Stanford Social Innovation Review

A close study of 13 high-growth economies suggests that, counter to some received wisdom, political leaders are an integral part of creating successful economies

A new study shows that social inequality is affected not just by wealth, but by the specific kind of wealth

LOOKING FOR THE LIGHT: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott by Paul Hendrickson

THE SPIRIT LEVEL: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett

The world’s first universal cash transfer program is in Namibia and provides cash with no strings attached

Build Change, a Mill Valley, Calif.-based nonprofit whose mission is “to greatly reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses caused by housing collapses due to earthquakes in developing countries,” is shaking up construction practices in earthquake-prone areas.

Economic gardening nurtures local business

The poor are just like everyone else: they do not save as much as they would like.  Yet unlike their richer counterparts, poor people do not receive the cleverly marketed, carefully tested financial products that could help them reach their savings goals more easily.  To enrich the bottom of the pyramid, bankers to the poor should make saving money easier by using the latest findings from economics and psychology.

The dual goals of scalability and sustainability have eluded many development projects. In recent years, however, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has reached out to corporations,  nonprofits, and even private citizens to build alliances that are making large-scale, long-term change. In this article, the former head of USAID describes the public-private partnership model that his agency forged, the successes that the model has won, and the struggles that it continues to face. —By Andrew S. Natsios

Corrupt governments cash in on the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s outdated metrics. —By J. Peter Pham