Are developing countries doing "what works" in education? Increasingly yes! At least according to our new analysis of 743 national education plans. @theomitchell1.bsky.social @noamangrist.bsky.social Biniam Bedasso, Maleeha Hamid, Euan Ritchie www.cgdev.org/blog/are-dev...

Are Developing Countries Tackling the Learning Crisis with What Works?

Here we present a new analysis of national government education sector plans from 134 countries spanning nearly three decades (2000–2025), which we refer to throughout as “education plans”. We see cle...

cgdev.org

"MPs call for routine lead testing for children living near abandoned UK mines" www.ft.com/content/b15d...

Really important new paper on lead: HALF of global exposure may be coming from FOOD www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

"Urban Indian private schools at risk of proximity to toxic lead sites" www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/ene...

Urban Indian private schools at risk of proximity to toxic lead sites: report

A report reveals that urban India's private schools are at risk due to proximity to toxic lead sites, impacting children's health.

thehindu.com

So this was fun... its relatively rare for academic journals to publish formal critical comments on articles. I just received my first... and its from the lead industry. Here's our rebuttal: "Big Lead is Still Downplaying the Harms" www.cgdev.org/blog/big-lea...

Big Lead is Still Downplaying the Harms

Our recent paper in Environmental Pollution estimates that lead battery recycling might account for a third of global lead exposure, significantly larger than previous estimates (open access CGD worki...

cgdev.org

Reminder this is the last week to send us your proposals for research on global lead poisoning! www.cgdev.org/blog/momentu...

The correction bsky.app/profile/jdpo...

Jonathan Portes@jdportes.bsky.social · last wk.

The Times corrects its splash story headlined "Migrant care workers bring dozens of family members." The Times got this totally wrong. It then used its own error as the basis for an editorial calling explicitly for forced expulsions of people living here legally. www.thetimes.com/comment/regi...

"I feel no different from someone in an open prison." Chuma describes life in the UK's asylum system, where people are often banned from working while they wait for a decision, living in inhumane conditions.

The UK gov wants asylum seekers to repay £10k of their accommodation costs. We ran the numbers, gov could raise 3.5x more in tax & lower support costs by asking asylum seekers to work instead (with @helen-dempster.bsky.social & @ianmitchell1.bsky.social) cgdev.org/blog/asking-...

52 percent of Jakarta Schools located near heavy metal-contaminated sites www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/20...

The Jakarta Post - Still bold, fiercely independent

- #1 English news source in Indonesia. Still bold, fiercely independent

thejakartapost.com

No taxation without representation in Africa www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

More over-70s die of diarrhoea than under-5s washeconomics.com/2026/07/10/m...

Upward intergenerational spill-overs from education! When Chinese people go to university, their parents stop smoking www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Traditional kohl eyeliner is sometimes made from near pure lead (in this case 30%). Its application to children is common in the Middle East and North Africa. This observational study in Ghana found eyeliner use increased odds of high blood lead rates by 41x www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Traditional kohl eyeliner is sometimes made from near pure lead (in this case 30%). Its application to children is common in the Middle East and North Africa. This observational study in Ghana found eyeliner use increased odds of high blood lead rates by 41x www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I have a piece with Niamh O Regan in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social mapping child lead exposure by parliamentary constituency, drawing on modelling by @leecrawfurd.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he...

Revealed: Britain's lead poisioning legacy could still be affecting children

Hundreds of thousands could be impacted. New mapping highlights the parts of the country most at risk

newstatesman.com

Some unpleasant lead recycling arithmetic from Micaella Rogers - Demand for car batteries in small low-income countries like Malawi is too low to sustain safe recycling - Unsafe recyclers in Malawi can pay more than safe recyclers elsewhere, so export doesn't work either

20 years later, can we track down the people taught to read in primary school through different RCTs? We're going to try, here are the studies we're looking at, are we missing any?

Revealed: Britain’s lead poisioning legacy could still be affecting children (featuring an interactive map to look up how bad it is in your area) www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/he...

The World Bank Has Invested $3 Billion in Drinking Water. We Don’t Know if the Water Has Lead www.newsecuritybeat.org/2026/06/the-...

The World Bank Has Invested $3 Billion in Drinking Water. We Don’t Know if the Water Has Lead.

This article was originally published by the Center for Global Development. This spring in Washington, DC, World Bank president Ajay Banga announced a major new initiative, “Water Forward,” with [...]

newsecuritybeat.org

"Study warns Cambodia may be overlooking hidden toxic pollution risks to thousands of children" phnompenhpost.com/national/stu...

Study warns Cambodia may be overlooking hidden toxic pollution risks to thousands of children - Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia may be significantly underestimating the number of schoolchildren at risk from toxic pollutants, with new research warning that only a small fraction

phnompenhpost.com

🗣️ Published today in @aeajournals.bsky.social. Ethan Lewis and I use a visa lottery, as a nationwide randomized experiment, to test the effects of foreign labor on US firms and workers. doi.org/10.1257/app.... A concise summary from @nber.org —> www.nber.org/digest/20221...

Brief pause from Messi's magic to share my new piece in the Annual Review of Political Science: "Education as a Political Institution" which explains why we should stop treating education as just another public service Open access here: tinyurl.com/yezzkam5

Education as a Political Institution

Education institutions are fundamentally political. They mold political values, shape inequality, create opportunities for patronage through teaching jobs, and can even be used for political surveilla...

tinyurl.com

How common is child sexual harassment and abuse in schools? How you ask matters. In Malawi, 4% of 8-12yr olds report sexual harassment or abuse by school staff, if you ask face-to-face. Let them answer privately on a tablet, it that rises to 17%. 1 in 6 children aged 8-12.

The World Bank spent over $3 billion funding water supply projects. But when the Water Institute tested in Ghana, Mali, and Niger, over 82% of rural water systems contained lead. In a new piece, Lee Crawfurd and Caroline Mallory call for lead-free parts and additional testing. New on #NSB.

The World Bank Has Invested $3 Billion in Drinking Water. We Don’t Know if the Water Has Lead.

This article was originally published by the Center for Global Development. This spring in Washington, DC, World Bank president Ajay Banga announced a major new initiative, “Water Forward,” with [...]

newsecuritybeat.org

What's the point of academic conferences? Answering this question recently, my mind went straight to a 2020 paper by de Leon & McQuillin. One big conference was cancelled due to a Hurricane. Papers were cited less & there were less diverse collaborations. Conferences help scientific progress!

"Hidden danger: Thousands of Bangladesh’s schools lie close to toxic battery recycling sites" www.thedailystar.net/health/news/...

Hidden danger: Thousands of Bangladesh’s schools lie close to toxic battery recycling sites

More than 8,800 schools in Bangladesh are located within five kilometres of a documented toxic site, and several sit less than 100 metres from informal battery-breaking yards.

thedailystar.net

"Why So Many Latin American Schools Sit Near Toxic Sites" www.riotimesonline.com/brazil-schoo...

Why So Many Latin American Schools Sit Near Toxic Sites

A new map finds millions of Latin American children study near toxic sites, from Bogota to Lima, exposing how little most countries actually count.

riotimesonline.com

"Nigeria's Solar Revolution Depends on Lead Batteries. Nobody Knows Where Most End Up." www.energytransitionafrica.com/insights/art...

Nigeria's Solar Revolution Depends on Lead Batteries. Nobody Knows Where Most End Up.

Nigeria's solar expansion relies heavily on lead-acid batteries that typically fail within a few years. Yet nobody can say with confidence where most are recycled or disposed of. ETA Analysis…

energytransitionafrica.com

Nearly 2 decades after the suit was filed, hundreds of Peruvian plaintiffs have secured a $150m payout from US owners of a lead smelter www.businesswire.com/news/home/20...