Center for International Development | Harvard Kennedy School

Housed at Harvard Kennedy School, the Center for International Development (CID) is a research center working across Harvard University and a global network of researchers and practitioners to build an international pool of talent, convene academic and practitioner networks, and deploy breakthrough research to address the world’s most pressing challenges. At CID, we believe that together we can design and implement policies that help everyone realize their full potential.

Spotlight

CID's 2023 Annual Letter

We made a big bet in the 2022 - 2023 academic year in launching a five-year “BCD” strategy to Build, Convene, and Deploy talent to build a thriving world for all. We are delighted to share some of the highlights from our work this past academic year and our future plans in our 2023 Annual Letter.

Read the Annual Letter

Faculty Profile

Economist Anders Jensen has long been intrigued by differences in state capacity – the capability to provide public goods such as education and healthcare – and the role of public finance (notably taxes) in building and boosting capacity.

Read more

NEUDC 2023 Conference

CID will host the 2023 North East Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC) Conference at Harvard Kennedy School. This major forum in development economics welcomes academics from around the world November 4–5, 2023.

Learn More

CID Visiting Researcher Program

This new initiative will welcome PhD and Postdoc researchers to pursue their research for a year in residence at Harvard Kennedy School, made possible by support from the UniCredit Foundation.

Learn more and apply

EVENTS

Monday, November 13, 2023 | 10:00AM

Growth Lab Research Seminar - Firms in Product Space: Adoption, Growth, and Competition

Thursday, November 16, 2023 | 12:00PM

Place-based Economics and the Clean Energy Transition

See all our events

CID IN THE NEWS

November 02, 2023 Juan Jimenez: Bringing real-world development and political experience to bear on complex challenges By Ralph Ranalli

October 30, 2023 Juan Saavedra: How to get more children into schools—and fight poverty in the process

August 10, 2023 Asim Ijaz Khwaja seeks to build a thriving world for all By Diana King

June 21, 2023 Center for International Development’s relaunched Global Empowerment Meeting (GEM) looks toward the future and greater impact By Ralph Ranalli

Moving from charity to investment, the power of radical generosity

Opinion: E-learning can prevent another lost generation in Afghanistan

CID FACULTY PUBLICATIONS

The Psychosocial Value of Employment: Evidence from a Refugee Camp

Social Sustainability and the Development Process: What Is It, Why Does It Matter, and How Can It Be Enhanced ?

Debt Distress on China's Belt and Road

April 21, 2023 A Stepping Stone Approach to Norm Transitions Eliana La Ferrara

April 01, 2022 Electronic Food Vouchers: Evidence from an At-Scale Experiment in Indonesia Rema Hanna

December 13, 2022 Climate Before Trade Dani Rodrik

View all our publications

Research Programs & Initiatives

Building State Capability

Building State Capability (BSC) researches new strategies and tactics to assist public organizations struggling with incomplete or ineffective policy implementation.

Evidence, analysis & action

Evidence for Policy Design

Evidence for Policy Design (EPoD) conducts development economics research, training, and policy outreach. EPoD aims to improve lives by designing, testing and enabling better policies worldwide.

Research & Practice

Growth Lab

The Growth Lab pushes the frontiers of economic growth & development policy research, collaborates with policymakers to design actions, and shares insights through teaching, tools and publications.

Growth Diagnostics

Colombia Education Initiative

The Colombia Education Policy Research Program aims to generate rigorous evidence to support education policies that increase educational opportunities for all students.

Education in Colombia

CID Research Programs

CID by the Numbers

Faculty affiliates across Harvard University

Approximate number of countries our work spans across

Academic research publications produced each year

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