenzie - Is your counterfactual spouse in that country you never moved to working or not?
Nearly eight million people displaced by war in Sudan
Public Health
Aveek Bhattacharya - We need to look beyond economics on smoking, drinking and obesity
An analysis of funding from philanthropic foundations to tackle air pollution between 2015 and 2022
WHO - Tobacco use is going down globally, but not as much as hoped
British American Tobacco undermined Kenyan health laws
Jobs
Rethink Priorities - Global Health and Development Director - 25th February
Dexis - Economist, USAID Private Sector Engagement Modernization Contract (Washington DC)
President
Researcher
Comms Director
Environment
IEA - Clean sources of generation are set to cover all of the world’s additional electricity demand over the next three years
Hannah Ritchie has released her book Not the End of the World
How much does having a baby contribute to climate change?
Iceland aims to transform renewable energy by tapping into a volcano's magma chamber
Innovation
United Nations Development Programme launched Timbuktoo which aims to address critical gaps to support the African startup ecosystem
HEalth care Rewards to Achieve Improved OutcomES (HEROES) aims to trial and validate a different approach to creating preventative care incentives in the health market (in the US) (launched by ARPA-H)
Michael Magoon with a list of progress related Substacks
The Economist - Could AI transform life in developing countries?
Grants
Open Philanthropy have made several grants recently worth $72m
$70m - Gates Philanthropy Partners
$40m - Tuberculosis Vaccine Candidate
$25m - Oral Cholera Vaccine Production
$5m - Global Education Regranting
$2m - Centre for Air Pollution Studies Initiative
$140k - Civita - Aid Policy Program
Other Causes
Biggest solar flare in years temporarily disrupts radio signals on Earth
The economics of illicit sand markets
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, was 13.7% lower last year than the 2022 average
Stan Pinsent
Mental illness is growing as a proportion of the global disease burden
An overview of promising mental health interventions
Nigeria launches conditional cash transfers for 15 million households
Other Links
Open Philanthropy - Social science research topics for global health and wellbeing
Land use reform
Health
Migration
Education
Science and Metascience
Probably Good launched a newsletter with impact-centered career advice
GiveWell from A to Z
CEA is spinning out of Effective Ventures
How the World’s Deadliest Crises Go Unseen - issues with inaccurate data
Events
18th-19th May - EA for Christians Conference in D.C.
31st May - 2nd June - EAG: London
Good News
Cape Verde has been declared malaria-free
India on the verge of eliminating visceral leishmaniasis, the second deadliest parasitic disease after malaria