Fortnightly links: inequality, democracy, Haiti, Neymar, and more

Sewage, Haiti (Letting Go of Control/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Sewage, Haiti (Letting Go of Control/Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Oxfam Great Britain has produced a commitment to reducing inequality index based on the inequality-reducing policies countries adopt. Many Pacific countries, including Australia and New Zealand, are covered.

Oxfam GB also have some interesting blogs on the art of influencing.

If PNG’s recent electoral woes have had you pondering the merits of democracy in ethnically fragmented states, you can cease your pondering. Recent cross-country research (pay-walled, but the abstract tells you what you need to know) provides clear evidence that, on average, elections reduce the risk of major instability in ethnically fragmented countries. To put it another way, a counter-factual PNG which didn’t hold elections would be unlikely to be more stable than PNG as a democratic state.

You probably don’t want to know about Haiti’s sewage problems. But in the event that you do, this piece by Rebecca Hersher provides some excellent (and disturbing) insights.

Lastly, a couple of links for the sports fans out there: IRIN compared the size of funded UN OCHA appeals to football star Neymar’s buyout clause, while on FP2P Kartik Akileswaran reflects on NBA superteams and doing private sector development differently.

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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.

Camilla Burkot

Camilla Burkot was a Research Officer at the Development Policy Centre, and Editor of the Devpolicy Blog, from 2015 to 2017. She has a background in social anthropology and holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and has field experience in Eastern and Southern Africa, and PNG. She now works for the Burnet Institute.

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