VoxDev

Evidence from Ethiopia suggests that while part-time jobs broaden access for workers needing flexibility, they attract lower-skill applicants and reduce productivity, helping explain part-time wage penalties and gender pay gaps.

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Research often misprices the value of the time of the self-employed at zero or equal to market wages. New evidence from Kenya suggests a practical fix: value unpaid self-employed labour at 60% of the local market wage.

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Flexibility versus productivity: Lessons on part-time work Evidence from Ethiopia suggests that while part-time jobs broaden access for workers needing flexibility, they attract lower-skill applicants and reduce productivity, helping explain part-time wage penalties and gender pay gaps.

🆕 Flexibility versus productivity: Lessons on part-time work

Today on VoxDev, Hyuncheol Bryant Kim (Yonsei, HKUST), Hyunseob Kim (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) & John Zhu (KU | The University of Kansas) discuss the dynamics of part-time employment in Ethiopia: https://ow.ly/CbZC50XaW8Q

How to value the time of the self-employed Valuing the time of the self-employed is crucial for evaluating interventions and conducting cost-benefit analysis. Yet research often misprices this value at zero or equal to market wages. New evidence from Kenya suggests a practical fix: value unpaid self-employed labour at 60% of the local market wage.

🆕 How to value the time of the self-employed

Today on VoxDev, Daniel Agness (University of Maryland), Travis Baseler (University of Rochester), Sylvain Chassang (Princeton University), Pascaline Dupas & Erik Snowberg (The University of Utah) outline research on Kenya: https://ow.ly/BpjO50XaUQs

Political polarisation has been rising sharply in both advanced and developing democracies.

At our VoxDevLit launch event on October 27, Cesi Cruz and @hlarreguy.bsky.social will summarise research on the causes and consequences of polarisation.

Register➡️ cepr-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Flexibility versus productivity: Lessons on part-time work Evidence from Ethiopia suggests that while part-time jobs broaden access for workers needing flexibility, they attract lower-skill applicants and reduce productivity, helping explain part-time wage penalties and gender pay gaps.

🆕 Flexibility versus productivity: Lessons on part-time work

Today on VoxDev, Hyuncheol Bryant Kim (Yonsei, HKUST), Hyunseob Kim (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago) & John Zhu (KU | The University of Kansas) discuss the dynamics of part-time employment in Ethiopia: https://ow.ly/CbZC50XaW8Q

How to value the time of the self-employed Valuing the time of the self-employed is crucial for evaluating interventions and conducting cost-benefit analysis. Yet research often misprices this value at zero or equal to market wages. New evidence from Kenya suggests a practical fix: value unpaid self-employed labour at 60% of the local market wage.

🆕 How to value the time of the self-employed

Today on VoxDev, Daniel Agness (University of Maryland), Travis Baseler (University of Rochester), Sylvain Chassang (Princeton University), Pascaline Dupas & Erik Snowberg (The University of Utah) outline research on Kenya: https://ow.ly/BpjO50XaUQs

Ethiopia’s fertiliser blending initiative shifted farmers to new products but failed to boost yields or incomes – underscoring that fertiliser supply reforms must be paired with broader investments in seeds, water, soils, and markets to raise productivity.

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Ethiopia bet big on fertiliser plants. Did it pay off? Ethiopia’s fertiliser blending initiative shifted farmers to new products but failed to boost yields or incomes – underscoring that fertiliser supply reforms must be paired with broader investments in seeds, water, soils, and markets to raise productivity.

🆕 Ethiopia bet big on fertiliser plants. Did it pay off?

Today on VoxDev, Ellen McCullough (University of Georgia), Thomas Assefa (International Food Policy Research Institute) & Guush Berhane discuss how Ethiopia's fertiliser blending initiative impacted farmers: https://ow.ly/jaMb50XamwU

Ethiopia bet big on fertiliser plants. Did it pay off? Ethiopia’s fertiliser blending initiative shifted farmers to new products but failed to boost yields or incomes – underscoring that fertiliser supply reforms must be paired with broader investments in seeds, water, soils, and markets to raise productivity.

🆕 Ethiopia bet big on fertiliser plants. Did it pay off?

Today on VoxDev, Ellen McCullough (University of Georgia), Thomas Assefa (International Food Policy Research Institute) & Guush Berhane discuss how Ethiopia's fertiliser blending initiative impacted farmers: https://ow.ly/jaMb50XamwU

Education has been a major driver of global growth and poverty reduction since 1980, accounting for nearly half of overall income gains – boosting productivity while reducing inequality and making public schooling a key engine of poverty reduction.

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How education has driven global growth and poverty reduction Education has been a major driver of global growth and poverty reduction since 1980, accounting for nearly half of overall income gains – boosting productivity while reducing inequality and making public schooling a key engine of poverty reduction.

🆕 How education has driven global growth and poverty reduction

Today on VoxDev, Amory Gethin (World Bank) discusses the role of education in driving global growth and poverty reduction: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-education-has-driven-global-growth-and-poverty-reduction

This week in development economics at VoxDev: 10/10/2025 This week we featured research on electrification, dowry, famine, construction and more!

This week we featured research on electrification, dowry, famine, construction and more!

You can read a summary of this work here: voxdev.org/topic/week-d...

How education has driven global growth and poverty reduction Education has been a major driver of global growth and poverty reduction since 1980, accounting for nearly half of overall income gains – boosting productivity while reducing inequality and making public schooling a key engine of poverty reduction.

🆕 How education has driven global growth and poverty reduction

Today on VoxDev, Amory Gethin (World Bank) discusses the role of education in driving global growth and poverty reduction: https://voxdev.org/topic/macroeconomics-growth/how-education-has-driven-global-growth-and-poverty-reduction

Cross-country measures of investment networks reveal how the structure of capital flows across sectors shifts systematically with development.

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Stalin’s famine The 1933 Soviet famine was not the inevitable result of poor harvests but of Stalin’s collectivisation and procurement policies, which disproportionately targeted Ukrainians and produced catastrophic,...

🆕 Stalin's famine

Today on VoxDev, Natalya Naumenko (@georgemasonu.bsky.social) & Nancy Qian (@kelloggschoolnu.bsky.social) discuss the disproportionate impact of Stalin's collectivisation policies on Ukrainians: voxdev.org/topic/instit...

Investment networks, capital accumulation, and sectoral productivity: Explaining global income gaps Cross-country measures of investment networks reveal how the structure of capital flows across sectors shifts systematically with development. This accounts for around one-third of global income disparities, with the payoff of policies shifting sectorial productivity depending critically on a country’s stage of development and its investment linkages.

🆕 Investment networks, capital accumulation, and sectoral productivity: Explaining global income gaps

Today on VoxDev, Lucía Casal (Columbia Business School) & Julieta Caunedo (Cornell University) discuss cross-country measures of investment networks: https://ow.ly/cii250X90r5

The 1933 Soviet famine was not the inevitable result of poor harvests but of Stalin’s collectivisation and procurement policies, which disproportionately targeted Ukrainians and produced catastrophic, unequal mortality.

Read today's article to learn more:

Happening now!

Join here: www.worldbank.org/en/events/20...

Stalin’s famine The 1933 Soviet famine was not the inevitable result of poor harvests but of Stalin’s collectivisation and procurement policies, which disproportionately targeted Ukrainians and produced catastrophic,...

🆕 Stalin's famine

Today on VoxDev, Natalya Naumenko (@georgemasonu.bsky.social) & Nancy Qian (@kelloggschoolnu.bsky.social) discuss the disproportionate impact of Stalin's collectivisation policies on Ukrainians: voxdev.org/topic/instit...

Investment networks, capital accumulation, and sectoral productivity: Explaining global income gaps Cross-country measures of investment networks reveal how the structure of capital flows across sectors shifts systematically with development. This accounts for around one-third of global income disparities, with the payoff of policies shifting sectorial productivity depending critically on a country’s stage of development and its investment linkages.

🆕 Investment networks, capital accumulation, and sectoral productivity: Explaining global income gaps

Today on VoxDev, Lucía Casal (Columbia Business School) & Julieta Caunedo (Cornell University) discuss cross-country measures of investment networks: https://ow.ly/cii250X90r5

How economists are using new data sources in development economics Development economists are harnessing satellite imagery, mobile phone metadata, government tax records and even leaked documents to answer questions that were previously out of reach.

💡 Mobile phone metadata is uncovering new possibilities for development research, from improving cash transfer programs to measuring levels of religiosity.

Learn more in a new @voxdev.bsky.social article featuring CEGA Faculty Co-Director Joshua Blumenstock's research: go.cega.org/VoxDevdata

How dowry shapes migration decisions in modern India New data from India shows that parents often retain a share of dowry, which may enable sons to migrate for work, and provide a new role for dowry in modern times.

In new research, professor Gaurav Khanna and other economists inspect the dowry tradition in modern India, diving into how it correlates with higher migration rates and its role in reducing generational tensions by reallocating resources.

📕 Read more on VoxDev: https://ow.ly/Y8mU50X8U43

Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

Read today's article to learn more:

🆕 Understanding the global construction sector 📢

Today on VoxDevTalks, Martina Kirchberger (@tcdeconomics.bsky.social) discusses the economics of infrastructure and the construction sector: voxdev.org/topic/infras...

How communities benefit from rural electrification in Africa Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

🆕 How communities benefit from rural electrification in Africa

Today on VoxDev, Maika Schmidt (University of Sussex) & Alexander Moradi (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) discuss how community services benefit from rural electrification in Burkina Faso: https://ow.ly/pXko50X8lv0

How communities benefit from rural electrification in Africa Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

🆕 How communities benefit from rural electrification in Africa

Today on VoxDev, Maika Schmidt (University of Sussex) & Alexander Moradi (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano) discuss how community services benefit from rural electrification in Burkina Faso: https://ow.ly/pXko50X8lv0

🆕 Understanding the global construction sector 📢

Today on VoxDevTalks, Martina Kirchberger (@tcdeconomics.bsky.social) discusses the economics of infrastructure and the construction sector: voxdev.org/topic/infras...

This paper has been a long time coming (we've, collectively, had 5 babies as a coauthor team since the start), but we're so happy to share this counterintuitive research on the gap dowry is filling in India (the paper is "dowries as pensions) and how it shapes migration decisions.

New data from India shows that parents often retain a share of dowry, which may enable sons to migrate for work, and provide a new role for dowry in modern times.

Read today's article to learn more: