Published daily by the Lowy Institute

Aid and development links: Nile dams, refugees as investment, teaching salaries, and more

Links from across the aid and development field.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam under construction, May 2016 (Photo: DigitalGlobe/Getty Images)
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam under construction, May 2016 (Photo: DigitalGlobe/Getty Images)

  • The Davos summit is taking place this week. At the Center for Global Development, Michael Clemens and Kate Gough argue that human mobility and migration solutions should be a central topic of discussion.
     
  • Egypt and Ethiopia are fighting over the Nile. Damming the Blue Nile tributary could save many Ethiopians from poverty, but cause significant negative effects downsream for Egypt.
     
  • An interesting piece by Owen Barder and Euan Ritchie on the benefits of treating refugees as an investment, rather than a cost.
     
  • According the head of operations for the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), in the Democratic Republic of Congo the humanitarian situation is critical and the IOM lacks funding to fight this crisis.
     
  • At Devpolicy, Stephen Howes discusses the new Labor for Aid campaign, which seeks to write a positive aid policy into the Australian Labor Party’s national platform.
     
  • The World Bank’s Ayhan Kose predicts that in 2018, for the first time since 2008, global output will come close to hitting full capacity, putting pressure on central banks to normalise monetary policy. This would have a significant impact on developing countries which have benefited from almost a decade of easing policies.
     
  • Increasing teaching salaries is seen as a key component of improving student results. However, David Evans's comments on the new paper ‘Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase in Indonesia’ cast doubt on this conventional wisdom.
     
  • Miren Gutierrez argues for using big data analysis to fight illegal fisheries.
     
  • Last week US President Donald Trump decided to cut US contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency. The decision was largely criticised around the world, including in Australia.



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