The Changing Landscape of International Development: An Introduction

Pascaline Dupas, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg and Rohini Pande
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Pascaline Dupas: Princeton University
Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg: Yale University
Rohini Pande: Yale University

No 2503, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University

Abstract: Since the late 1980s, extreme poverty has declined sharply, life expectancy and schooling have increased, and electoral democracy has expanded. However poverty reduction has slowed in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, amid intensifying conflict, fragility, climate risks, democratic backsliding, and the erosion of global trendsÑincluding trade integration and geopolitical stabilityÑthat once supported growth. These dynamics raise three interrelated questions: what barriers impede further progress; where will future growth in lower-income countries come from; and how can growth be broadly shared. Taking stock of 15 chapters forthcoming in Volume 6 of the Handbook of Development Economics, we discuss how external conditions, state capacity and policy choices shape development; analyze the shifting growth drivers, including trade, technology and the rise of services; discuss persistent inequality and the role of social protection; and conclude by considering how the changing global environment and the increasing importance of global public goods may shape the future of development.

Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2026-03-01
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