I haven't posted something in a while that wasn't a blurb about a publication, so to mark my 37th birthday I'm going to write a proper opinion post! The topic is the 'Harnessing Digitalization in Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals' interim report to the Secretary General from the Task Force on Digital Financing of … Continue reading Digitalization and SDG Financing are Political
Political Economy
Food Security and Conflict: New article in World Development!
After a year's worth of revising, and the hard work of our intrepid guest editors Tilman Brück and Marco d'Errico, Wolfgang Stojetz's and my contribution to World Development's upcoming special issue on food security and conflict is online! Here's a link to the World Development site, and here's a link to a pirate-grade ungated version. … Continue reading Food Security and Conflict: New article in World Development!
New column in the Frankfurter Rundschau!
I'll post an English translation, but if you read or German (or want to Google Translate it) here is my latest on balancing the role of the private sector with statebuilding to encourage investment in municipalities that host refugees!
Peacekeeping’s Digital Economy: New article in International Peacekeeping
My colleague Nicholas Bodanac and I have been working on this for about a year now, and we finally have a published version of our paper where we argue that a digital turn in peacekeeping can have positive economic effects in post-conflict settings. It's currently online at International Peacekeeping - anyone who wants the full … Continue reading Peacekeeping’s Digital Economy: New article in International Peacekeeping
English Version of My Frankfurter Rundschau Editorial
For those who are interested in economic development and migration, but were frustrated that my FR editorial last month was only in German, you can now find the English version on DIE-GDI's blog!
Some Observations on Development and Migration
This week I was the featured writer for the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik/German Development Institute's Current Column. I shared my thoughts and observations on how development and technical cooperation can support livelihoods in countries where people may otherwise migrate, often taking on extraordinary risks, to seek work and economic opportunities. Es gibt eine Deutsche Version … Continue reading Some Observations on Development and Migration
Where Are the Legislators (Who Ostensibly Pay for Data)?
I watched from a distance on Twitter as the World Bank hosted its annual data event. I would love to have attended - the participants were a pretty amazing collection of economists, data professionals and academics. This tweet seemed to resonate with a theme I've been focused on the last week or so: There is … Continue reading Where Are the Legislators (Who Ostensibly Pay for Data)?
Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
I was watching the news past Saturday when Australia's Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, took time out from a talk on iron ore prices (or something along those lines) to discuss the ongoing issue of people smuggling. It's a short video that you'll have to follow the link to see (The Australian doesn't provide embed code), but … Continue reading Diagnosis Matters: Preventing human trafficking on the demand side
Putting the ‘political’ back in political economy
I stumbled across an article in the New York Times a few days ago by Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and a regular contributor to the blog Marginal Revolution. Entitled "Income Inequality Is Not Rising Globally. It's Falling.", it takes a crack at attempting to indicate that while country-level income inequality is increasing the overall effects … Continue reading Putting the ‘political’ back in political economy
Quick thoughts from the #Tech4PP Twitter chat
I followed (and even participated!) in NDI's Twitter chat today on using technology to increase political party and electoral participation. If you're interested you can find the thread by searching the hashtag '#Tech4PP'. There were a lot of good examples of tech being used to increase participation, make processes more transparent, and boost inclusion in the … Continue reading Quick thoughts from the #Tech4PP Twitter chat
Charles P. Martin-Shields 