News from CID

Argentinean Politicians Meet with Students, Community at Harvard
Students and interested members of the community met with a select group of Argentinean politicians during their visit to Harvard on Friday, April 16, 2010. A formal presentation for students was followed by an informal pizza dinner among students and politicians at the Harvard Kennedy School. The event was sponsored by the Red de Acción Política Fundación (RAP), the Harvard Center for International Development, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

CID Affiliate Asim Khwaja Accepts HKS Tenure Offer
CID Affiliate Asim Khwaja has accepted an offer of tenure from the Harvard Kennedy School. Dean David Ellwood's office released the following statement: I am pleased to report that Asim Khwaja has accepted our offer to become a tenured Professor of Public Policy here at the Harvard Kennedy School. Asim is engaged in work on issues of development finance, culture and institutions, and education policy. He has recently looked at understanding market failures in emerging financial markets and has examined the private education market in low-income countries. His research also examines how institutional factors shape a group’s ability for collective action and its beliefs and values. His work on understanding how religious institutions like the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, shape beliefs and behavior is particularly salient given the current concerns about Islamic extremism. Asim was also selected as a Carnegie Scholar in 2009 to continue pursuing research on how religious institutions impact individual beliefs. Professor Khwaja is Co-Director of the Micro-Development Initiative and Faculty Director of the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, both at the Harvard Center for International Development.

The Economist features product network research
February 2010
A full-page Economist article applied the work of CID Director Ricardo Hausmann and CID Fellow Cesar Hidalgo to Saudi Arabia's economy: "Like many developing countries, Saudi Arabia has long struggled to wean itself off its dependence on a handful of commodities.... Yanbu was set up in 1975 as part of a concerted effort to move the Saudi economy beyond crude oil into downstream industries....Saudi Arabia’s obsession with its industrial mix is not shared by most development economists. They traditionally judge the success of an economy by the volume, not the variety, of output per head. Two exceptions are Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard and his colleague, Cesar Hidalgo, a physicist. In a series of papers with various collaborators, they have explored the composition, as well as the quantity, of production, and have taken into account what countries produce, as well as how much."

Forum Panel on Rebuilding Haiti
February 2010
An HKS Forum Panel discussed Haiti's recovery. “We need tons of money and we have to make sure we get the international community to cough up that money," said CID Director Ricardo Hausmann. A second priority, Hausmann said, is to build a functioning government in Haiti, something that did not exist before the earthquake and certainly does not exist now. And third, Hausmann said, Haiti needs to create permanent jobs as it rebuilds (in the textile and light manufacturing fields, specifically) and to work with the Dominican Republic and international community to share resources and forgive trade tariffs.

Asim Khwaja on Disaster Response Following Haiti's Earthquake
January 2010
Responding to disasters - can we act in time? In a Boston Globe op-ed, Asim Khwaja discusses using technology to enhance disaster relief.

Harvard Responds to Haiti
January 2010
In the wake of the January earthquake in Haiti, Harvard launched an effort to support relief and recovery, while HKS faculty weighed in with expert recommendations.

Mexico Program Draws Senior Public Sector Officials to Harvard
January 2010
Formulating new strategies for the challenges facing Mexico is the focus of an Executive Education program attended by Mexican lawmakers and government officials at the Harvard Kennedy School. The program, co-chaired by faculty Merilee Grindle and Mary Hilderbrand, is part of an academic partnership between HKS and the Graduate School of Public Administration and Public Policy (EGAP) of the Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM), via the CID's Mexico Program.

'Seven Fund’ Grants Fuel Student Research to Address Poverty
January 2010
Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) students conduct field research to address poverty through enterprise development in developing countries, using Seven Fund grants administered by CID.

Hausmann: Chile Needs New Ideas
December 2009
An article in Diario Financiero features Ricardo Hausmann's commentary: Chile needs to diversify into new sectors and stop following a growth strategy based on the exploitation of natural resources. (Esp/Span)

Bill Clark Discusses Role of Sustainability Science in Development
September 2009
William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, is an ecologist who co-directs the Sustainability Science Program at the CID.

CID and IOP host Kenyan Prime Minister
September 2009
Describing Africa as “a continent in transition” Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga told a packed audience at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum that this period of transition is now giving way to democracy.

Global Empowerment Meeting 2009 Focuses on Access for Poor
September 2009
Entrepreneurs, scholars, nonprofit leaders, government officials, and other thought leaders convened September 16-17 at the Harvard Kennedy School for the second annual Global Empowerment Meeting, hosted by CID's Empowerment Lab and the MPOWER Foundation.

WEF with CID Publish Global Gender Gap Report 2009: Two-Thirds of Countries Improve Gender Gap
August 2009
Out of the 115 countries covered in the report since 2006, more than two-thirds have posted gains in overall index scores, indicating that the world in general has made progress towards equality between men and women, although there are countries that continue to lose ground.

WEF and CID Report on Mexico's Competitiveness
June 2009
The key strengths and weaknesses of Mexico’s economic landscape are explored in a report co-produced and presented to President Calderon by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and CID.

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