Approaches which can be used to leverage the positive social function that shadow economies provide to conflict-affected populations include: Using humanitarian aid to complement people’s coping strategies (Goodhand, 2006). Understanding the relationship between different aspects of the economy through stakeholder assessments can reduce the risk that interventions have ...» more
Economic growth
Stakeholder effectiveness in natural resource management
Countries that are rich in natural resources, both renewable resources such as forests and fisheries, and non-renewable resources such as oil and minerals, have not produced more positive development outcomes than non-resource rich countries. To improve development outcomes and avert several types of harmful effects – often grouped together and termed the ‘resource curse’ – ...» more
Peacebuilding and economic growth
This report provides an overview of the literature on the relationship between peacebuilding and economic recovery and growth in fragile and conflict affected states, with particular emphasis on the Asia-Pacific context. The majority of the conflicts occurring in the Asia-Pacific region take place at the sub-national level. There is evidence to suggest that while many of the ...» more
Women’s and girls’ benefits from market-oriented agriculture in Uganda
Knowledge about women’s and girls’ benefits from commercial agriculture is limited but sufficient to form the basis of this report. Internal obstacles include: ownership, tenure and access in relation to land; a gendered division of labour and time; unequal domestic decision-making power; interactions between poverty, the harvest cycle and the food market; and changing ...» more
Literature review poverty, social analysis and the political economy of Tonga
Key findings: This rapid review examines evidence on poverty, social and political economy analysis published since 2010. The majority of the literature found through this review has been published by regional and international organisations, donors, and the Tongan government. There is substantial policy and practitioner literature that examines the Pacific as a region, or ...» more
Women’s access to finance in Mozambique
Access to finance in Mozambique is very low across all sectors of the population; 77 per cent are deemed to be financially excluded. The most excluded are those with the lowest levels of education, lowest income and in the most remote locations. This report reviews the barriers for women's access to finance, their current use of financial services and products, and the specific ...» more
Promoting social development and human rights in private sector engagement
The private sector is regarded as the driving force for job creation, economic growth and poverty reduction. For donor agencies, engaging and working with private sector actors offers a number of potential benefits, including improving the delivery. As the business community is directly involved in many of the core activities of international donors (such as anti-corruption, ...» more
Political economy analysis for economic and private sector reforms
It is inherently difficult to identify how widely political economy analysis (PEA) is used to support economic and private sector (EPS) programming for a number of reasons. PEA is one of a number of factors that can influence programming and implementation and it is difficult to state categorically that a PEA had a definitive impact on reforms. It is also likely that there are ...» more
The influence of international commercial and investment law and procedure on foreign investment and economic development/ growth
Key findings: On international investment treaties: There is a large emerging empirical literature looking at the impact of international bilateral investment treaties (BITs) on foreign direct investment (FDI), but findings are mixed on the relationship between BITs and FDI. The evidence points to investment treaties being part of a wider set of forces fostering FDI. Concerns ...» more
Impact of microcredit interest rates on the poor
Key finding: Policymakers have been concerned about the effects of the seemingly high interest rates typically charged by microfinance institutions (MFI) lending money to poor people. Available data indicates that microfinance interest rates typically fall between 20 and 50 per cent per year (in places where inflation runs no higher than 10 per cent per year). It has been ...» more
Evidence for the Development Impact of Inclusive Service Delivery
This paper assesses the evidence of the human development and economic impacts of efforts to make services more inclusive. These interventions mostly involve extending access to under-served groups, but may also focus on improving utilisation or the quality of services delivered to marginalised groups. Attribution issues hamper examination of the contribution of efforts to ...» more
Effectiveness of demand-led technical assistance and cooperation on public sector reforms
Key findings: No cases demonstrate unambiguously that improved economic governance and inclusive growth has been the result of demand-led technical assistance. However, existing literature that evaluates technical assistance and public sector reforms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region shows that public sector reform (PSR) can remove constraints on inclusive ...» more
Legal and technical support programmes for negotiations on extractives or land deals
Key findings: Sub-Saharan Africa’s abundant natural resources could significantly boost the region’s economic growth and development, and large-scale projects carried out by potential investors, if strategically managed, are a potential source of income. Yet, many country governments lack robust regulatory frameworks, specialised knowledge and technical expertise, and ...» more
Distortionary economic impacts of aid interventions in fragile states
Key findings: There is a wide range of literature that touches on the issues of economic impacts related to humanitarian and development interventions, including analyses and evaluations on different types of projects or programmes that have had impacts on the local economy. Within this literature the area of most relevance to conflict and post-conflict environments is that ...» more
Economic Benefits of Disability-Inclusive Development
Key findings: The economic benefits of adopting a disability-inclusive approach to development are widely acknowledged, but these benefits are complex and difficult to quantify. As a result, few empirical studies provide a sustained analysis of them. Furthermore, there are few reports or evaluations from implementing agencies that present evidence on the economic impacts of ...» more
Indicators for investment and business climate
Key findings: There are many indicators available that can be used to indicate improvements in the business environment. Some indicators focus on the microeconomic, business-focused factors, while others concentrate on the macroeconomic and policy factors. In addition to indicators with an explicit focus on business and investment climate, there are also indicators, such as ...» more
Employment Intensity of Growth in Agriculture
Key findings: Employment intensity of growth of the agricultural sector is a measure used to quantify the effect from growth in the agricultural sector on levels of employment. Existing research suggests that growth of the agricultural sectors in middle- and low-income countries (including fragile and conflict affected states) does not necessarily lead to increased employment. ...» more
Urbanisation and Growth
The proportion of a country’s population living in urban areas is highly correlated with its level of income. The correlation between urbanisation and economic growth in developing countries can be explained largely by the fact that economic development involves the transformation of a country from an agricultural economy to an industrial-service economy. Production of ...» more
Youth unemployment and livelihoods
In 2010, over 75 million young people were unemployed across the world. The global youth unemployment rate was 12.6 per cent, against a global adult unemployment rate of 4.8 per cent (UNDESA, 2012). Why are young people less likely to find a job or source of livelihood than their prime-age counterparts? There are currently a number of barriers to youth employment: Excess ...» more
Incentives to the Private Sector and Early Recovery
This report assesses examples of donor interventions designed to influence the incentives facing the private sector (PS) with the overarching aim of supporting early recovery. For the purposes of this report early recovery will be understood as 'a multidimensional process of recovery that begins in a humanitarian setting' (CWGER 2008, p.9). This report will focus primarily ...» more
