Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Africa and the Middle East are hiring human traffickers and mounting rickety rafts each year to find a better life in Europe. Others are making the long trek North across deserts and over fences to enter illegally into the United States. At the IDB’s Annual Development Lecture, Princeton Professor Esteban Rossi-Hansberg discussed how many … [Read more...] about The Geography of Development: IDB Annual Development Lecture
Macroeconomics and Finance
Can Psychometrics Improve Credit Access?
By: Irani Arráiz What if I told you that your chances of getting a divorce are related to you and your spouse’s credit score? Well, it happens that your ability and willingness to pay depends, it seems, on some personality traits which, in turn, affect how we relate to one another, including our spouses. Based on that idea—that your ability and willingness to pay depends on … [Read more...] about Can Psychometrics Improve Credit Access?
Turning a Piggy Bank into a Savings Account in Peru
A piggy bank is a classic childhood favorite, one that has endured for generations. In the last 20 years, many children were encouraged to put away their pennies after getting to know the piggy bank Hamm, a character in the Toy Story franchise. But what may feel like a game to kids is in fact teaching them a very important habit that can set a country on a path to development: … [Read more...] about Turning a Piggy Bank into a Savings Account in Peru
What Has Latin America Learned about Cluster Development Policies?
The Noise and Rhythm of the Markets Nahuatl was the language of the Aztecs, spoken in Central Mexico since at least the 7th century and still spoken today by almost two million people in Mexico and Central America. In nahuatl mitote is a word from mitotiqui (dancer) and itotia (to dance). However, nowadays in Mexico the word also has the connotation of “chaotic” or … [Read more...] about What Has Latin America Learned about Cluster Development Policies?
Debt and Money: Tales from Greece, Argentina and Puerto Rico and the Danger of Delay
An Irish joke runs that a tourist, lost in the countryside, asks a local the way to Dublin. The Irishman ponders the question carefully and looks at the puzzled foreigner, and after a good while responds, “It’s complicated, I wouldn’t start from here.” And so it is with most sovereign debt restructurings, but does it always have to be this way? Delay risks dire consequences; … [Read more...] about Debt and Money: Tales from Greece, Argentina and Puerto Rico and the Danger of Delay