Rakib Avi

The Myth of Early Genius We like our excellence precocious.

We reward early stars.

But data across sports, science, music, and chess shows most world-class adults were not early standouts.

Slower starts, broader learning, later peaks. Our talent systems are optimized for the wrong outcome. tinyurl.com/yzexnnvw

The power of hope is real. Time and again I have seen this in the real world, from people living in extreme poverty to communities living at the forefront of climate change. It's great to finally see some hard evidence behind this!

In Georgia, a ‘Sponge Park’ Floods So the Neighborhood Won’t

Climate adaptive design for city architecture in Atlanta -- a park which will go under water so the rest of the neighborhood doesn't. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/c...

Health Economics (New Study): Statewide bans on flavored e-cigs reduced vaping among young adults—but also pushed some toward cigarette smoking. 🚬➡️🚭

Findings highlight unintended risks for tobacco regulation.

Read the full article here: tinyurl.com/yr38ns7z

Investing in adult social care pays off: every £1k per client boosts paid production by £216 now & £670 in the long run.

Big Aid Is Over (SSIR) We need to design for what African governments can do and will pay for.

Powerful piece by @mulagostarr.bsky.social on how #nonprofits should think about scaling through govt. Key thing to consider: marginal cost per beneficiary if the govt delivered your intervention. Also, cost effective ≠ cheap enough! @ssir.org

bit.ly/3GYHV40

A house that can grow, float, and stays cool all year - The Good Feed Bangladesh is the third hottest country in South Asia, the world’s seventh most climate-vulnerable nation, and often has the world’s worst air quality. There are around 7,000 conventional fired brick ...

An #innovation from the global south, helping people adapt to the effects of #climatechange and build their resilience -- a house which grows, floats and stays cool all year.

bit.ly/46tNG3Z

Public orgs build capabilities like startups, but rarely sunset them. That’s why #innovation isn’t just about starting new things. It’s about managing what persists. If you don’t govern your capabilities, they end up governing you. Good read on innovation in the public sector 👇

bit.ly/4m8Fvyu

Digital finance is not a silver bullet, but it remains the most scalable path to meaningful financial inclusion. The Global Findex 2025 makes the case—what’s needed now is targeted, sustained policy action.

What works:

– Linking digital ID to government transfer programs
– Expanding mobile infrastructure
– Tailored digital literacy programs
– Tiered KYC frameworks to lower onboarding friction

Barriers remain significant. 1 in 3 adults in LMICs still lacks a mobile phone. Others are excluded due to lack of ID, low digital literacy, or limited trust—particularly among women and rural populations.

The shift isn’t just about access—it’s about use. Millions are now receiving wages, remittances, and government payments digitally. For many, pandemic-era programs marked their first experience with digital finance.

The #gender gap is narrowing. In LMICs, the gap in account ownership dropped to 4 percentage points from 7 in 2017. Still, regions like the Middle East and North Africa continue to lag, with gaps exceeding 10 percentage points.

Account ownership in LMICs rose to 76% in 2024, up from 63% in 2017. Much of this growth has come from digital channels—particularly mobile money and e-wallets—acting as the entry point to formal finance.

The Global Findex Database 2025 The Global Findex Database is the world's only demand-side survey on financial inclusion and a leading source of data on how adults around the world access and use financial services.

The Global #Findex 2025 underscores a clear message: digital financial services are narrowing the #inclusion gap in low- and middle-income countries, but challenges remain. Here's what policymakers need to know. 👇

bit.ly/4lGo3lk

Barriers remain significant. 1 in 3 adults in LMICs still lacks a mobile phone. Others are excluded due to lack of ID, low digital literacy, or limited trust -- particularly among women and rural populations.

The shift isn’t just about access -- it’s about use. Millions are now receiving wages, remittances, and government payments digitally. For many, pandemic-era programs marked their first experience with digital finance.

The #gender gap is narrowing. In LMICs, the gap in account ownership dropped to 4 percentage points from 7 in 2017. This is progress -- but in some regions (e.g. MENA), the gap is still >10%.

Account ownership in LMICs rose to 76% in 2024, up from 63% in 2017. Much of this growth has come from digital channels -- particularly mobile money and e-wallets—acting as the entry point to formal finance.

Bottom line: Investments in walkable neighborhoods are not just climate- or mobility-friendly.

They are mental health policy, especially in times of crisis.

Design matters more than we think. #econsky

Implication:

Urban and regional planning should treat walkability as core mental health infrastructure. Pandemic preparedness, resilience funding, and zoning reform should reflect that.

Equity alert: Rural and less walkable areas didn’t see these benefits. Many of them were also hit hardest by the virus. Walkability isn’t just an urban luxury -- it’s a public good with uneven access.

This isn’t just about sidewalks. It’s about community design that enables purposeful movement, informal social contact, and access to green/public spaces -- all of which buffer psychological stress.

Mechanism matters:

During lockdowns, people walked more for leisure, especially close to home. Walkable environments enabled that shift -- providing routine, outdoor access, and a sense of normalcy.

The metric used? EPA’s Walkability Index, which includes street connectivity, access to transit, and mixed land use. The more walkable a neighborhood, the more mental resilience it showed.

Yes. A one standard deviation increase in local walkability reduced the average mental health decline by about 4%.

That’s a modest but policy-relevant impact—especially for low-cost infrastructure interventions.

The study uses U.S. Census-tract data and treats the pandemic as a natural experiment—a broad but uneven shock to mental health. It asks: did neighborhoods with better walkability see less deterioration?

Walkability and Mental Health Resiliency During the COVID‐19 Pandemic This study investigates if local walkability helped mitigate the well-documented mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Walkability may improve mental health by facilitating walking (which o...

New evidence suggests an underappreciated public health tool: walkability.

A recent study in Health Economics shows that walkable neighborhoods helped buffer mental health declines during COVID-19. Key insights for people interested in urban/health policy👇

bit.ly/4kJru9u

‘It feels cool to be a cog in change’: how doughnut economics is reshaping a Swedish town A casual mention of Kate Raworth’s theory has grown into the basis for decision making in Tomelilla

Tomelilla, a small Swedish town is redefining how to plan for the future generation, keeping the principles of Doughnut Economics by @kateraworth.bsky.social at front and center. Lots to learn on how to develop cities for the future, without compromising the present. bit.ly/4m0qHlu