David Evans

We document some of those school violence data challenges across countries! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... cc @susannahhares.bsky.social @gsmarrelli.bsky.social

"Although data recording systems regarding violence are important..., there are still many challenges to be faced that hinder a sharper analysis of reality." Goulart de Vargas et al. on school violence

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

"Effective policy tools hinge on accurately diagnosing this local context." osf.io/ghcpj/downlo... @chrisblattman.bsky.social on key factors for how to fight urban crime.

I'm reminded of @rglenner.bsky.social & Bates' work on adapting evidence across places. ssir.org/articles/ent...

Trouble for teen health in China!

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

"In the context of China's rapid demographic transition, the decline in youth populations contrasts with escalating prevalence, clinical severity, and absolute case numbers of [overweight and obesity] and [hypertension]"

Scholars, what are your favorite days of the week for two-day conferences during the school year?

Any preferences?

The Pope's words matter!

www.vivekmoorthy.com/_files/ugd/2...

"Examining the visits of Pope John Paul II to 13 Latin American countries [1979-1996]... we find positive long term effects on fertility... Fertility increases more when the Pope mentions marriage or abortions and contraception."

Very nice. I found this one (on the H-2B lottery). research.upjohn.org/up_workingpa...

What are your favorite examples of randomized controlled trials carried out entirely with administrative data?

Any country!

Actual inequality and the inequality that people perceive can be wildly different, depending on people's social networks. This has big implications for public sentiment!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@mamunuru.bsky.social et al. document this in Karnataka, India.

A life skills / soccer playing intervention among boys and a goal setting intervention among girls each reduce girls' reports of intimate partner violence. manishashah.net/wp-content/u... Shah presenting evidence from Tanzania at #LACDEV2025

Kinship networks continue to be an organizing force in many Chinese villages.

drive.google.com/file/d/1cPtJ...

Zhao (sites.google.com/site/xiaoxue...) explores how those kinship networks allow people to migrate much more (and thus have access to greater income opportunities). #LACDEV2025

It's great to see thoughtful cost-benefit analysis in this work.

Helping parents with low literacy levels to understand how they can support their children's learning increased learning and reduced dropout.

drive.google.com/file/d/1aRqI...

Mahounan Yedomiffi (sites.google.com/view/mahouna...) with evidence from Benin

I'll be at LACDev this weekend. The program looks great! sites.google.com/site/lacdevc...

If you're there and are so inclined, come find me and say hi and tell me what you're working on or what you're excited about.

Partial agenda below. (LAC = Liberal Arts Colleges)

I really enjoyed the #ABCDE2025 conference last week. I underline a few of my favorite moments here: www.cgdev.org/blog/five-my....

If you live in the DC area, I highly recommend Riki Lindhome's one-woman show *Dead Inside*, a musical comedy-drama about her efforts to have a child. Laugh-cry-laugh. Bursting with creativity and satire *and* sincerity. Plays through August 3. www.woollymammoth.net/productions/...

Yeah, I've wanted this paper to exist for several years (and even considered trying to write it myself). I'm very glad to see it in existence!

Discussions of "brain drain" often neglect the many channel by which emigration can boost human capital in origin countries. I find this figure wonderfully enlightening.

Theoharides at #ABCDE2025.

Here's a recent overview of the work in Science: johanneshaushofer.com/publications....

It's great to see Bedasso & Mendez Acosta's work on school meals featured in @ugentilini.bsky.social's summer social protection links! www.ugogentilini.net/links-july-2...

Instrumental variables in observational data: Worse than you thought! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The world's biggest food distribution program reduced stunting and subsequently increased wages.

Kathy Baylis at #ABCDE2025.

Paper pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...
Summary blog voxdev.org/topic/health...

"Children with longer exposure to iodized salt in utero and infancy during the 1990s went on to have lower mortality and higher scores." www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5... @kibrom.bsky.social on new work from Ethiopia. #ABCDE2025

Will Masters of Tufts University shows how a well-crafted indicator (in this case, the lowest cost of a healthy diet) can actively inform civil society discussion.

For more, read his paper www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #ABCDE2025

How much does it cost to provide a healthy diet? How does this vary across countries? www.worldbank.org/en/programs/... Will Masters shares an open-access resource that seeks to compare across countries at #ABCDE2025.

When asking about sensitive subjects, people propose list experiments (www.gradientmetrics.com/resource-old...), in which respondents don't answer directly.

But a study shows that "non-compliance with instructions among surveyed individuals appears high..." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Violence against children in schools is inherently bad. It's also bad for learning. www.cgdev.org/blog/violenc... @susannahhares.bsky.social and I summarize the evidence.

.@leecrawfurd.bsky.social: "Lead exposure could explain 1/5th of the learning gap between rich & poor countries"

academic.oup.com/wbro/article... #ABCDE2025

I'd love to see the findings!

That sounds like a fascinating paper! And yes, much harder to identify country of origin than current institution.

Undergraduate degree seems like a wise start (between scholarly profiles and LinkedIn profiles).

As development experts we have pushed nonexperts away, saying it was too complicated for regular people to understand. That is not good for building support. Radically simplifying would help us communicate better and make for more effective aid.