A Journal of Ideas

Development

Small Change

The big theories of economic development turned out to be wrong. Finding out what works on the ground offers a path to curbing global poverty.

Fall 2011, No. 22 – 13 MIN READ

The Malawi Model

Privatization policies have been producing global famine. But one African country has prospered precisely by defying them.

By Joshua Kurlantzick

Summer 2009, No. 13 – 19 MIN READ

Doctors Without Orders

To improve global health, what we need isn't just Bill Gates's billions, but Microsoft's managers.

Summer 2008, No. 9 – 25 MIN READ

End Foreign Aid As We Know It

After more than four decades and $500 billion in international aid, much of Africa remains as poor, if not worse off, than it was at independence. The same is true around the world: Aid flows profusely to governments with little...

By Larry Diamond

Spring 2008, No. 8 – 4 MIN READ

The Great Oil Race

Will the new African oil rush doom these countries or save them?

By Stèphanie Giry

Fall 2007, No. 6 – 15 MIN READ

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Issue Contents

Recommended

Features
Yes, Government Creates Wealth
Economics has never accepted the idea that the public sector creates wealth. But it does—and acknowledging that can lead to sweeping change.

By Mariana Mazzucato
Fall 2018, No. 50 – 29 MIN READ

Features
The Right Against the Law
So state courts hand down decisions you don’t like. What do you do? If you’re on the right, try to defund the courts.

By James Traub
Fall 2018, No. 50 – 25 MIN READ

Features
Automation Nation? Exaggeration!
No, robots won’t cause mass unemployment. But our failure to prepare people for the high-end service economy could be a real disaster.

By Stephen Rose Ruy Teixeira
Fall 2018, No. 50 – 19 MIN READ

Arguments
Who’s Afraid of Ocasio-Cortez?
Having subscribed to the doctrine of “disaster capitalism,” critics of Western democratic socialism fear a storming of the Winter Palace, simply because that is what they would do.

By Stuart Whatley
– 13 MIN READ

Book Reviews
Yes, Virginia, There Is a Crisis
Once upon a time in southwest Virginia, coal barons took the region’s wealth. Now, opioids sap its will.

By Sarah Jones
Fall 2018, No. 50 – 13 MIN READ