Fortnightly links: artificial intelligence, the Cook Islands, Chinese aid and more

Waiting to register at Ifo refugee camp, Dadaab, Kenya (Internews Europe/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Waiting to register at Ifo refugee camp, Dadaab, Kenya (Internews Europe/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Our World in Data has an excellent blog post that brings together its previous work on long-term improvements in human living conditions.

The EU is pouring money into Africa’s poorest economies, hoping to stop the tens of millions of migrants and refugees leaving these countries for Europe, but will this really stop the exodus?

The Guardian covers the Cook Islands’ current dilemma: prosperity. It is possible the Cook Islands may soon be too wealth to qualify for Official Development Assistance (ODA). According to the Cook Island News, however, it looks like the day of aid reckoning will be postponed for the time being. The country lacks adequate Gross National Income data to determine whether it is, or is not, actually too affluent be an eligible ODA recipient.

Will artificial intelligence ruin the development of low and middle income countries?

Existing studies on public service provision in developing countries often reach negative conclusions on staff performance. Here’s a much more positive set of findings from recent work on health professionals in Uganda.

The new AidData paper causing a flap is here. The key finding: Chinese aid causes growth. This may well be open to methodological challenge, but the underlying data are fascinating regardless.

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Tara Davda

Tara Davda was a Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre from 2016 to 2018. She holds a Masters in International and Development Economics from Crawford School of Public Policy, and currently works at Abt Associates.

Sachini Muller

Sachini Muller was a Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre. She is currently completing a Master of Globalisation at ANU.

Terence Wood

Terence Wood is a research fellow at the Development Policy Centre. His research focuses on political governance in Western Melanesia, and Australian and New Zealand aid.

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