In 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto set the very ambitious goal of increasing Mexico’s investment in Science and Technology from the current 0.4 percent to 1 percent of GDP by the end of his mandate in 2018. This commitment has generated a strong debate on what policies should be adopted to support such an extraordinary effort. In this framework, the question on … [Read more...] about Can Mexico make the leap in Innovation?
Beyond development effectiveness
How to avoid building more bad roads?
By Graham Watkins* A month ago I was bumping along a dusty road in the Beni (Bolivia) from San Borja to San Ignacio de Moxos. Someone in the car said that this road had been named as the “worst road in the world.” That reminded me of a 36 hours trip on the Georgetown-Lethem road (Guyana). We only had to travel 60 kilometers in an old British Army Bedford truck, but the … [Read more...] about How to avoid building more bad roads?
Do We Practice Climate-Smart Agriculture?
By Nancy McCarthy* | nmccarthy@leadanalyticsinc.com | Senior Researcher, Lead Analytics The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, established by the United Nations Environmental Programme and the World Meteorological Organization , in its Working Group I report, confirmed that it is extremely likely that human activity has contributed to increases in … [Read more...] about Do We Practice Climate-Smart Agriculture?
Diversity: 5 stories
As we celebrate the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, let´s not forget that one in five persons in Latin America feels discriminated against. Why? To answer this question, the IDB convened journalists, analysts and researchers. This week summaries of five selected responses will be posted in the IDB’s Gender and Diversity blog (only in … [Read more...] about Diversity: 5 stories
It’s the costs, stupid
On this blog we have talked about cost benefit pitfalls and white elephants, speculated on how (not) to lie with it, but also and more boringly we have discussed discount rates, cognition, opportunity costs, and the costs of inaction, all hoping to go back to the future. The focus of most of the Cost Benefit literature is on the estimation of the benefits side of the Cost … [Read more...] about It’s the costs, stupid