News & Events

As the Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) programme draws to a close, after seven years of impactful research, the final few months of the programme has seen a flurry of activity. Numerous working papers and policy briefs have been completed…

Photo by Random Institute on Unsplash Strengthening women’s land rights can play a central role in the process of economic development. The issue is particularly pressing in Sub-Saharan Africa as countries in the region increasingly adopt land formalization reforms, often…

As part of EDI’s “Using machine learning to promote fairness and efficiency in Indian courts” project, researchers have constructed a new dataset on the judicial proceedings in Indian courts. This dataset includes digitized records of roughly 80 million cases over…

As part of EDI’s Bangladesh Institutional Diagnostic, the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), in collaboration with Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and EDI, held the webinar “Bangladesh on the Brink of LDC Graduation: An Institutional Diagnostic” on 12 April…

As part of EDI’s Bangladesh Institutional Diagnostic, the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), in collaboration with Oxford Policy Management (OPM) and EDI is hosting a webinar “Bangladesh on the Brink of LDC Graduation: An Institutional Diagnostic” on 12…

When we published our last ‘Year in Review’ in February 2020 we could not have imagined the circumstances in which we would find ourselves living and working during 2020-21. By May 2020 the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on many…

Many low-income country governments hire contractors to carry out large infrastructure projects, as they often lack the capacity to implement these themselves. At 14.5% of GDP, low-income countries have the highest share of public procurement in their economies (World Bank…

There is sad news today, 22nd February, that Professor Benno Ndulu has died in Dar Es Salaam last night. Benno was a long standing member of the EDI Scientific Committee working on the Institutional Diagnostic research in Tanzania and advising…

New diagnostic exercise provides first steps to building a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies institutional constraints to growth.

This week, the EDI Team were informed that one of our researchers under the RA4 Case Studies work, Professor Stephan Klasen, sadly passed away on Wednesday. Professor Klasen was a highly respected and well-liked Professor of Development Economics at the University of Göttingen.

New diagnostic exercise provides first steps to building a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies institutional constraints to growth.

See all covid-19 essays It is now well understood that covid-19 is much more than a crisis in global health. Since its emergence in early 2020, the pandemic has plunged many economies into recession, disrupted most activities, and wrought havoc…

On 28-30 June 2020, EDI held its first entirely online Annual Conference. When it became apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic would restrict our ability to hold the conference in-person in Namur as intended, we had two choices: cancel or adapt….

New diagnostic exercise provides first steps to building a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies institutional constraints to growth.

A member of the research team behind EDI’s groundbreaking Benin Institutional Diagnostic, has been profiled by The Economist.

‘Gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive.’ We look at the work our EDI programme is doing to empower women globally.

Over the last quarter we have published a total of 21 new working papers, policy briefs, research insights, and other publications, spanning the full range of EDI’s activities. Below takes a look at just a selection of these, from whether ordinary…

The EDI edited Handbook of Economic Development, comprising of 20 pathfinding papers, has been published by Princeton University Press.

The Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) programme combines academic excellence with practical impact, delivering strong progress in 2019 and early 2020.

The EDI programme holds a Dissemination Workshop for the Benin Institutional Diagnostic – the fourth and final workshop of the Benin study.

Oxford Policy Management hosts a distinguished panel to discuss ‘Thicker Diagnostics: Expanding development diagnostics’

Find out more about recent EDI updates, publications and videos.

EDI hosted its General Conference in Paris on 3 and 4 June 2019 – watch highlights from the event:

VIDEO: EDI programme’s research at the Mexico’s labour court helps influence the country’s most significant labour law reform in a century

Un nouvel exercice de diagnostic fournit les premiers éléments pour l’élaboration d’un cadre analytique qui identifie les contraintes institutionnelles à la croissance. Un nouveau rapport majeur produit par des chercheurs du programme de recherche Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) fournit…

On 2-3 September 2019, we held a workshop on the Bangladesh institutional diagnostic with authors, discussants, EDI Scientific Committee members François Bourguignon and Umar Salam, and other renowned experts. The event included presentations and discussions of the first draft chapters…

New diagnostic exercise provides first steps to building a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies institutional constraints to growth.

How do management practices change over time, and does training bureaucrats in productivity techniques improve management and productivity in Ghana’s Civil Service? These are the central questions of an EDI Case Study which aims to provide evidence of effective strategies…

An EDI research project on labour law reform has been featured on the VoxDev website, helping to extend the reach and influence of this important study.

A summary and slides from the launch event for the Mozambique Institutional Diagnostic.

Reflections on our study, designed to contribute to the development of a set of diagnostic tools and guidelines that could be of standard application to other developing countries.

Under current laws in Pakistan, forced or underage marriage is illegal. But, in practice, most brides aren’t told about the content of the contract they are signing. Consent without this knowledge isn’t full consent. In this blog, originally published by…

A workshop is to be held on Friday 12 April 2019 to explore conclusions and lessons learned so far from EDI institutional diagnostic case studies. The event brings together researchers and policy stakeholders from Tanzania and Benin (and a few…

A successful workshop on key themes within the Benin Institutional Diagnostic was held on 22 and 23 March 2019. The event provided an opportunity for insightful discussions between top national and international academics and policy makers. Key institutional issues for…

The Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) research programme is an innovative initiative combining deep intellectual foundations with practical policy impact. 2018 marked the second year of implementation of the programme with strong progress towards research and policy impact. The programme…

Policy engagement is a critical component of all EDI research. While it is not always easy to provide a direct correlation between research activity and policy impact, the following accounts of evidence of policy impact were reported to us over…

Publications are now beginning to emerge from EDI research, providing deeper insights and analysis into institutions and development. We provide a summary of these latest updates below: Randomised Control Trial: “Improving Labor Courts: The Effect of Publicly Provided Lawyers and…

It is widely recognised that unclear land rights act as a constraint to development, and disputes and conflicts arise especially with growing pressures of demand on land from expanding urban populations. As part of our contribution to the development of…

Can reformed relations between politics and business help Tanzania break away from its current constraints to development? To a large extent, development relies on the dynamism of the modern private sector of the economy, which in most low-income countries tends…

EDI research provides evidence of how community networks can help fill institutional gaps that constrain industrial entrepreneurship. A new EDI working paper and policy brief are now available to provide insight and evidence arising from a case study on the…

EDI has entered into a new phase of research activity with 31 case studies now underway after they were selected for EDI funding following two requests for proposals. All projects use a variety of methodologies suitable for addressing the complex…

Our latest diagnostic exercise provides the first steps to building a comprehensive analytical framework that identifies institutional constraints to growth. EDI researchers have completed their first comprehensive study that aims to generate a new approach to overcoming barriers to institutional…

In 2015, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) launched a comprehensive research initiative with an ambitious goal: to fill critical evidence gaps regarding the role of public institutions in catalyzing economic growth and development. Economic Development & Institutions (EDI),…

The Bangladesh Institutional Diagnostic was officially launched with a workshop in Dhaka on 24 September 2018. The sessions were chaired by eminent economist Professor Wahid Uddin Mahmud, and Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of the Bangladesh Bank. Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman…

The Economic Development and Institutions Research Programme completed 23 path-finding papers, launched 30 linked randomised control trials, 31 case studies and 3 in-depth country studies. They are building a body of evidence and insights into the impacts of institutional changes…

The Economic Development and Institutions Research Programme is pleased to launch Bangladesh as its third country study for the institutional diagnostic tool together with the South Asian Network for Economic Modelling (SANEM). The objective of the Institutional Diagnostic is to…

The Economic Development & Institutions (EDI) research programme completed its first year of implementation in 2017. The year marked strong progress on this innovative initiative which seeks to ‘produce a body of evidence and insights into what practicable actions produce…

Our second call for proposals to undertake linked Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) has now been completed, and we are now in the process of awarding contracts to successful applicants. We are delighted to announce that 13 projects were selected for…

On 18 and 19 January 2018, the Economic Development & Institutions (EDI) programme hosted a stimulating workshop to present progress and seek feedback on the work being done as part of the EDI Tanzania Institutional Diagnostic. The workshop brought together…

On 23 August 2017, an academic engagement workshop was held in Cotonou, Benin, to launch research for the Benin Institutional Diagnostic. See below for some photos from the event.