Universities often serve as "anchor institutions" that deeply affect the character of their communities. In a new paper, we (Mike Andrews / Lauren Russell) ask how (and when) the establishment of a college influences local political and civic life. 🧵 osf.io/preprints/soca…

New data from Center for Global Development shows that investing in #FoundationalLearning provides major economic returns for #LMICs. Kudos to the many governments, donors, and education leaders who prioritize investment in foundational skills for prosperous futures. Read more: cgdev.org/blog/children-…

In a new post Jean Drèze and Rahul R reflect on 20 years of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 🧵 A short history of MNREGA in 10 charts: ideasforindia.in/topics/poverty… (1/11)

Recently, a few GiveWell colleagues and I got to shadow the surveyors who go around checking whether people actually use malaria nets from recent campaigns Some notes on net use, barriers, and how surveyors cover so many households in one day 🧵

Only very small effects of school meals *in rich countries*

You might be wondering, what do we know about the effects of providing kids with meals at schools in low-income countries? Here you go! cgdev.org/blog/do-school… h/t David Evans

Investing in providing people with clean water is incredibly cost effective.

Andy Brock, who should know, reports Mott is closing Cambridge Education and its wider Globaldev practice: linkedin.com/feed/update/ur…. I didn't always care for, and sometimes successfully challenged, how Cambridge Education worked; but it's a big deal for the biggest UK globaldev supplier to shut.

Finally out in World Development... sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

1/ A thread about the class dynamics of air-conditioning in Europe. I believe attitudes toward air-conditioning are class markers in many European countries. Air-conditioning is seen as prototypically American, and that's important.

Have you caught up with the latest Center for Global Development podcast? Two of CGD's working group members on neonatal sepsis, Lord Jim O’Neill & Dr. Akhil Bansal, join Rachel Glennerster to discuss how an AMC could help incentivize the development of a diagnostic and more. ⬇️🎧 bit.ly/3JAbQAc

Good piece by David Pilling on Malawi's experiment in scaling up tablet-based tuition in primary schools on.ft.com/45ocEkl

Millions of kids report suffering sexual or physical abuse at school. If this is your research area, my brilliant former colleague Gabriela Smarrelli is hosting a workshop to showcase the latest advances in preventing school violence: