Economics blogs

First steps in communication: raising awareness

A visit to Rwanda with the WAVES programme brings up the question of whether you should communicate when it seems you have nothing substantial to say

Want to convince politicians why they should protect the environment? Talk like an economist

Calculating the economic value of a threatened wetland proved a turning point for IIED's Essam Mohammed. He argues the case for putting a value on nature to get your message across

China-Africa trade and investment: benefiting Africa's rural informal economy?

Understanding Africa's informal economy – where people work with/for small-scale Chinese businesses – is critical for assessing China's impact and making policy for the rural poor

Finance for whom and for what?

Ahead of the Financing for Development conference, David Satterthwaite highlights the disconnect between commitments made by national governments and finance for (mostly local) institutions ations representing those ill-served or unserved.

Reminder to self: information supply needs to be driven by demand

Being disciplined about focusing on what people need to know rather than what you want to tell them will lead to a more effective communications and engagement strategy that resonates with audiences.

Climate finance must reach poor families

The main impacts of climate change are being felt by poor families, which means that poor women and men must be at the centre of the climate change finance debate

It's time for the Davos super-rich to pay their fair share

As the rich and powerful gather in Davos, IIED director Camilla Toulmin urges a change in attitudes to taxation to tackle growing inequality

The glass is half full: in 2015 we need to demand that our leaders deliver

As leaders from politics, business and civil society gather in the Swiss ski resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum, IIED's chief economist argues that "hope" is the most scarce resource

Universal energy access: combining public and private sector efforts

Donors, governments and businesses need to collaborate more strategically to finance pro-poor energy access. This is a key message from a new IIED discussion paper Sharing the Load

Let's see what the BRICS teach us about urbanisation and economic growth

Our new interactive visualisation demonstrates the dynamics of urbanisation and economic growth in different countries. The visualisation shows that countries have very different dynamics from each other, which has implications for their economic, social and even environmental prospects.

Environmental Funds: sustainable finance for conservation

Conservation Trust Funds provide sustainable financing for long-term conservation. Guest blogger Ann Marie Steffa Avila looks at the work of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Environmental Funds (RedLAC) in supporting grass roots projects. She explains how the funds operate and looks at a project to fund six ecotourism organisations

What's next for REDD+?

After several years of negotiations, a framework has been agreed to compensate developing nations for avoiding deforestation. IIED hosted a conference to examine what happens now

Three ways developing nations can close the climate finance gaps

Progressive countries, including some of the world's poorest, are acting to green their economies and build resilience to climate change

Payments for ecosystem services: We can't leave people out of the equation

What's next for schemes that pay communities to protect local ecosystems? This is what leading researchers and practitioners in the field came together to discuss at IIED's conference in Edinburgh last week

Transforming growth for least developed countries

A focus on four key priorities could help Least Developed Country governments lift their citizens out of poverty by generating inclusive growth

Green Growth, and how we get there

A Chatham House hosted meeting on green growth offers clues for governments perplexed as to how and when to get the economy growing again – this time more sustainably.

Statistics: The middle tells you nothing about the extremes

Humans are made up of two halves – the heart and head, and the lower bit, "stomach, sex and kicks.” Focusing on the middle tells you nothing about the two extreme halves.

The value of valuing ecosystem services

Economists continually fail to get the message across. Nowhere is this more evident than in dealing with ecosystem services.

Nature has values, and markets can be governed

The environmental community has been rightly wary of markets. But payments for environmental services can play a role in protecting nature, so long as governments guide, govern and regulate such markets.

Buy me an ocean: why we need payments for coastal and marine environments

Without incentives to properly manage coastal and marine environments, these valuable resources will continue to deteriorate — with dire consequences for already impoverished communities.

The Midas touch: Community savings scheme turn dung to biogas gold at the 2012 Ashden Awards

The Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala Rural Development Programme, which won the well-deserved international gold award at the

Green economics – surviving the trial

“Neoliberal, capitalist economics is bankrupt, morally and intellectually, but nothing changes,” were the opening words of Neal Lawson from Compass at a debate Putting the Green Economy on Trial.

He described the infrastructure of consumerism and marketing that has developed under the current system as difficult to escape; a seductive new vision of what it is to be human is needed, he said.

Poor Economics and ‘Just Giving Money to the Poor’

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo's book, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, is making waves in development circles. Beyond the strong focus on randomised control trials, the book distinguishes itself by wading into issues on which the development community has often ignored or made uninformed guesses. These include the rationale behind the decisions made by the poor, whether they make the "best" decisions available, and how policymakers should respond.

The misleading metrics of microcredit

Microcredit – the distribution of small loans to low-income sections of society — is one of the more fashionable tools to appear on the international development scene in recent years.

Is Iran sleepwalking towards a universal income grant?

Almost unnoticed by the world, Iran has moved towards the adoption of a basic income grant to distribute money from its oil industry directly to its citizens. This could be a good example of how distorting fossil fuel subsidies used in many developing countries could be repealed without adversely impacting upon the poor. Furthermore, the outcomes of this policy could have a wider impact on the way rents from natural resources are used - allowing households to choose how to spend profits from resource extraction.