Research & methods
How problems become problems
Recognition, diagnosis and the roots we refuse to uproot. Every development intervention begins long before the first dollar is spent. It begins long before the baseline survey,…
Development
Research & methods
What transforms understanding into recognised knowledge?
Understanding, legitimacy and the politics of recognition. I never doubted the value of expertise. Throughout my career I have worked with economists, engineers, statisticians,…
AI & ethics
The wrong solution to the right problem
What counts as evidence in development? I am a mathematician. Numbers make sense to me. Equations make sense to me. Econometrics makes sense to me. Models bring order to complex…
AI & ethics
The economy the market cannot see
Rethinking poverty, livelihoods and economic activity. The questionnaire was designed to measure consumption. But the people I interviewed were not consuming in the way the ques…